Comments on: Black men’s shorter life span may be attributable in part to the stresses of their position in society

By: A Response to “Black men’s shorter life span may be attributable in part to the stresses of their position in society” « SF Gray Panthers

Sat, 12 Apr 2008 14:21:08 +0000

[...] A Response to “Black men’s shorter life span may be attributable in part to the stresses of their position in society” Published April 12, 2008 Uncategorized Black men’s shorter life span may be attributable in part to the stresses of their position in… [...]

By: Jeannette

Jeannette — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 23:41:31 +0000

I like the statement “just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re NOT out to get you!” It has become my “motto”.
My family is both black and white, so I feel like I’ve got a stake in this! My grandchildren will be black.
The corporations have used the psychology of keeping us leaping at each other’s throats for so long (hundreds of years, with the clergy and the ‘company store’ cashing in on it), that I think we hardly know whose thoughts keep floating to the surface of our minds.
In my life, I have lost several beautiful friends to AIDS, they were white homosexual men, I still miss their dear friendship.
Aids IS invisibly decimating Africa, the black continent, as well as generations and communities everywhere. But meanwhile, it is the “black-on-black” violence (which includes most of the military conflict south of the equator), which is the leading cause of death for younger men. Millions have died in Africa in the last five years, and there have been hundreds in our own inner cities.
Then there’s peril from “racial profiling” from sheriffs and cops nationwide, with the laws like “crack”, assigning different degrees of punishment, and in capital cases, the greater likelihood of being executed, which threaten life. I feel the need to speak up in behalf of young black males about the brutality of the system toward them.
As young black men, they are prey for dope dealers, quick money, murder, whatever…they aren’t seen as a meaningful factor in society or politics besides the “cost” of subduing them. I always notice the presence of cops in black frequented areas and I feel disgusted.
A bunch of young black guys have recently “committed suicide” in Pennsylvania penitentiaries, the state that “houses” Mumia Abu Jamal. Earlier this year, some dumb cop in Oakland drove up on some black kids, grabbed one kid by the dreadlocks, tried to beat him, and shot him in the back when he ran away. And Sean Bell of Jamaica Queens, New York just wanted to have his “Stag Party” before his next-day’s wedding, when undercover cops murdered him.
In my opinion, violence feeds fear and creates more violence. I think we need to remove our trust and the investment of our precious consciousness from that error: that force or threat equals safety.
I even feel that well-intended “ideas” of more cops and more weapons on the scene will somehow make us safe. Call the cops when a relative is freaking out, and they’ll come around and maybe tazer him or actually shoot him (especially if he’s black, even a comb, wallet or cell phone can be mistaken for a weapon).

This article is very helpful, not just because we all want to live longer. The issue of an older man’s health being the result of what his younger years contributed to it is a very valuable insight. Poor whites suffer from premature death and serious impairments for many of the same reasons as blacks. The low cost of processed food in poor communities, and the availability of booze and cigarettes, plus other cheap escapes from the drudgery of low-wage work or spells of unemployment, are factors. The commercial grid which delivers every destructive “vice” as a guilty pleasure, contributes to the death-trip which wears down the body as it makes the spirit bitter.
As jobs dry up with our ruined economy, the media tells us to blame immigrants, not the asses who spent up all the money. I can only imagine things will get worse when our poor, battered veterans return from war.
So my idea is that we all are victims of what is pushing the statistic down for black males. It is generally a toxic environment, but for that group, we have let it become deadly.
By valuing one another we can heal our whole society, and I personally feel it would be such a privilege to have MLK or Mumia in our midst still.
So I think it will take a growing awareness of how to stay well, and some genuine public health experts, to assist our healthy survival, to prioritize every one of us before the demands of the drug industry, weapons makers, insurance parasites, and the corporate food industry. The victims of the system as it is, are proof it is dangerously imbalanced, not friendly to healthy aging. Our task is to create the healthy environment, to include black men in the right to it, and not to demonize them for embodying its failings.

By: Osagie

Osagie — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 04:43:30 +0000

My friend just died of cancer at the at of 45. Since then, I have started to see how fragile we are. Many blacks bragg about having superior genetics, but they have no clue that we are dying at young ages.
My advice?
Limite the 4 white deaths - sugar, flour, salt and dairy.
God bless.

By: mlyon01

mlyon01 — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 21:21:34 +0000

On “It is more difficult for poor whites to get a job than poor blacks because of affirmative action,” I’m not sure exactly what you’re trying to say here, but the fact is that during the time in the 60s and 70s when huge numbers of blacks (and whites) were fighting for more jobs for blacks, huge numbers of jobs were opened up, which benefited both blacks and whites. This is particularly true in the healthcare field, where whole new job categories were created and filled. I know, because I was one of those hired. Fighting for more jobs and fighting job discrimination always benefits all races concerned. If you’re characterizing “affirmative action” as something that fights for race preferences without fighting for more jobs for all, as something that pits races against each other, where both races suffer, you may have a point, but you’ve got to explain the position or people will think you are a racist. So which is it?

I would say that if you think the primary reason blacks are dying sooner is they’re sleeping with all the women, then you are racist, because you’re ignoring the effects of more dangerous jobs, housing, diet, and living conditions, and instead blaming the victims.

By: Belinda Wilson

Belinda Wilson — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 21:05:57 +0000

I think the biggest factors in blacks dying sooner is AIDS and them killing themselves. I don’t think it is related to poverty. It seems more like stupidity to me. Just because you are poor doesn’t mean you have to try and sleep with all the women. Furthermore, I am not racist but I know more blacks that have health insurance than whites. The reason why is because they either have medicaid or government jobs that offer health insurance. It is more difficult for poor whites to get a job than poor blacks because of affirmative action.