THE EDITOR, Sir:
IN HIS recent Sunday Gleaner commentary entitled 'Losing the Race', Dr. Orville Taylor raised a number of subjects worth consideration, especially the effect of diet on longevity.
Unfortunately, among them is the suggestion that African Americans in the United States are 'dying out and are in danger of extinction'.
The actual data available tell a different story, and I believe it would be an injustice to Americans of all ethnic backgrounds and to The Gleaner's readership to conclude African American History Month without responding to the issue.
For every census conducted in the United States, from the first in 1790 to the most recent in 2000, African Americans have registered significant increases in aggregate numbers, often at rates higher than other ethnic groups.
Dr. Taylor suggests that a century ago "people of African descent comprised 20 per cent of the population", but, in fact, never in the history of the United States has the proportion of African Americans actually been that high.
Indeed, the census data reveal that in 1900 African Americans made up 11.6 per cent of the total U.S. population. Today, just as Dr. Taylor says, Americans of African ancestry represent 12.8 per cent of the U.S. population. Moreover, this figure probably excludes large numbers of people of mixed ethnicity and Americans of Cuban, Dominican, Panamanian or other backgrounds who identify themselves in the census as Hispanics but who may also be of African ancestry.
Dr. Taylor also touches on the disparity of life expectancy between black and white Americans.
DIFFERENCE NARROWED
However, according to the 2002 data provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, rather than whites outliving blacks by "more than 10 years", the difference has narrowed to just 5.4 years.
Indeed, black women in the U.S. today enjoy a life expectancy greater than that of white males. African Americans are thriving in the United States today and the data suggests they will continue to do so in the future.
I find Dr. Taylor's articles interesting, and encourage him to comment on any aspect of American society of interest to him and his readers.
I would ask that if he has any questions on data relating to the United States, that he feel free to contact us.
I am, etc.,
THOMAS TIGHE
Deputy Chief of Mission
U.S. Embassy, St. Andrew
