Arrington_Ervin
Participant
    Post count: 2

    d) If one reviews co-morbidities of chronic diseases (hypertension, diabetes, asthma, obesity, etc.) and their associated mortality rates across the 50 United States – to what conclusions can one come? What social-economic determinants are driving those situations?
    After checking the CDC’s “Leading Indicator for Chronic Diseases and Risk Factors” portal, it was present that in the Southeastern region of the United States, as well as Texas and Oklahoma, that co-morbidities of chronic diseases were most prevalent in these areas, with the Western side of the country consistently being lower. With these statistics, I can draw the conclusion that the South has citizens who lack the economic and financial means to make themselves healthier or receive assistance. The Southeastern region has always been a rural area that centers their economy around agriculture and farming; this was evident during the 17th and 18th centuries where the world’s top product, cotton, was being manufactured from this area only. After the emancipation, many slaves and farmers remained in the South to find work near an area their comfortable with rather than having to migrate North. Although, this also led to the isolation of previous slave owners from their past workers and the segregation of colored people from the rest of society, this led to the lowering of the unification of Southern cities. With the lack of density and population, the Southeastern region never became the urban landmark like that of their Western, Mid-Western, and Northeastern counterparts. As a result, the South possesses more people who may not have access to healthcare offices due to the location of their homes, making chronic diseases more prevalent in these areas.

    e) How do the stories and research that supported slavery mentioned in The 1619 Project tie to health related issues for African-Americans today? Do you think matters of wealth, income, land ownership and access to credit play a role in healthy/unhealthy communities? What advantage/disadvantage do payday cash stores play in today’s society?
    With help from the stories explained in The 1619 Project, we can conclude that African Americans were forced to become second class citizens to that of our white counterparts, causing a strain on black lives even to this day. As the United States declared their independence, “our” founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson in particular, envisioned a country where “all men are created” and each person is “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights” unless you were black. African Americans in the country were seen as inferior to that of the white race, leading to the continued enslavement and discrimination of our people. The economic and political systems that ran the country at the time were primarily focused towards keeping the white people in power and the black people in captivity. Due to the lack of concern over the course of 400 years from the government, African Americans carry burdens that no other race in America does. In today’s world, African Americans are more susceptible to viruses and various other illnesses simply because of their socioeconomic status and proximity to other individuals. According to WebMD, African Americans live in areas that tend to have poor air conditions, causing lung disease and asthma, African Americans respond to blood treatment differently than those of white people, leading to high blood pressure and heart disease, and African Americans are more likely to contract, and die, of diabetes than that of white people. Areas that lack individuals with substantial amounts of wealth and income tend to be areas that suffer from more illnesses, due to the fact that they lack the funds in order to finance treatments; plus, if these low income areas are faced with a virus, like CO-VID 19, it will attack them harder and faster since the people of these areas are, in fact, closer in proximity. Land ownership and credit play an additional part to the problem as well since those who do not possess land or property and have bad credit receive no additional help from insurance companies and the government, allowing for more sick people to roam the city rather than be in their own property isolated from the rest of the community. Individuals might combat their bills using payday cash stores which help tremendously the day of, but over time, I feel as though it will only hurt individuals financially due to high APRs, increasing interest and making it much more difficult to pay off the loan, stated on Self.inc.