February 17, 2016

"Just imagine with me, imagine if white kids were 500 percent more likely to die from asthma than black kids."

“Imagine if a white baby in South Carolina were twice as likely to die before her first birthday than an African-American baby. These are not only problems of economic inequality. These are problems of racial inequity, and we need to say that loudly and clearly."

Said Hillary Clinton, quoted in the NYT in "In Speech on Ending Racism, Hillary Clinton Offers $125 Billion Plan to Help Poor Minorities." This was the speech at Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Manhattan, which is getting more attention — in some places, notably Drudge...



... for her extensive coughing interlude. (I used the word "interlude" avoid "fit." Not every coughing incident is a "fit.")

75 comments:

Etienne said...

Why use "African-American" here? Why hyphenate?

What about "Caribbean-American" or "White-American" or White-Caribbean-American" or "White-German-Jewish-American".

If you say "white" on the one-hand, then say "black" on the other. PC crap.

If you say "black" you won't go to jail. I promise.

Etienne said...

Shouldn't that be:

Schomburg Center for Research in African-American Culture in Manhattan

rehajm said...

I was hoping Thyroid Mary was catchy but apparently there's one of those in the union already.

Mom 'n' Dad said...

That is so flipping rude and irresponsible and destructive; suggesting (without quite saying), "We'd be all over this asthma thing if it predominantly affected whites, but ..."

What a disgraceful piece of garbage she is.

Etienne said...

She's apologizing for being white, to a bunch of blacks with money to burn.

MikeR said...

So black children die of asthma because of racism? Our nation's doctors don't bother to treat them, and put them behind a white kid with a hangnail? What is she talking about?
I have been wondering why blacks support Clinton over Sanders, when as far as I know their programs are the same. But I think that the answer is that Sanders may be a socialist loon, but he says what he thinks. He doesn't think that systemic racism is the major problem that blacks have, and he talks about what he thinks are the major problems.
Clinton, on the other hand, panders to them (of course, and to everyone too). Very unfortunately, the black community has been accustomed to pandering for fifty years, and sees anything less as racism.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

Looks like somebody watched the closing arguments from A Time to Kill.

Ann Althouse said...

"Why use "African-American" here? Why hyphenate?"

The hyphen belongs there because the 2 words together make an adjective. The noun is "baby."

Ann Althouse said...

"Schomburg Center for Research in African-American Culture in Manhattan"

I see a good argument for saying "African-American baby" and "black culture" — culture being different from ancestry.

Ann Althouse said...

"That is so flipping rude and irresponsible and destructive; suggesting (without quite saying), "We'd be all over this asthma thing if it predominantly affected whites, but ...""

It's the same form of argument that was used about AIDS in the 1980s.

Original Mike said...

"If you say "white" on the one-hand, then say "black" on the other. PC crap."

Just the other day Sanders was taunted for saying "African-American" instead of black.

What a strange game. The only winning move is not to play.

Bob Boyd said...

Maybe Hillary injured herself barking.
Imitating dogs can be hazardous. I pulled a groin muscle once trying to pee on a hydrant, so I know what I'm talking about. That was many, many years ago and I was pretty drunk at the time, but still....lesson learned, right? I'm OK now.
And Hillary will probably get better too.

Martha said...

Just imagine with me an elderly overweight woman with a medical history of brain injury requiring a lengthy convalescence ....an elderly woman with a persistent hacking unexplained cough....this elderly woman running for President—what could go wrong?

Karen of Texas said...

War Games! Ahhh.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

Martha said...

...this elderly woman running for President—what could go wrong?

She could pull through?

Sammy Finkelman said...

“Imagine if a white baby in South Carolina were twice as likely to die before her first birthday than an African-American baby."

Then everybody would be asking: What are the blacks doing right? The way people ask about the French.

Nobody would say: A white baby in South Carolina is twice as likely to die before her first birthday than an African-American baby.

They wpuld say: An African-American baby in South Carolina has only one half the chance of dying before her first birthday than a white baby does.

Even in South Carolina, whites are the majority. (shortly after the Civil War, African Americans were actually a majority of the population in South Carolina. That changed later, especially after the Great Migration stated in 1916. But they are an absolute majority of Democratic voters.)

Original Mike said...

Funny, Bob!

Sal said...

Oh golly, lets just give money to minorities and their problems will be solved. Why didn't we think of that before?

MikeR said...

"Just imagine with me an elderly overweight woman with a medical history of brain injury requiring a lengthy convalescence ....an elderly woman with a persistent hacking unexplained cough....—what could go wrong?"
She might be black and be refused treatment? But I doubt that people worth hundreds of millions of dollars get refused treatment, event if they're black. This is a great country!

MikeR said...

Sorry, that's even

AllenS said...

Imagine Hillary on stage, coughing so hard that she shits her pants, and then drops out because of the embarrassment. Who will take her place, Biden, the Indian Woman... ?

Sammy Finkelman said...

I don't think Hillary Clinton is at all interested in getting a true answer to that question.

She's just trying to hint darkly at something evil, where there is no basis in fact.

exhelodrvr1 said...

Hopefully her solution is just to throw money at the problem. If she tries to pretend that any responsibility lies with the individuals/communities involved, nothing will be accomplished.

traditionalguy said...

Bill says we are all mixed races. Maybe he meant the old Arkansas trope about all being pink on the inside.

William said...

You would think that the trick is to appeal to black voters but to do so in such a way as not to alienate white voters, but you would be wrong. A significant proportion of white voters likes nothing so much as hearing whites dumped on. These anti white voices include some of the leading intellectuals in the white community. Just as Marxism was an ideology formulated and expounded not by the working class but by middle class intellectuals just so with white xenophobia.....Until now, I don think that many people considered asthma an ailment engineered by the vast right wing conspiracy to afflict blacks, but now it's out there. Thanks Hillary for raising our consciousness.

damikesc said...

This isn't her first odd coughing fit in a speech.

And glad to see she's going to start a WAR ON ASTHMA!!!

I love the belief that we ignore diseases if they don't impact white society. Because AIDS is such a HUGE issue for the mainstream white culture. Really. Totally is.

It's the same form of argument that was used about AIDS in the 1980s.

Equally as dumb as AIDS, honestly, isn't terribly hard to catch. And gays fought ANY attempts to limit transmission.

"CLOSE OUR BATH HOUSES WHERE WE HAVE ANONYMOUS SEX WITH RANDOM DUDES? HATE!!!"

Sammy Finkelman said...

coupe said...2/17/16, 8:22 AM

Why use "African-American" here?

Some people don't like "black" - and in fact we are using it literally over Martin Luther King's dead body - but prefer an ethnicity, but "Negro" is considered bad for some reason.

Around 1990, they came up with African-American (around 19700 theer was an attempt at "Afro-American"

Jesse Jackson endorsed it but "African-American" has just got too many syllables.

Michael said...

What does that even mean? That five times more black kids die of asthma than whites or that if each has asthma then the black kids die five times more often? Or is she suggesting there is some racial trait that causes black kids to die more easily, resolutely, than white kids with the same affliction? I doubt she knows what she meant.

Hunter said...

We already knew biology is sexist, since it makes reproduction so much harder on women than on men.

Biology is also racist.

Not having to fear sickle-cell anemia is just one more example of White Privilege.

Sammy Finkelman said...

William said...2/17/16, 9:02 AM

.....Until now, I don think that many people considered asthma an ailment engineered by the vast right wing conspiracy to afflict blacks, but now it's out there. Thanks Hillary for raising our consciousness.

No, that's been going on for time. It's supposedly "environmental racism," as exemplified by locating pollution - like bus garages - in residential neighborhoods that are poulated by blacks. (WELL, THEY ARE NOT LOCATED IN PLACES WHERE RICH PEOPLE LIVE!)

I think Al Gore talked about that thing too.

http://www.nytimes.com/1999/07/25/nyregion/gore-praises-a-bronx-hospital-as-bush-makes-a-baseball-visit.html

Mr. Gore, the leading contender for the Democratic nomination next year, broke ground for a children's hospital at Montefiore Medical Center, hailing it as a model.

The hospital will have a comprehensive program to treat children with asthma. Mr. Gore said the asthma hospitalization rate for children in the Bronx is five times the national rate.


Now some Republicans might point out, if asthma is a disease for which electing a Democrat as president is the cure, why is that still going on?

Sammy Finkelman said...

It's always with a tone like they just noticed - and indeed, to most people, the assertion that there are hgher rates of asthma in some places is new. So this can safely be used again.

Sammy Finkelman said...

Hunter said...2/17/16, 9:08 AM

We already knew biology is sexist, since it makes reproduction so much harder on women than on men.

Biology is also racist.

Not having to fear sickle-cell anemia is just one more example of White Privilege.


And approximately 3% - is it that high? - of whites cannot contract AIDS, because they lack the CD4 cells features that enable infection (the same mutation prottects against the Black Death) They can get infected, (and maybe infect others?) but don't become sick themselves. Very few non-whites have this.

Of course the sickle cell gene protects against malaria, and is anet benefit if you only have one copy.

tim maguire said...

Just as Marxism was an ideology formulated and expounded not by the working class but by middle class intellectuals just so with white xenophobia

Middle class? Engels was upper class and Marx was so poor, his maid had to sleep in his bed, and the bed was so small that she had his baby.

hawkeyedjb said...

Votes being purchased, expensively, with someone else's money.

Mattman26 said...

Ann says: "It's the same form of argument that was used about AIDS in the 1980s."

Yes, but when AIDS activists complained that the disease was being given short shrift because it was perceived as merely a "gay" disease (or a disease spread through certain behavior), there was at least an arguable basis for making such a charge.

Asthma? I would bet there are very substantial resources, governmental and non-governmental, trying to understand the causes, methods of prevention, and methods of treatment.

I don't imagine there is a shred of credible evidence that asthma is being given second-citizen status at all, much less for racial reasons. And Hillary surely knows better. It is ugly and cynical. She sucks.

khesanh0802 said...

@ Original Mike "How about a nice game of chess?"

Bill said...

Hillary goes from strength to strength!

Quaestor said...

"These are not only problems of economic inequality. These are problems of racial inequity, and we need to say that loudly and clearly."

Bullshit.

Fernandinande said...

“Imagine if a white baby in South Carolina were twice as likely to die before her first birthday than an African-American baby."

Oh my gosh! Imagine if a white baby were 2.8 times - er, I meant 280% because that sounds bigger - more likely to die of SIDS than an Asian baby - nationally! Medical racism is so unfair. Sob.

Offers $125 Billion Plan to Help Poor Minorities.

A nice example of "systemic racism".

Saint Croix said...

Imagine if a white baby in South Carolina were twice as likely to die before her first birthday than an African-American baby.

Ugh, the racism. So ugly.

You want to actually discuss this, HIllary? Okay. Let's start with why black babies have a higher fatality rate.

The CDC has an answer to this question. "The infant mortality rate among black infants is 2.4 times higher than that of white infants, primarily due to preterm birth."

Okay. Why are black moms giving birth prematurely, at such a higher rate than white moms?

One possibility is in regard to abortion rates. Black women abort pregnancies at five times the rate of white women.

Hillary says this is no big deal. Abortion is fine! Abortion is great. We love the billion dollar abortion industry.

Okay, but abortion leads to future premature births.

Black women abort pregnancies at higher rate. These abortions lead to future premature births. And so black women have a higher infant mortality rate.

And this fault lies not with Republicans, but with Hillary and her support of the abortion industry. Quit lying, Hillary. Quit playing your racial politics and start trying to help people.

Fernandinande said...

Ann Althouse said...
"Why use "African-American" here? Why hyphenate?"
The hyphen belongs there because the 2 words together make an adjective.


The question obviously was 'Why use "African-American"', which is an inappropriate and misleading political description that includes Caucasians and potentially people of any other race. A racial or biological description is appropriate when discussing medical (biological) issues.

Birches said...

I'm going to say something controversial. Black children are more likely to die from asthma because of their culture. I'll even use myself as an example. Two of my girls have asthma. The first was only diagnosed after she turned blue. Why? Were the doctors indifferent to the Mexican child's suffering? No, I was. To me, she was just coughing, and if she could cough, then she was fine. I'd tell her to try and relax so she could stop coughing. I'd seen all the Scarymommies with their breathing treatments for Blaine or Gavin or Sophia and thought they were wasting their time and money, because their kids were perfectly fine.

I didn't know what asthma looked like. I don't know how you can PSA your way into showing it; the line is tricky. But I know it now: second daughter was taken in right away.

FullMoon said...

Maybe their parents should give up smoking, see how that affects asthma. If it is caused by the environment, the white kids in the poor "black" neighborhood would have the same rate.
There are white, Asian, Indian, Hispanic kids in the poor, predominately black neighborhoods.

n.n said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Big Mike said...

I used the word "interlude" avoid "fit." Not every coughing incident is a "fit."

Maybe not, Professor, but that coughing "incident" was a "fit."

And, as usual, the standard Democrat "solution" is to throw money at the problem and walk away.

n.n said...

Africa is a geographical region, not a legal jurisdiction. African-American includes white, brown, yellow, red, etc. babies of African birth. Class diversity policies have corrupted her perspective.

Also, the leading cause of anthropogenic human mortality is abortion rites. Not war. Not pollution. Not guns.

Treating symptoms while exacerbating underling causes has been a lucrative business model for the "secular" social complex.

Step into the light. Lose your pro-choice religion pulled from the dark fringes of a penumbra.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

"“Imagine if a white baby in South Carolina were twice as likely to die before her first birthday than an African-American baby."

Imagine if the Democrat Party didn't have a vital interest in keeping black folks in poverty. Alas, a Permanent Majority requires a permanent underclass.

Fabi said...

I ain't in no ways tarred of panderin' to da black folk or buyin' their votes with big bags o' cash!

Mattman26 said...

Thank you, Fabi, for my first good laugh of the day.

jr565 said...

"Imagine if a white baby in South Carolina were twice as likely to die before her first birthday than an African-American baby. These are not only problems of economic inequality. These are problems of racial inequity, and we need to say that loudly and clearly."

She's saying that inner city blacks are getting ashthma at a much higher rate. She blames it on racial inequality. But who controls all those blue states inner cities? Why has preventing asthma not been high on the priority list of those actually running those cities?

jr565 said...

"Yes, but when AIDS activists complained that the disease was being given short shrift because it was perceived as merely a "gay" disease (or a disease spread through certain behavior), there was at least an arguable basis for making such a charge."

Not really. There was little money put into AIDS initilaly because it was such a minor disease that infected almost no one. As it became more prevalent and more was made known about it more money was pumped into it. Even under Reagan's term.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

May I attempt a translation?

"You people are bribe-able, will $125B do it? You know I'll say and do whatever I need to now to get your vote, and I might even deliver on some of it if I'm elected. Give me your votes and I'll give you the money and we'll pretend like that will actually fix something. In a few election cycles everyone will care more about pandering to Hispanics, do you'd better take what you can get now."

HoodlumDoodlum said...

Original Mike said...Just the other day Sanders was taunted for saying "African-American" instead of black.

If true then he should have been taunted--you have to speak the language of the people you want to persuade, man. It's like saying two Corinthians, you know?

Anyway the preferred phrase now is "black bodies." I guess really it's "black and brown bodies," but right now we aren't focusing as much on the brown bodies apparently.

Why "bodies" instead of "people?" I don't know, man, ask the Left.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

Ann Althouse said...It's the same form of argument that was used about AIDS in the 1980s.

Yes, it is, since obviously the AIDS epidemic was Reagan's fault--well, the Right's fault generally and Reagan's administration in particular. I mean, their homophobia and hatred of gay people made them make the epidemic worse; that's the only story you'll hear in the Media/pop culture, of course.

If I said "if Kathryn Steinle had been shot by a white nationalist instead of an hispanic illegal immigrant (who had already been deported several times) that story would have received more coverage and been used to pass laws (against hate groups, say, or restricting firearm possession, etc)" then I'd be racist and fanning the flames of bigotry. When anyone points out the fact that white people are more likely to be the victims of inter-racial crimes (compared with members of other racial groups as victims of whites) that's denounced as clearly racist. But when the Left accuses the nation (well, really white people) of racism using the same form of argument that's just fine, nothing ugly about it. Probably it's my white privilege flaring up, but that seems wrong.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

It's my privilege, as a white man, to be the root cause of all problems/to be to blame for pretty much everything.
What does $125B work out to per white person? Or is it just white men?
This is in addition to the reparations I'll need to pay, right? Or is there some sort of credit system?

sunsong said...

Does Hillary secretly smoke? She sure has a low voice?

Original Mike said...

So, between Negro and African-American, the preferred label was "black", wasn't it? Or is my memory failing me?

jr565 said...

Mattman26 wrote:
I don't imagine there is a shred of credible evidence that asthma is being given second-citizen status at all, much less for racial reasons.

This seems to be a logical fallacy that dems and liberals in particular seem to constantly exhibit. Namely, assuming that because a group is more impacted by a policy that there is something racist or sexist inherent in the policy. THey can't understand that there are natural discrepencies created simply because of how people behave that are borne out in statistics.
So for example the fact that blacks have more instances of asthma. Well, the issue is that kids get asthma worse than adults. people living in inner cities tend to get worse asthma than kids not living in inner cities (for a variety of reasons). Blacks tend to live in inner cites. Therefore, they tend to get asthma at a higher level.
No racism required.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Smilin' Jack said...

"...imagine if white kids were 500 percent more likely to die from asthma than black kids...imagine if a white baby in South Carolina were twice as likely to die before her first birthday than an African-American baby....

If she hadn't had a coughing fit she might have continued the song.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

You've got to vacuum up the furniture and vacuum in the cracks
Because the dander and the dust can give kids asthma attacks (yeah!)

Theranter said...

N.N. said: Also, the leading cause of anthropogenic human mortality is abortion rites. Not war. Not pollution. Not guns.

Treating symptoms while exacerbating underlying causes has been a lucrative business model for the "secular" social complex.


Exactly. Talk about exacerbating underlying causes, a buried area (because it doesn’t fit the agenda) of legitimate research that needs to be revived is #3 below of these excerpts from a paper. I am sick of women being lied to about the harms of certain forms of birth control and abortion. I am not against the legality of either, just want women to be able to make informed choices based on legit research:

“If one considers: the higher relative % of black women having abortions; the increased odds of a preterm/low birth weight baby after abortion(s); and one of the leading causes of infant deaths is preterm/low birth weight…

(1) “The leading causes of infant deaths in S.C. are birth defects, disorders related to low birth weight and preterm birth, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, and accidents…”

(2) “Rate of LowBirthWeight in SC Resident Births, 2009 White 7.9%; Black 14.6% Hispanic 6.6%” (This report also ties the sometimes lengthy “Drive Times to Level III Hospitals” in SC as a factor in birth outcomes. Funny, that it doesn’t even matter that an abortionist have admitting privileges to a hospital to save a woman’s life, or even that the abortion facility meet standard ambulatory facility regs.)

(3) “Six studies show statistically significant elevation of risk of [low birth weight] XPB for women with prior induced abortion (IA), compared with women with no prior IA. … In 1987, Harvard researchers led by Ellice Lieberman reported that black women in the Boston area with more than one prior IA had 1.9 times the odds of a [preterm birth] PTB compared to black women with no prior IA. … the Institute of Medicine confirmed that “prior first trimester induced abortion” is an “immutable medical risk factor associated with preterm birth.” In 2004, 38.2% of all U.S. surgical abortions were performed on black women, who comprise about 12.5% of the U.S. female population. This means that the abortion rate in blacks is 4.3 times as high as in non-blacks. The high relative abortion rate of blacks is a probable cause of the disparity in PTB.

(This report conveniently omits another contributing factor, the number aborted after detecting birth defects): “One of the sharpest declines in [SC] infant deaths was among deaths due to birth defects. …there was a 23.3 percent reduction in deaths due to birth defects from 2013 to 2014. Data from the S. Carolina Birth Defects program indicate that while there was a small decrease in the number of birth defects occurring in 2014, the decrease in deaths due to birth defects is primarily due to improved survival among infants born with birth defects. … S.Carolina's infant mortality rate among African-Americans remained relatively stable at 10.2 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2014. This rate remains less than the national infant mortality rate among African-American babies (11.1).” (4)


(1)https://www.scdhec.gov/library/cr-010842.pdf
(2)https://www.scdhhs.gov/sites/default/files/BOI%20Disparities%20Work%20Group%20presentation_0.pdf
(3) “Does Induced Abortion Account for Racial Disparity in Preterm Births, and Violate the Nuremberg Code?” at http://www.jpands.org/vol13no4/rooney.pdf
(4) https://www.scdhec.gov/Agency/NewsReleases/2015/nr20150411-01/”

Henry said...

I wonder where she gets her data?

http://www.cdc.gov/asthma/most_recent_data.htm

Deaths per million:
White Non-hispanic: 8.4
Black Non-hispanic: 25.9

That's 200% more, not 500% more, but it includes adults and children and children are far less likely to die from Asthma than adults:

Deaths per million:
Child (Age <18): 3.0
Adult (Age >=18): 14.1

The less dramatic number for prevalence is roughly 2 to 1 (or 100% more).

Prevalence of Asthma:
White, non-hispanic, child (Age <18): 7.5%
Black, non-hispanic, child (Age <18): 13.4%

When I used wonder.cdc.gov to try to refine asthma mortality rates by age, and race I get about 1.5 to 1.

Henry said...

I guess, since Ms. Clinton was saying "imagine if" she could have used any numbers she wanted.

buwaya said...

This is another interesting divergence in public health between ethnic groups.

Hispanic people in the US, notably Mexicans, actually have very good rates in what would be poverty/economic development related indicators like infant mortality and longevity - and asthma.

US Hispanics, especially Mexicans, have infant mortality rates identical to or even lower than whites. This is a long standing conundrum for people who want to say that infant mortality is driven by poverty, as Hispanics/Mexicans have very similar median incomes, wealth, what have you vs blacks.

Likewise asthma rates -
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db94.htm

http://www.healio.com/pediatrics/curbside-consultation/%7B33b52044-2e61-48ed-a163-c6ff55816867%7D/which-groups-of-children

also, interestingly, different Hispanic groups have very different rates.
Mexicans have extremely low asthma rates.
Puerto Ricans have extremely high rates.
Overall I'd say this indicates some sort of cultural or genetic factor is going on here.

buwaya said...

I'm not so sure about the abortion connection.
Abortion stats are very poor generally, and are only reasonably dependable in certain states.
Even so, abortion rates among Hispanics seem to be fairly high IIRC, something like 25% of them as per Guttmacher, which isn't that far from the black 30%. This does not help the argument for the abortion-premature infant linkage, as Hispanic infant mortality is very low.

Chuck said...

We already know about a disease that is 500 times more likely to afflict and kill white children. Cystic fibrosis. And the reaction has been, 'Let's raise funds, work in the research, and beat the disease for the good of all mankind." And you never, ever hear about demanding funding because white children are deserving of special attention.

Period. End of story, Democrats.

Gusty Winds said...

Maybe she's just choking on her own campaign.

Gahrie said...

Elon Musk is an African American.

Original Mike said...

"What is wrong with her?"

How much time ya got?

David said...

Just a little pander stuck in her throat. It will pass.

AllenS said...

Barking like a dog, will hurt your vocal chords.

n.n said...

Gahrie:

Elon Musk is an African American.

Yeah, you're right. He survived the progressive wars of redistributive and retributive change.

MacMacConnell said...

The Black asthma problem most likely has to do with the poor quality of refer and cigarettes the kids are smoking.

Mike said...

Ah, the Clinton three step for securing the African-American vote

1) Get endorsements from prominent black leaders.
2) Promise lots of spending to help black communities.
3) Once elected, stab blacks in the back with ruinous economic and criminal "reforms".