Posted on 10/05/2007 11:28:12 AM PDT by Graybeard58
It's easy to see how statistics showing the relatively high black infant-mortality rate could be twisted to show racism plays a role. But put the numbers in historical perspective and racism, even if present, fades to irrelevance.
The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies' Health Policy Institute says a growing number of "health experts" believe African-American babies are twice as likely to die as white infants in large part because of the stress of racism on their mothers. Its data seem to support that hypothesis. The infant-mortality rate for blacks in America is 13.5 per 1,000 live births, compared with 5.7 for whites and Hispanics, and 7 for the population as a whole.
That's pretty damning as long as one ignores history. Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show infant-mortality rates in 1950, when racism was rampant, were 44 for blacks, 27 for whites and 29 overall; by 1980, racism had declined and the rates fell to 22 for blacks, 11 for whites and 13 overall. By 2000, with racism existing mostly in the minds of race hustlers, the rates had plummeted in tandem to 14 for blacks, 6 for whites and 7 overall. They have dropped further since then.
The case could be made that falling black infant-mortality rates resulted from the decline of racism. In reality, however, the drop is attributable primarily to advances in medicine and to increased access to health care. Rather than noting that black infant morality has fallen nearly 70 percent since 1950, the center got an anonymous black women and a college professor to say things that support its carefully culled data and preposterous premise.
But infant mortality defies simple explanations. Scientists and doctors say wealth, nutrition, health, prenatal care and heredity play significant roles, as do color-blind rates of teen pregnancy and out-of-wedlock births, high blood pressure, low birth weights, prematurity and obesity.
It may be argued more forcefully that if the race hustlers stopped promoting government reliance and victimhood, fewer black infants would die because more would have two parents, and more black families could afford proper health care for their children. The center would do better to concern itself with a more telling statistic: Black women are four times as likely as white women to abort their fetuses.
Waiting to see the "reverends" Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton jump all over this. Waiting but won't hold my breath.
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“The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies’ Health Policy Institute says a growing number of “health experts” believe African-American babies are twice as likely to die as white infants in large part because of the stress of racism on their mothers.”
Because of the stress of racism? Wow, way to narrow down to specific cause. Are they kidding???
How about the stress of providing for the child after the father skipped out on her?
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I would suspect that white and black infants die at about the same rate of congenital and acquired diseases.
The difference is most likely made up by the large number of black infants who die due to parental neglect or abuse.
Or the fact that the mothers might just be using more crack cocaine or meth?
Well, they do have a point about being stressed. These girls are very stressed after they reap what they sow when they try to live the type of life that their peer group expects them to live. They bring this stress onto themselves.
It’s not only this data that is selective, also country data... next time someone tells the us has low infant mortality send them this:
http://www.overpopulation.com/articles/2002/cuba-vs-the-united-states-on-infant-mortality/
Thanks for posting that link, it explains a lot, particullary about how Cuba can have a lower infant mortality rate than the United States. It seems they don’t even try to save high risk, low birth weight babies, we do and when we lose some they are counted in our statistics. Since Cuba doesn’t try theirs are not counted.
Common sense had told me that it was just not possible that Cuba was more advanced than us in any area and now comes an explanation. Thanks again.
I betif you would check rates of the inner city vs rural Alabama or most trailerpark communities the rates would be equal.
As the article points out, there are many reasons for the differences between races but it’s automatic for liberals to conclude that it is racism as the root cause.
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