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Lighting The Road To The Future Hip Hop Data Zone Page 6 Legends Gather “The People’s Paper” May 28 - June 3, 2011 46th Year Volume 5 www.ladatanews.com Page 2 Trailblazer Newsmaker Zakenya Perry LINKS Honor Locals Page 4 Page 5 Page 2 May 28 - June 3, 2011 Cover Story www.ladatanews.com The Great Divide Gets Bigger Black-White Life Expectancy Gap Expands By Janell Ross For nearly two decades, the expected life spans of Black and White Americans steadily narrowed, offering a hopeful indication of both racial progress and medical success: Everyone was living longer, and the gap was closing . Then came 2009 . For all Americans, the aver- age life expectancy again nudged up for the year, reaching 78 years and two months according to preliminary figures from the Centers for Disease Control . But Black Americans saw no improve- ment in life expectancy, remaining at 74 years and three months . Some experts construe this unanticipated wid- ening of the Black-White life expectancy gap as a product of the Great Recession . The recession ex- tracted brutal economic costs from nearly every slice of American society, particularly from African- Americans . Nearly two years after the recession’s official end, Black unemployment remains at 16 .1 percent compared to the 8 percent of White Ameri- cans unable to find work . And it’s the stress that can come with a job loss that some experts say may explain the new size of the life expectancy gap . This photo depicting a senior Black couple, could become a distant memory if the current trends continue. In a country “We should regard this one year data as an where there are already multiple measures of health that show vast differences between the Black and White population, any increase in the life expectancy gap may be an indicator that our efforts to deal with health disparities may not be working. alarm,” said Kofi Kondwani, an Assistant Professor in Community Health and Preventative Medicine at the Morehouse School of Medicine . “In a coun- change in the data might eventually be explained right term but that would definitely set some priori- try where there are already multiple measures by myriad factors not related to Black unemploy- ties around here .” of health that show vast differences between the ment . Still, they said they were eager to see the Looking at data along demographic lines can Black and White population, any increase in the data for 2010 and would focus on the again-widen- reveal some of the factors that affect life expec- life expectancy gap may be an indicator that our ing Black-White gap . tancy . Suicide is more common among the White efforts to deal with health disparities may not be “If we did see the Black-White life expectancy population, and homicide is more common among working .” gap widen in a second year then we are going to be the Black population, said Kondwani . Thus social The federal researchers who compile the data very concerned,” said Bob Anderson, the CDC’s forces associated with a recession -- such as the reacted more cautiously, noting that one year’s chief of death data . “Freak out is probably not the disproportionate share of Black and Latino work- Cover Story, Continued on next page. DATA NEWS WEEKLY P.O. Box 57347, New Orleans, LA 70157-7347 INSIDE DATA Phone: (504) 821-7421 | Fax: (504) 821-7622 editorial: [email protected] | advertising: [email protected] Terry B. Jones Contributors CEO/Publisher Edwin Buggage Cover Story . 2 Commentary . 8 Glenn Jones George Curry VP Advertising Janell Ross & Marketing Dr. Phil Wilson Newsmaker . 4 Health News . 9 Cheryl Mainor Managing Editor Art Direction & Production Edwin Buggage MainorMedia.com Trailblazer . 5 State & Local News . 10 Editor Melanie Mainor Editorial Submissions Copy Editor Intern [email protected] June Hazeur Advertising Inquiries Data Zone . 6 Accounting [email protected] Please call 504-309-9913 for subscription information or to obtain a back issue of the paper ONLY. Dated material two weeks in advance. Not responsible for publishing or return of unsolicited manuscripts or photos. www.ladatanews.com Cover Story May 28 - June 3, 2011 Page 3 Cover Story, Continued from previous page. Americans wait on line for free medical services at Soon, families like the one pictured center, can be even The high cost of healthcare, expos popping up around the country. more scarce, as a lower life expectancy will affect men even decreases availability for adequate more than women. care, lowering life expectancy in Blacks. ers who remain unemployed her work brought . She earned her eligible for a host of gov- self, just some standards for even worse, she said . or who have lost homes to more than she ever expected ernment work . She never had how I want to perform .” “There were a lot of lonely foreclosure -- could reasonably as a woman without a Bach- difficulty finding a job . days and a lot of lonely nights,” be assumed to affect different elor’s degree . Less than two months later, Lacy said . slices of the population in par- “I got pretty successful,” in January 2009, Lacy’s blood John Henryism As last summer gave way to ticular ways, he said . said Lacy, who is Black . “I pressure was under control, What was happening to fall, Lacy realized she would Those inclined to pin the went from earning maybe $12 but everything in the work- Lacy is not unique, said Sher- soon have to give up her apart- blame for the widening life ex- an hour as a temp to earning ing world seemed to have man James, an Epidemiologist ment for lack of rent money . pectancy gap on the recession $80,000 a year at my main changed . The financial crisis and Public Policy Professor She sent her son to live with point to one key factor that job .” has brought hiring to a virtual at Duke University in North his godfather so that he could generally accompanies unem- Lacy is a single mother who standstill . Food and gas prices Carolina . Sustained adversity continue attending his sub- ployment or worries about the says she has never received were soaring, slicing through can lead to medical problems, urban school . Lacy moved in ability to pay the bills: stress . child support . So, even as she Lacy’s savings at a faster pace he said . with an aunt in Washington, When people experience was thriving at her full-time than she had anticipated . James and other epidemiolo- D .C . stress, the body produces job, she worked a second job “It seemed like, six weeks gists have found evidence that Some experts argue that hormones such as adrena- -- mostly in retail --so she could earlier there had been so many such problems are particularly a weak economy perversely line and cortisol that produce manage the things she felt jobs I could have had my pick acute among African-Ameri- lowers the death rate, because short bursts of energy useful her son deserved, such as the of the litter,” said Lacy . “That cans . He suggested many are people out of work are less in weathering a crisis . When fees required for him to play dried up so fast it was astonish- so aware of negative racial ste- likely to engage in certain stress is sustained, the body football and the savings she ing .” reotypes that they labor extra high-risk activities . continues producing these stashed in his college fund . At the peak of her job hard and worry exceedingly The CDC last month re- hormones, which tend to be Her second job helped to ease search, Lacy says she sent out about their performance in leased a study that found sui- associated with medical prob- the cost of renting an apart- 35 to 40 resumes every day . an effort to counter damaging cides appeared to increase lems such as depression, high ment in Montgomery County, She worked with headhunters . generalizations . during the Great Recession, blood pressure, heart disease a Maryland suburb outside She called old contacts . Some academics call this the Great Depression and oth- and strokes, said Uma Rao, a Washington, DC . She worked “I was applying for all sorts “high-effort coping .” Sher- er recessions in between . In Professor of Psychiatry and so much that she missed ev- of stuff, everything from the man prefers the term “John 2009 suicide increased slightly Behavioral Health Sciences at ery one of her son’s freshman fields where I had worked to Henryism,” a reference to but just enough to move self- Meharry Medical College . year football games . scrubbing floors,” She said . an American folk legend . As inflicted harm into the top 10 “You have heard the expres- About six years ago, Lacy She cashed out her retirement the story goes, John Henry causes of death . sion fight or flight,” said Rao . embarked on a particularly ar- savings and used it to pay the worked building railroads, and Lacy feels certain that un- “Well, what happens to the duous project, managing elec- bills . “ I was really just trying his employer decided to try to employment and searching for body when it senses it must tronic medical records for the to maintain some normalcy for replace him with a machine . work made her health much fight and cannot flee for a long Navy . my son,” she said . Henry was so determined to worse . period of time is just as real . “It was a very, very stressful In the spring of 2010, Lacy demonstrate the unique abili- About three weeks into her And it can be ugly .” environment,” Lacy recalled .