Regardless of income and environment, quite simply, black folks die sooner than whites. In Summit County, Ohio, this means that whites are living anywhere between 3 to 9.3 years longer than their black counterparts when socioeconomic status is compared. This falls in line with a national average where the average life expectancy of a white person is 78 years. For a black person, the expectancy is 72.7 years.

Pick almost any disease, and blacks are hit much harder by it than whites. Consider these statistics from a variety of national, state and local organizations:

_Heart disease: Nationally, African-Americans are 50 percent more likely to have high blood pressure, which contributes to the risk of both heart disease and stroke, and they’re 20 percent more likely to die from heart disease. Yet they’re less likely to receive proper, timely treatment, even when they have insurance coverage.

_Stroke: In Ohio, African-American men are 53 percent more likely to die of a stroke than any other racial or gender group, while African-American women have the highest overall risk of a stroke.

_Diabetes: Nationally, blacks are 140 percent more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes, 30 percent more likely to undergo a diabetic-related amputation and 120 percent more likely to die from diabetes.

_Cancer: Whatever the cancer - breast, colon, esophagus, bladder, cervix, uterus, rectum, prostate, leukemia - blacks are less likely than whites to be alive five years after diagnosis. Even skin cancer, which is uncommon in those with darker skin, is more likely to end in death for African-Americans.

_HIV/AIDS: Of the 1.2 million Americans living with HIV, the AIDS virus, in 2003, 47 percent were African-American, even though blacks account for only 12.3 percent of the U.S. population. In 2004, black men were diagnosed with HIV/AIDS at a rate 603.7 percent higher than that of white men. Black women were diagnosed in 2004 at a rate 1,993 percent higher than that of white women.

_Homicide: Though violence isn’t a disease, it is a health issue - one that has a significant impact on life expectancy. Between 1999 and 2003, blacks in Summit County, Ohio, were killed at a rate of 14.6 per 100,000, compared with 2.7 per 100,000 whites.

_Infant mortality: Even though infant mortality declined steeply in the 1980s and ’90s among all races, the disparity between whites and blacks increased because the improvement was greater among whites. In these two decades, infant mortality among whites declined to 5.7 deaths per 1,000 births (a 47.7 percent drop); among blacks, it dropped to 14 deaths per 1,000 births (a 36.9 percent decline). In Summit County, an African-American baby is 3.5 times more likely than a white baby to die in infancy.

We have a long row to hoe in order to eliminate this gap but, as black folks, we need to better our education on health issues and see doctors on a more regular basis (myself included). Personally, I want to be around longer for my son. So, let’s all suck it up and get checked out.

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