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Interesting (and perhaps emblematic) that DC has the highest life expectancy for whites, yet the lowest for blacks compared to any states that keep that statist

by 3131s 10y ago

Interesting (and perhaps emblematic) that DC has the highest life expectancy for whites, yet the lowest for blacks compared to any states that keep that statistic.

purple-again 10y ago
Not surprising for whites. D.C. Is home to many of the richest and most powerful families in the nation, most of which are still whites. It's long been studied that the rich have much better access which leads to a higher life expectancy on average. The blacks is a head scratcher. You would expect Baltimore or Chicago to crush DC thanks to their famous gang violence but maybe those states don't provide statistics.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- dragonwriter 10y ago
  > You would expect Baltimore or Chicago to crush DC thanks to their famous gang violence but maybe those states don't provide statistics D.C. has a high violent crime rate, but Republican politicians recently don't trumpet it to attack the local government and the party behind it the way they do Baltimore or, particularly, Chicago's, perhaps because while D.C. has an elected (and Democrat-dominated) city government that is allowed some latitude, it's government is Constitutionally a Congressional power, and Congress regularly exercises that power to prescribe local policy or veto local government acts, so they'd end up pointing the finger at their own failures if they were to blame government in D.C.
dragonwriter 10y ago
D.C.'s population includes, to a first approximation, the governing elite of.the nation (including both government officers and lobbyists, etc.) who come to D.C. because that's where the capital is, and the local population that is there because they can't afford to leave. The former is overwhelmingly white (and higher socioeconomic status that whites generally in the nation), the latter is overwhelmingly black and poor.
- 3131s 10y ago
  So, a story from my wife... Back in high school, her friend had received a scholarship to visit DC. Being young and from Cambodia, she and her friend at the time had a rosy impression of the US from movies and other media. The assumption must have been that DC, being the capital, would epitomize the glamorous, American-dream image that is exported globally. Apparently on the first night there though, the friend decided to go out exploring the city but very quickly ended up in a dodgy area. Already a little perplexed by the surroundings and some strangely-behaving characters that were wandering around, the friend heard a commotion from above and looked up to see four guys sitting in a tree, yelling and smoking crack / meth (or maybe weed, but I'm guessing not). After returning from the trip, the friend faced some incredulous reactions in response to this story from their other classmates, but now that they're older and more aware of reality in the US, it's probably not so unbelievable.

by 3131s 10y ago

Interesting (and perhaps emblematic) that DC has the highest life expectancy for whites, yet the lowest for blacks compared to any states that keep that statistic.

purple-again 10y ago

Not surprising for whites. D.C. Is home to many of the richest and most powerful families in the nation, most of which are still whites. It's long been studied that the rich have much better access which leads to a higher life expectancy on average. The blacks is a head scratcher. You would expect Baltimore or Chicago to crush DC thanks to their famous gang violence but maybe those states don't provide statistics.

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
dragonwriter 10y ago
> You would expect Baltimore or Chicago to crush DC thanks to their famous gang violence but maybe those states don't provide statistics D.C. has a high violent crime rate, but Republican politicians recently don't trumpet it to attack the local government and the party behind it the way they do Baltimore or, particularly, Chicago's, perhaps because while D.C. has an elected (and Democrat-dominated) city government that is allowed some latitude, it's government is Constitutionally a Congressional power, and Congress regularly exercises that power to prescribe local policy or veto local government acts, so they'd end up pointing the finger at their own failures if they were to blame government in D.C.

dragonwriter 10y ago

D.C.'s population includes, to a first approximation, the governing elite of.the nation (including both government officers and lobbyists, etc.) who come to D.C. because that's where the capital is, and the local population that is there because they can't afford to leave. The former is overwhelmingly white (and higher socioeconomic status that whites generally in the nation), the latter is overwhelmingly black and poor.

3131s 10y ago
So, a story from my wife... Back in high school, her friend had received a scholarship to visit DC. Being young and from Cambodia, she and her friend at the time had a rosy impression of the US from movies and other media. The assumption must have been that DC, being the capital, would epitomize the glamorous, American-dream image that is exported globally. Apparently on the first night there though, the friend decided to go out exploring the city but very quickly ended up in a dodgy area. Already a little perplexed by the surroundings and some strangely-behaving characters that were wandering around, the friend heard a commotion from above and looked up to see four guys sitting in a tree, yelling and smoking crack / meth (or maybe weed, but I'm guessing not). After returning from the trip, the friend faced some incredulous reactions in response to this story from their other classmates, but now that they're older and more aware of reality in the US, it's probably not so unbelievable.