Rant and Rave: Racism Linked to Infant Mortality; O’Reilly finds Black People Order Tea Just Like Whites!

Victor Corral

Rant and Rave: Racism Linked to Infant Mortality; O’Reilly finds Black People Order Tea Just Like Whites!

Rant: Racism Linked to Infant Mortality

In a recent report, the CDC found that Black infants have a higher mortality rate than whites and Latinos, 13.5 compared to 5.7 deaths per 1,000 births. Researchers at The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies further examined this persistent disparity by looking at the impact of racism and its associated stress mediators on pregnancy outcomes for Black women. One participant in the study noted, “the pregnancy scares the life out of me because I am pregnant with a baby boy, and I know how black boys are treated in this society.”

In addition to poverty, poor nutrition, teen pregnancy, and prematurity, the inclusion of racism induced stress as a factor in infant mortality has important social implications, and makes it apparent that one way to address racial inequality is through public health policy.

Rave: Breaking News, O'Reilly finds Black People Order Tea Just Like Whites!

Bill O'Reilly could not try and be more ignorant than he already is. Last week, O'Reilly experienced what can only be described as racial enlightenment while sitting across the table from Al Sharpton at a Black-owned restaurant in Harlem. He could not get over the fact that "there was no difference between Sylvia's restaurant and any other restaurant in New York City. I mean, it was exactly the same, even though it's run by blacks." Not only that, but he was further amazed to find that "there wasn't one person in Sylvia's who was screaming, 'MF-er, I want more iced tea.'" Who knew that Black people are civil, professional, and enjoy a good meal just like whites? Apparently, not Bill O'Reilly.

Preconceived ill-founded notions about minority owned businesses are not limited to O'Reilly. Despite 46% growth in black owned businesses from 1997-2002, Leigh Donaldson writes that among the threats posed by the rising costs of education, and the changing global economy, minority businesses continue have to face "lingering prejudices in banking and lending practices that must continue to be addressed, as well as bias among customers."

Posted at 8:21 AM, Oct 05, 2007 in Permalink | View Comments