Racism shapes how life itself is allocated among us

Rep. Elijah Cummings' wife, Maya Rockeymoore Cummings, eulogized her deceased husband with a declaration that seems to crystallize the struggle we all face in this ugly moment:

He worked until his last breath because he believed our democracy was the highest and best expression of our collective humanity and that our nation’s diversity was our promise, not our problem.

Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, Director of the Antiracist Research and Policy Center at American University, explains how Cummings death at 68 years made the Congressman another example of how white privilege plays out among us.

... there may be no more consequential white privilege than life itself. The privilege of being on the living end of racism. ...

In Philadelphia, black men live 69 years, five years less than the average of other men, and 10 years less than the average of other women. In Kansas City, a black man can expect his life to end 20 years earlier than a white woman living 10 minutes away. In Chicago, a white resident in Streeterville can expect to live until 90, while a black resident nine miles south in Englewood can expect to live until 60. The 30-year gap in Chicago is the largest in the nation, followed by 27.5 years in Washington, D.C.; 27.4 in New York City; and 25.8 years in New Orleans and Buffalo, New York. In all, 56 of America’s 500 largest cities have sizable life-expectancy gaps between segregated neighborhoods, a recent study found.

Read it all for a nuanced exploration of Black male mortality by someone who has been forced to face his own impaired life expectancy.