The following paragraph is from a press release honoring Black History Month, by Alan D. Aviles, the President of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation.
Both in New York City and the nation, people of African-American descent often face greater health challenges than the general population. African-American adults are twice as likely to have a stroke and 60% more likely to die from a stroke than white adults. African-Americans have a higher incidence of asthma, diabetes, heart disease, HIV/AIDS, hypertension, infant mortality and sickle cell anemia than other ethnic groups. In addition, they have a higher incidence and poorer survival rates of certain cancers, including lung, prostate and stomach cancer.
We are told that it was Mark Twain who observed that there are three categories of untruth: lies, damned lies, and statistics. It is paragraphs such as the above which provide to the gleg observer a disclosure of just how statistics are recruited for such (ig)noble purposes. A moment’s reflection ought to jolt the reader: How is it that these statistical observations are not joined to an explanation of WHY these disparities might exist? Whatever connection these “facts” might have with life is left to linger above the earth, the orbiting satellite of racial guilt, set to pass overhead at regular intervals to remind every American that…what? What exactly is the point of highlighting these disparities if one does not find accompanying the “inequity list” the very best or the most likely explanation which can account for the items listed? If someone really cares enough to notice the disparities, how do we account for them not caring enough to go just a tiny bit further, to bring us a tad nearer to a solution by tracing out for us the root causes of these unequal realities? It is in the Bible one may find the answer: “The mercies of the wicked are cruel.”
Prior to the 1960’s the absence of any attempted explanation would have been viewed as a lapse in integrity by the author and/or publisher. What kind of man is it who knows where a fire is raging but refuses to tell the location so that help might be sent? But you see, inequity lists such as these no longer even pretend to be doing front work for genuine concern. Rather, they are purely political, which is to say creedal phrases, recited not so that anything might be done to solve a problem or cure a disease, but to propagate a faith. They are rehearsed for no purpose beyond perpetuating a favorite myth. The Heidelberg Catechism teaches us the religious explanation for man’s problems. Illness and death are consequences of sin. Paragraphs like the one cited intend the same thing: illness and death are the result of a cardinal sin (if not the Original Sin) identified as such by the priests of the egalitarian state. This paragraph is pure catechetical preaching.
In this case, the catechism holds that all of America’s problems are rooted in inequalities. If egalitarianism has yet to descend upon a segment of life, if its visitation of destruction has failed to reach a sphere because the spreading leaven was halted in some way, then the populace is to meditate on it, chant and recite verses that they hope will, by religious fervor and force, finally bring the Great Solution of equalitarianism to all spheres. This is a religious exercise, my friends. It is because we are on this side of the communist egalitarian utopia–which it is our duty to ever hold before our eyes as THE great goal of man and state–that these terrible imbalances exist.
Black people suffer higher incidence of sundry and assorted “leading bad health indicators” because America and its health care systems are utterly racist. Isn’t it obvious? Here is the proof! There are health inequities! What further proof is needed? In the current American environment, at least, to say nothing by way of explanation is tantamount to saying, “Racism did this.”
But surely enough knowledge is available, enough data known to correlate these higher incidences with certain “lifestyle” choices. If the announcement were generic, speaking of total populations (i.e., regardless of race) in region “X” in, say, 1978 compared with the same in 2008, a conclusion stating that the 2008 population was “twice as likely to have a stroke” as the 1978 group, would certainly be joined to a hypothetical explanation. No editor worth his salt would accept the story for print if the reporter didn’t dig further for an explanation. These considerations, I insist, reveal this sort of selective reporting, in which the important questions are left unasked, to be nothing less than race-baiting, less than worthless and inexcusable. To know WHY the disparities exist and to be silent concerning these reasons, especially when seeking to draw attention to the additional burden borne by one segment of the population, is, to every sensitive conscience, unconscionable. But like the “Rev.” Al Sharpton, these people make their living off of racism. Though they put themselves forward as enemies of inequality, the truth is they are devoted to perpetuating and extending it. Without it they’d be out of a job. Any decline in real racism (and its ugly fruits) means a corresponding decline in their bonuses. And hey, these are hard economic times.
So expect lots more of these mysteriously abstracted observations. It’s like the figures bandied about by ignorant (I’m being kind) feminists who ask you to be indignant about “inequitous” (my new word!) pay between men and women. By failing to connect it to women’s choices about what sort of work they are trained or willing to do, or the number of hours they elect to be away from home, or the costs to employers who hire and train women only to find over time that other items on their agenda made it too easy for women to forsake the workplace altogether–by leaving it as an abstraction, it best serves its religious function as a training tool, instructing the next generation just what sin is. It is “any want of conformity unto or transgression of 50/50.”
If you are skeptical, if you suspect that I’ve done my own abstracting, I place before you Mr. Aviles’s next two paragraphs. If you find a reason for the disparity that might prove helpful to Blacks, let me know, will ya?
HHC has a proud history of addressing racial and ethnic health disparities faced by African-Americans in New York City. For example, we have developed numerous initiatives, such as our Web-based electronic diabetes registry, to help our patients with diabetes better control their illness and avoid long-term complications. Similar technology and special care programs help keep our pediatric asthma patients out of emergency rooms and hospital beds.
We continue our work to expand access to preventive screenings for heart disease, hypertension, and cancers; make HIV testing part of routine medical care; help people to quit smoking; and provide optimal perinatal care.
It is time for Americanity to recognize that Political Correctness is not about politics. It’s simply that old Baal showing his version of “tolerance.”
Hi Steve,
Great article and very timely, from my own experience here in remote Central Australia, about as far removed from NYC as one could be. I have had recent and very painful experience, venomous backlash if you will, from objectors to recent letters to the editor regarding abortion (I am strongly opposed) where some respondents, including Christians, have objected violently over my apparent, misogynistic lack of compassion for, among others, single mothers! Compassion, it seems, is the trump card that takes the trick, no matter how many aces of truth one might be holding in one’s hand. I am sure, having only recently been introduced to your blogging, that you too have been accused of a lack of compassion. So keep pounding that keyboard, and God be with you!
The statistics related to health disparities are, indeed, buttressed by numerous reasons for the disparities which are highly complex by nature. While the mainstream media and popular literature often gloss over these reasons, the peer-reviewed literature in public health certainly does not.
For example, the incidence of cardiovascular disease is higher in the African-American population. Some of the reasons for this are genetic. Others are related to lifestyle as it is in other populations. It makes sense to target screening programs to diseases which have a higher prevalence in certain populations. This is part of good public health practice and goes a long way towards eliminating disparities.
Other factors citied in the literature include socio-econimic status (poorer people tend to get less healthcare that those with more resources), geographic differences (e.g. rural vs. urban, vs. suburban), literacy, access to transportation and nearby healthcare resources, language barriers, and cultural competency by physicians. Many of these reasons are not related to overt racism.
The problem is often with the solutions proposed to eliminate disparities. While everyone agrees that socioeconomic status is related to poor health outcomes, we differ as to the correct solution for the problem. For example, redistrubtion of wealth schemes to address the socioeconomic status problems are routinely offered. Others propose things such as job training/vocational education and microloans.
The complexity of the problem belies the fact that health disparities are related to a variety of the interrelated factors named above. Offering solutions for just one of these is insufficient to address all of them.
While many people who desire to eliminate health disparities do wish for a more egalitarian society, others do not and just want to level the playing field so that opportunity and access to care are made available to those less fortunate. This access does not have to be provided by government, but can be provided through charity care from docotrs, hospitals, and non-profit organizations as it was for many years in America.
I think that it is important that we do not offer overly simplistic solutions for complex problems or generalize the health disparity issue into merely an egalitarian agenda. While lifestyle issues and personal choices certainly come into play (and are documented in the literature!), there are many factors beyond the control of those affected by health disparities. And the Good News is that the Church can help answer these problems in a way that the government and other organizations cannot.
Please forgive my ignorance but I am confused and ask that you enlighten me.
Who is writing these ‘blogs on the wheel’ ?
Who is Herman Bavinck ?
Is he the author or am I reading Schlissel ?
This is an interesting article. I am a black person who had at least 3 of the health problllems mentioned above. three years a go someone told me about a nutrional suppliment that had caused her symptoms from Lupus to go away in 3 months. i put my whole family on these products and started to sell them. I am in better health now than 15 years ago, and I feel great. my doctor has taken me off medication for asthma, hypertension, allergies, and high cholesterol in the first 9 months. I have told everyone I know about thses products and while the world is FULL of skeptics I have found our relatives to be the MOST resistent to getting with this program. People who are in to personal responsibility know a solution when it’s offed to them. I want to die healthy. I thank God every day for liberating me from prescribed medication and restoring my health.
It’s so sad that there’s still racism or hate of any kind these days. People suohld have realized by now that everyone’s equal no matter race, gender, or anything else, but there’s still so many that are just ignorant and unfortunately just because a person has a medical degree doesn’t mean they’re be smart enough to look passed race. I go to a doctor in a poorer area, I live n a different town even, but I choose to keep seeing him because he and his staff have always been nice to me and my daughter and they’re all excited about my new baby due in December. The doctor’s black and his nurses are of all races some black, some white, and some espanic. I’m white and they all treat me with resepct and are just awesome to me, but I can see where some places that have mainly black nurses and doctors might be different toard white and a place wth mainly white may treat other races differently just because of such stupidity.
But How about AIDS, Val? AIDS. The point is that the author includes no real solution to the problem. And glossing over that disparity is problematic.
She told the students that if they were angry at her, they shuold write letters, but that they must do so without paper, alphabet, or numbers, all of which were invented by people of colour. “You’re all sitting here writing in a language [English] that white people didn’t come up with,” she told [Webfronds] magazine. “You’re all sitting here writing on paper that white people didn’t invent. Most of you are wearing clothes made out of cloth that white people didn’t come up with. We stole those ideas from other people.” […] Jane Elliott has lived through revolutionary cultural changes without taking note of any. She teaches only helplessness and despair to blacks and only blood-guilt and self-contempt to whites. She addresses no issue with intellectual seriousness or purpose. She also is the reigning star in thought reform these days. On May 7, 1999, CBS News ran a feature on her that declared: “For over 30 years, Jane Elliott has waged a one-woman campaign against racism in America.” CBS might want to rethink the notion of “racism”.
My friend, Dr. Val Finnell, says :poorer people tend to get less healthcare that those with more resources…”
This, in the words of Thurgood Marshall, is a crock. Dr. Finnell tries to process too many things simultaneously and shows the sort of weaknesses inherent in being spread across the globe an inch deep. I submit that the poor have MORE health care than the loaded, and I’ll wager that it is the case in NYC (can’t speak for Hunkapunk, KS). I could tell you stories till the cows come home. The poor CANNOT be refused treatment at City hospitals. The complete fraud of a “health care crisis” has got people discussing the fabrication of the emperor’s clothing. He hasn’t any! Universal health care is REALITY right now, today, here. 70% of the births at Coney Island Hospital are to Mexican and Pakistani families, a goodly number of whom are illegal, not one of whom is required to pay a penny if they choose not to. I have personally witnessed a man from Nigeria come to NYC to have two hips surgically replaced, while here illegally.
The disparity between reality and what iws put for reality in Dr. Finnell’s news sources have softened his once super critical thinking. The piece above was not a commentary on inequitous health care. It was a comment on what is not said by people who site its existence. Of course, had Val stuck to the program, at least in his old days before the Masons fried his brains, he would have provided us with the details of lifestyle choices and how they largely determine the disparity. He would have also pointed out that “genetic” is a code word for “lifestyle choices of grandparents, etc.”, instead of pretending it to be another category where something other than poor choices serve as the best explanation for disparity in health status of comparative groups.
Mary, please understand that it is Craig who has fun with the Bavinck pseudonym. It isn’t me. I confine my Reformed hero worship to my license plates only, never pseudonymous eddresses.
After reading this I suddenly was reminded of part of the lyrics of a song from a rockband.
It was about maples that had complaints against the oaks: The oaks were just too lofty and they grabbed up all the light. So the maples demanded equal rights. After a while they finally got their way. They passed a noble law: from then on the trees would be kept equal by axe and saw.
Dear Pastor Steve:
Thanks for the reply, but I am surprised that it is not buttressed by any sort of evidence whatsoever (save anecdotal accounts) to counter well-established facts. Instead, you resort to invective and ad hominems which have no place in rational discussion. Besides, what does any of this have to do with Freemasonry?? By retorting thus, you show a lack of clear thinking and are just downright abusive. While I am certainly not an expert in this area, my knowledge is more than superficial given my current career field in preventive medicine and public health.
I did not miss your point that justification and details are often lacking for health disparities. It is true that many, especially the mainstream media, often gloss over over these details and a blog post certainly does not allow us enough space or time to adequately cite the evidence. For that, I would recommend that readers go to http://www.pubmed.com and conduct a search of the peer-reviewed medical literature. Type in “health disparities” and see what comes up.
Please know that I am not advocating that wealth should be redistributed or that lifestyle and moral choices are not important. They clearly are. No self-respecting physician would say otherwise.
Genetic differences are real and are not merely the lifestyle choices of grandparents. Certain populations are predisposed to various ailments. For example, you would not screen for Tay-Sachs disease in an African-American population but would in an Ashkenazi Jewish population. You would also screen for sickle cell anemia in blacks, but not in whites. Why? The genetic risks differ and they have little to do with the lifestyle choices of grandparents. To claim otherwise just demonstrates ignorance, I am sorry to say.
Health disparities exist. The problem is complex and does not lend itself to quick fixes. My last point was that this is an area where Christians can make a difference in many different ways.
Kimberly,This is interesting, and I would guess that you are cocerrt that there is at least a subconscious bias in the medical profession, as in other parts of society. However, is it possible that the delay lies in a cultural bias with the patients themselves? Meaning, are white women more likely to schedule quick follow-up appointments when something abnormal is found? Do women of color have a tendency to think that going to the doctor repeatedly shows weakness and they can handle things themselves? Or is there a fear of doctors that makes them not seek follow-up care? Or a certain amount of denial? Like, if it don’t hear the true diagnosis, I can go on like nothing is wrong? For instance, I am white, as well as all of my family. However, my mother is religious about going to the doctor for check-ups and preventative care. My mother-in-law never goes to the doctor unless she’s practically on her death bed, because she was raised with a different attitude about when you go to the doctor and when you tough it out. Is it possible that, overall, different races or socio-economic groups (ie those with govt. healthcare) perceive the need for medical care differently? I really don’t know if any of this is true. They are just some things that came to mind. But maybe there are cultural issues we need to address on the sides of both the doctors AND the patients? What are your thoughts?
What’s this free masonry offer mentioned. My chimney is broken and I could use some help.
The full article is palylawed, which is a shame because the abstract looks pretty interesting.Its not just a prevalence study but a true incidence study with a ten year cohort follow up.I would want to look at the stats before I jumped to causal conclusions though.That risk reduction for students may just be a socio-economic indicator. Putting more girls through school may not help.And it seems kind of weird that being married reduces risk for women by nearly 50% but having been married increases risk for men by nearly 400%.
LOL! That’s funny.
Appreciate the comments Steve. All men are not created equal or in the same way. The God who judged Ananias & Sapphira is meticulously immanent on earth and governs all creatures and their actions (WCF -ch.5) and will sovereignly fulfill all His will according to His purpose. (cf.Rev.17:17) that is the comfort of His obedient and faithful servants especially when the heavy winds blow hard and they will!
Bill Campbell
I am a former ermtenealy school teacher in Berkeley and can attest to the need for high quality early childhood education opportunities for at-risk children.To help meet this need I have opened The School On The Hill (www.tsoth.org).TSOTH is a non-profit large family day care home in Richmond whose purpose is to provide high quality care for our under-served children by offering a sliding scale of fees for a program run by me, and experienced teacher and director of children’s programs for 30 years..It is my belief that credentialed teachers, after they leave the classroom, should dedicate themselves to our youngest community members by providing the opportunity to increase background knowledge for children whose parents are either working too many jobs, have limited resources, or any of the myriad issues facing many in our community here in Richmond, The Iron Triangle.Our community is home to a large low-SES community who need this kind of program.It is my hope that more teachers like me will pursue a license to open small, high quality preschool/day care programs to serve those who would most benefit from them. Richard SugermanDirector, The School On The Hill (www.tsoth.org)President, Stronger Than Dirt (www.strongerthandirt.org)
I beg to differ. All men ARE created equal in the image of God. If we have men who are not created equal then one group can claim that the other is less than fully human. What cannot be guaranteed is equality of outcome. This is what radical egalitarianism seeks to guarantee (outcomes) which it cannot without erasing important and necessary differences in our humanity. What should be protected is equality before the law and before God.
Ah…..aren’t the elect proud to be the elect? Calvinism at its finest.
Paul
Isn’t making a few miillon more dollars over a lifetime by obtaining a college degree an incentive?No.A student who secures a degree is increasingly unlikely to make up its cost, despite higher pay, and the employer who requires a degree puts faith in a system whose standards are slipping. […]Consider two childhood friends, Ernie and Bill. Hard workers with helpful families, each saves exactly $16,594 for college. Ernie doesn’t get accepted to a school he likes. Instead, he starts work at 18 and invests his college savings in a mutual fund that tracks the broad stock market.Throughout his life, he makes average yearly pay for a high school graduate with no college, starting at $15,901 after taxes and peaking at $32,538. Each month, he adds to his stock fund 5% of his after-tax income, close to the nation’s current savings rate. It returns 8% a year, typical for stock investors.Bill has a typical college experience. He gets into a public college and after two years transfers to a private one. He spends $49,286 on tuition and required fees, the average for such a track. I’m not counting room and board, since Bill must pay for his keep whether he goes to college or not. Bill gets average-size grants, adjusted for average probabilities of receiving them, and so pays $34,044 for college.He leaves school with an average-size student loan and a good interest rate: $17,450 at 5%. The $16,594 he has saved for college, you see, is precisely enough to pay what his loans don’t cover.Bill will have higher pay than Ernie his whole life, starting at $23,505 after taxes and peaking at $56,808. Like Ernie, he sets aside 5%. At that rate, it will take him 12 years to pay off his loan. Debt-free at 34, he starts adding to the same index fund as Ernie, making bigger monthly contributions with his higher pay. But when the two reunite at 65 for a retirement party, Ernie will have grown his savings to nearly $1.3 miillon. Bill will have less than a third of that.How can that be? College degrees bring higher income, but at today’s cost they can’t make up the savings they consume and the debt they add early in the life of a typical student. While Ernie was busy earning, Bill got stuck under his bill.
Steve’s experience that all poor can show up a hospital and receive care is overly simplistic and jaded. The poor often resort to the emergency room, for conditions that could have been treated weeks ago if they only had health insurance.
I am not sure what any of this has to do with white guilt, as this issue effects the entire poor uninsured population and has little to do with race (except for instances of genetic and cultural predisposition).
This post suffers from prejudice against class. Must be nice to receive health care from the church or indirectly due to the wealth of the congregation which pays your salary.
I don’t understand the reason for the anger against the government’s attempt to create equality for this civil right.
More Americans are wising up to the fact that colelge is a big fat waste of money. Sure, if you’re lucky enough, and smart enough, get into a big-name school, colelge is just fine. But for millions of other students, a four-year degree often puts them in a mountain of debt and doesn’t give them the skills they need in the job market. First, let’s consider how long it takes many students to finish colelge. Even after six years, only 54% of colelge students even get a degree. For high-school students in the bottom 40% of their class and who go to a four-year colelge, an amazing two-thirds hadn’t earned a diploma after eight-and-a-half years. Sheesh, that’s worse than Bluto! I can’t think of another industry that has such a dismal record. David Leonhardt recently wrote at the New York Times: “At its top levels, the American system of higher education may be the best in the world. Yet in terms of its core mission—turning teenagers into educated colelge graduates—much of the system is simply failing.” He’s exactly right. Still, tuition costs continue to skyrocket. Between 1982 and 2007, tuition and fees rose 439% compared with just 147% for median family income. The trend shows no sign of stopping. One year at Yale now goes for $47,500. The University of Florida system wants to raise tuition by 15%, the maximum allowed. Much like the housing bubble, the Higher Ed bubble is being driven by cheap, government supported credit. The problem is compounded by the fact that hugely important financial decisions are placed on the backs of 19-year-olds, many of whom simply don’t have the life experience to weigh the implications of a gigantic, 20-year debt load.