Race differences are always interesting. So here’s a contest. The winner gets a prize.See the graph above? It illustrates a U.S. government statistic. But what statistic? Ahh. You have to figure that out.
To make it extra challenging... only one guess per commenter. So give it your best shot. What do those numbers mean?The first person to put the correct answer in the comments section will win a paperback copy of “How Race Is Lived in America,” the book version of a Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times series from 2000. (Which happens to include a detailed story about the making of HBO’s “The Corner.”)
UPDATE (08/20/07): We got a winner. Withnail guessed obesity.
To be exact: these are the rates of teenage obesity broken down by race, according to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The chart is from a 2003 special report in the Birmingham (Ala.) News.
ubm, always challenging your readers. i have no idea but in keeping with today's turbulent financial times i will say those numbers represent foreclosures broken down by race.
ReplyDeleteDo these stats have anything to do with the rise of obesity?
ReplyDeletewho supposedly commit the most crimes?
ReplyDeleteWithnail, you got it. Teenage obesity, to be precise.
ReplyDeleteEmail me at the address on the profile page and tell me where to send the book.
ubm, always challenging your readers.
ReplyDeleteI'm a game-show nerd, justjudith... that's what it is.
Huh. I was going to guess poverty rates, and the census numbers from 2003 (the same year as this survey) actually do line up quite closely for Blacks and for Hispanics (not the same as Mexican-Americans, but still): 24.4% and 22.5%, respectively.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, non-Hispanic Whites clock in at only 8% below the poverty line. This means that if we hypothesize teenage obesity as closely poverty-linked, there's something in White America that's leading to higher rates of obesity than their poverty rates would predict.
Dammit, I missed the contest!
ReplyDeleteHmpf.
L
i knew it was something bad...do we lead in anything good?
ReplyDeleteHere’s one not to get depressed about, justjudith:
ReplyDeleteSuicide rates for females age 15 and older (2002):
White – 5.1 per 100,000
Amerindian – 4.1 per 100,000
Asian – 3.0 per 100,000
Hispanic – 1.8 per 100,000
Black – 1.6 per 100,000
^ Even when shit is down, black people are happy.
ReplyDeleteThe mention of "The Corner" reminds me, I just read a NYTimes article about how the "real" Omar and Fran from The Corner got married. Nice...I never thought The Wire and The Corner were that connected.
Even when shit is down, black people are happy.
ReplyDeleteOr turn it around: How much better does life have to be for white people for them not to kill themselves?
^lol. thanks d. you always come through!
ReplyDelete"Even when shit is down, black people are happy.
ReplyDeleteOr turn it around: How much better does life have to be for white people for them not to kill themselves?"
Man, that took back to the common sense of the community I was brought up in.
Thanks, UBM.
Success! I'd like to thank the academy...
ReplyDelete^ I'm curious, withnail... was it a wild guess or what? I thought folks would go through drop-out rates, crime, etc., before arriving at obesity.
ReplyDeleteOr turn it around: How much better does life have to be for white people for them not to kill themselves?
ReplyDeleteIf I'm not mistaken, suicide rates are usually higher among suburban, middle-upper class whites right? I think it has something to do with the kids being isolated...to me it seems like when it comes to the black community, nobody is really "isolated", there is perhaps a strong sense of "kinship", which goes for Hispanics and other minorities too. I am surprised by the high suicide rate among Asians though.