WEBVTT 00:02.066 --> 00:05.400 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% AMNA NAWAZ: Now the second of a two-part Race Matters report from Paul Solman on how past 00:07.433 --> 00:10.100 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% and present inequalities have sapped the wealth and health of black Americans. 00:10.100 --> 00:15.100 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% Last night, Paul focused on economic matters. Tonight, he looks at health outcomes, all 00:15.966 --> 00:17.966 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% magnified in the time of COVID. 00:17.966 --> 00:21.766 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% His report is part of our ongoing series Making Sense. 00:21.766 --> 00:26.766 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% PAUL SOLMAN: Within 48 hours, Desmond Tolbert lost both mother and father to COVID-19. 00:28.766 --> 00:31.733 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% DESMOND TOLBERT, Georgia Resident: Both your parents at the same time, it's hard. 00:31.733 --> 00:36.733 align:left position:0%,start line:73.33% size:100% PAUL SOLMAN: Back in April, black rural Georgia, where the Tolberts live, had some of America's 00:38.766 --> 00:41.900 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% highest pandemic death rates, foreshadowing today's stunning statistic, that black Americans 00:43.900 --> 00:48.566 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% are at least twice as likely to die of COVID-19 than whites, almost four times more likely 00:50.166 --> 00:52.500 align:left position:12.5%,start line:80% size:87.5% when you control for the fact that the black population is younger. 00:52.500 --> 00:54.666 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% REV. HORACE SHEFFIELD, New Destiny Christian Fellowship: I have never dealt with so much 00:54.666 --> 00:58.500 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% death in my life in such a short period of time as this. 00:58.500 --> 01:03.466 align:left position:0%,start line:73.33% size:100% PAUL SOLMAN: Longtime Detroit civil rights activist Rev. Horace Sheffield, 65, had COVID-19 01:05.133 --> 01:09.233 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% himself in March. He recovered. But his congregation has been decimated. 01:11.733 --> 01:13.766 align:left position:0%,start line:73.33% size:100% REV. HORACE SHEFFIELD: We all experience death in urban settings, people who are killed before 01:13.766 --> 01:18.600 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% their time in violence and all that, but nothing like this at all, ever. 01:20.600 --> 01:23.400 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% PAUL SOLMAN: Prison guard David Felton is one of Sheffield's parishioners. 01:23.400 --> 01:27.900 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% DAVID FELTON, Parishioner: I was in the hospital for five days, off work for 30 days, after 01:27.900 --> 01:30.000 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% contracting COVID. 01:30.000 --> 01:33.900 align:left position:12.5%,start line:73.33% size:87.5% K.C. WILBOURN-SNAPP, Parishioner: I also had a relative that passed from COVID-19. 01:33.900 --> 01:36.933 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% PAUL SOLMAN: Fellow congregant K.C. Wilbourn-Snapp. 01:36.933 --> 01:39.200 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% K.C. WILBOURN-SNAPP: He was 51 years old. 01:39.200 --> 01:43.600 align:left position:12.5%,start line:73.33% size:87.5% SHAFINA CHE WIGGENS, Parishioner: I lost my husband to the virus. I also had it myself. 01:43.600 --> 01:45.266 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% So it's been pretty tough. 01:45.266 --> 01:47.533 align:left position:12.5%,start line:80% size:87.5% PAUL SOLMAN: Shafina Che's husband, Dajuan Wiggens,, was 47. 01:47.533 --> 01:49.900 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% SHAFINA CHE WIGGENS: He died March the 31st. 01:49.900 --> 01:51.966 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% PAUL SOLMAN: Why, if he's only 47? 01:51.966 --> 01:54.433 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% SHAFINA CHE WIGGENS: Well, he did have high blood pressure. 01:54.433 --> 01:59.400 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% PAUL SOLMAN: And thus the puzzle that prompted this story: Why are African-Americans dying 02:00.633 --> 02:02.633 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% at a much higher rate than whites? 02:02.633 --> 02:05.133 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% TREVON LOGAN, The Ohio State University: Factor one would be essential worker employment. 02:05.133 --> 02:08.700 align:left position:12.5%,start line:80% size:87.5% PAUL SOLMAN: Economics explains a lot, says Professor Trevon Logan. 02:08.700 --> 02:13.400 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% TREVON LOGAN: A second factor would be density of living arrangements and higher rates of 02:13.400 --> 02:15.300 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% public transportation use. 02:15.300 --> 02:19.033 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% PAUL SOLMAN: As Marcus Thorpe put it of his 90-minute New York bus commute: 02:19.033 --> 02:22.566 align:left position:12.5%,start line:73.33% size:87.5% MARCUS THORPE, New York City Resident: If you don't have a car, you got to get on something. 02:22.566 --> 02:24.633 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% You know what I'm saying? 02:24.633 --> 02:27.800 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% PAUL SOLMAN: And there are a number of other problems that threaten the health of black 02:27.800 --> 02:32.300 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% Americans broadly, like the food desert, which is L'Tanya Holley's D.C. neighborhood. 02:32.300 --> 02:34.433 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% L'TANYA HOLLEY, Maya Angelou Public Charter and Public Learning Center: There's not a 02:34.433 --> 02:38.500 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% grocery store in this area. The urban farm up the street was closed down. So what are 02:39.700 --> 02:41.666 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% the people supposed to do? They have to eat. 02:41.666 --> 02:45.433 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% MAINZA SNAPP, Detroit Resident: Where I grew up on the East Side, it's not uncommon to 02:45.433 --> 02:48.300 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% see Coney Island McDonald's, whatever, the fast-food restaurant. 02:48.300 --> 02:50.566 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% PAUL SOLMAN: That's Mainza Snapp of Detroit. 02:50.566 --> 02:55.533 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% MAINZA SNAPP: And then you see the liquor stores everywhere promoting cigarettes, alcohol, 02:57.133 --> 02:59.200 align:left position:12.5%,start line:80% size:87.5% every single thing that you wouldn't see in a white neighborhood. 02:59.200 --> 03:01.200 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% DR. LISA COOPER, Johns Hopkins University: We do know that socioeconomic status has a 03:01.200 --> 03:05.066 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% huge impact on a whole host of health outcomes. 03:05.066 --> 03:09.266 align:left position:0%,start line:73.33% size:100% PAUL SOLMAN: Public health physician Lisa Cooper is professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins. 03:09.266 --> 03:14.200 align:left position:0%,start line:73.33% size:100% DR. LISA COOPER: African-Americans are at greater risk for developing chronic diseases 03:14.200 --> 03:16.766 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% like diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease. 03:16.766 --> 03:21.566 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% PAUL SOLMAN: All contribute, says Dr. Cooper, to a health condition among blacks sometimes 03:21.566 --> 03:25.200 align:left position:12.5%,start line:80% size:87.5% called weathering, which has been linked to cumulative stress. 03:25.200 --> 03:30.200 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% DR. LISA COOPER: The body responds as if it's, you know, trying to defend itself. And so 03:31.566 --> 03:33.200 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% there are elevated levels of stress hormones. 03:33.200 --> 03:35.700 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% PAUL SOLMAN: Which everyone knows are no good for you. 03:35.700 --> 03:40.633 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% DR. LISA COOPER: Also leads to premature aging. And so it would explain a lot of the phenomena 03:40.633 --> 03:43.333 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% that we see among African-Americans. 03:43.333 --> 03:46.166 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% RASHAWN RAY, University of Maryland: There is another study that looked at telomeres. 03:46.166 --> 03:49.933 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% PAUL SOLMAN: Telomeres are the protective caps at the end of chromosomes that get shorter 03:49.933 --> 03:52.366 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% with age, explains sociologist Rashawn Ray. 03:52.366 --> 03:57.366 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% RASHAWN RAY: And what this research found is that black teenagers who are living in 03:59.500 --> 04:02.266 align:left position:12.5%,start line:73.33% size:87.5% neighborhoods that are underserved, that have high levels of crime, their telomeres are 04:02.266 --> 04:07.266 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% the same length as elderly men, suggesting the ways in which weathering and chronic stress 04:08.000 --> 04:09.966 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% has impacted them. 04:09.966 --> 04:13.200 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% PAUL SOLMAN: But let's be clear. For black Americans, economic stressors are just part 04:13.200 --> 04:15.166 align:left position:25%,start line:93.33% size:75% of the story. 04:15.166 --> 04:19.033 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% DAVID WILLIAMS, Harvard University: America has recently awakened to a steady drumbeat 04:19.033 --> 04:22.400 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% of unarmed black men being shot by the police. 04:22.400 --> 04:25.500 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% PAUL SOLMAN: A TED Talk by sociologist David Williams. 04:25.500 --> 04:30.500 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% DAVID WILLIAMS: What is even a bigger story is that, every seven minutes, a black person 04:35.000 --> 04:37.733 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% dies prematurely in the United States. 04:37.733 --> 04:39.833 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% PAUL SOLMAN: Why? 04:39.833 --> 04:43.833 align:left position:12.5%,start line:73.33% size:87.5% DAVID WILLIAMS: Research has found that higher levels of discrimination are associated with 04:45.766 --> 04:50.000 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% the elevated risk of a broad range of diseases and even premature mortality. 04:52.033 --> 04:54.200 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% PAUL SOLMAN: And that's separate from the effects of economic disadvantage. 04:54.200 --> 04:59.200 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% DR. LISA COOPER: Racism has an independent effect on health. You can have African-Americans 05:01.233 --> 05:04.933 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% who are upper middle-class who are experiencing much higher rates of disease than you would 05:06.833 --> 05:10.966 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% see among white Americans at the same level of socioeconomic status. 05:10.966 --> 05:13.500 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% DR. WILLIAM GRIER, Co-Author, "Black Rage": We feel it is a very important cause. 05:13.500 --> 05:18.500 align:left position:0%,start line:73.33% size:100% PAUL SOLMAN: In 1968, psychiatrists William Grier and Price Cobbs co-authored a book called 05:19.100 --> 05:21.133 align:left position:25%,start line:93.33% size:75% "Black Rage." 05:21.133 --> 05:23.233 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% DR. PRICE COBBS, Co-Author, "Black Rage": All black people are angry, not just a few 05:23.233 --> 05:27.866 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% militants whom one may see on television. Black people in this country have had it. 05:27.866 --> 05:30.300 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% PAUL SOLMAN: By 2020, says economist Sam Myers: 05:30.300 --> 05:34.100 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% SAMUEL MYERS, University of Minnesota: It just builds up. It builds up. And, at some 05:34.100 --> 05:36.133 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% point, you just explode. 05:36.133 --> 05:38.466 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% Let's stop shooting our young men. 05:38.466 --> 05:43.433 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% PAUL SOLMAN: Myers, born deaf, hardly needs to lip read to understand a not untypical 05:43.433 --> 05:47.266 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% encounter with police in Minneapolis, where he's been a professor for decades. 05:47.266 --> 05:52.266 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% SAMUEL MYERS: Put your hands up on the dashboard. I mean, I learned very quickly that it is 05:55.033 --> 06:00.100 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% dangerous to reach into your pocket to get your wallet, that the police officer instinctively 06:04.700 --> 06:06.733 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% believes that you're reaching for your weapon. 06:06.733 --> 06:09.566 align:left position:0%,start line:86.67% size:100% PAUL SOLMAN: Outrageous, arguably. Enraging, for sure. 06:09.566 --> 06:14.566 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% SAMUEL MYERS: And so what we have done is that we have kind of moved our anger internally, 06:17.166 --> 06:22.166 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% because we believe that we have a job to do with respect to proving that we are worthy, 06:25.066 --> 06:30.066 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% that we are capable, that we are productive citizens. But that's what happens when that 06:34.166 --> 06:36.233 align:left position:25%,start line:93.33% size:75% builds up. 06:36.233 --> 06:39.066 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% TREVON LOGAN: I have been pulled over by the police more than 10 times in my own life. 06:39.066 --> 06:41.166 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% PAUL SOLMAN: Again, economist Trevon Logan. 06:41.166 --> 06:45.400 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% TREVON LOGAN: I think it's impossible for anyone who's lived as an African-American 06:45.400 --> 06:50.400 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% in this country to say that they haven't experienced racially specific stress. And that stress 06:52.633 --> 06:54.866 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% will have physiological consequences. 06:54.866 --> 06:59.866 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% PAUL SOLMAN: Which may explain why, by age 55, more than 75 percent of black Americans 07:01.966 --> 07:05.900 align:left position:12.5%,start line:73.33% size:87.5% have hypertension, blood pressure higher than 130 over 80, compared with less than 50 percent 07:06.966 --> 07:09.100 align:left position:25%,start line:93.33% size:75% of whites. 07:09.100 --> 07:10.100 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% You have high blood pressure? 07:10.100 --> 07:12.700 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% TREVON LOGAN: Yes, definitely. 07:12.700 --> 07:16.266 align:left position:0%,start line:73.33% size:100% REV. HORACE SHEFFIELD: That's why this COVID-19 has been such a harassing menace in our community, 07:17.366 --> 07:19.500 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% because people already were unhealthy. 07:19.500 --> 07:23.533 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% PAUL SOLMAN: And less access to health care makes matters worse, says Rashawn Ray. 07:23.533 --> 07:27.800 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% RASHAWN RAY: Black men are less likely to utilize health care because of discrimination 07:27.800 --> 07:29.800 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% that's embedded within the health care system. 07:29.800 --> 07:34.466 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% There's a recent study, really important for COVID-19, showing that blacks were six times 07:34.466 --> 07:38.733 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% more likely to be turned away from testing once they even went to the hospital. 07:38.733 --> 07:41.200 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% MAN: This family's story is so upsetting. 07:41.200 --> 07:46.200 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% PAUL SOLMAN: In a Detroit case that made national news, 56-year old Gary Fowler died at home 07:48.266 --> 07:51.933 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% on April 7, having been denied a test at three hospitals. His father had died of COVID hours 07:54.433 --> 07:58.666 align:left position:0%,start line:73.33% size:100% earlier. His wife was hospitalized the same day. His children later tested positive, including 07:59.900 --> 08:02.066 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% stepson Keith Gambrell. 08:02.066 --> 08:05.300 align:left position:12.5%,start line:73.33% size:87.5% KEITH GAMBRELL, Detroit Resident: I understand now why black people are the highest affected 08:05.300 --> 08:09.366 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% mortality rate with this, because we're being pushed home to die and infect our family. 08:09.366 --> 08:13.733 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% PAUL SOLMAN: That's one reason why Reverend Sheffield has started a testing program that's 08:13.733 --> 08:15.766 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% already served thousands. 08:15.766 --> 08:19.800 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% REV. HORACE SHEFFIELD: We understand that, because of the hue of our skin, you know, 08:19.800 --> 08:24.800 align:left position:0%,start line:80% size:100% we're being treated differently than other people. And COVID-19 just vividly portrays 08:25.633 --> 08:26.733 align:left position:12.5%,start line:93.33% size:87.5% just how that exists. 08:26.733 --> 08:29.900 align:left position:0%,start line:93.33% size:100% PAUL SOLMAN: And continues to. 08:29.900 --> 08:32.133 align:left position:12.5%,start line:86.67% size:87.5% For the "PBS NewsHour," Paul Solman.