Compared to a white child...

My principal read this at our staff meeting today to celebrate the work we have been doing and will continue to do at our school. Today is "Day of the Teacher" and I think that this piece highlights why I chose to teach where I do....

Compared with a White child in the Oakland hills, an African American born in West Oakland is 1.5 times more likely to be born premature or low birth weight, 7 times more likely to be born into poverty, 2 times as likely to live in a home that is rented and 4 times more likely to have parents with only a high school education or less.

As a toddler, this child is 2.5 times more likely to be behind in vaccinations. By 4th grade, this child is 4 times less likely to live in a neighborhood with 2 times the concentration of liquor stores and more fast food outlets. Ultimately, this adolescent is 5.6 times more likely to drop out of school and less likely to attend a 4-year college than a White adolescent.

As an adult, he will be 5 times more likely to be hospitalized for diabetes, 2 times as likely to be hospitalized for and to die of heart disease, 3 times more likely to die of stroke and twice as likely to die of cancer.

Born in West Oakland, this person can expect to die almost 15 years earlier than a White person born in the Oakland Hills.


Extremely eye-opening, touching and reminds me of the ever important work that I do to try and save my African American students from falling into this pattern.....



Excerpt taken from:
*Iton, Tony et al. Life and Death from Unnatural Causes: Health and Social Inequity in Alameda County Alameda County Public Health Department, August 2008