Orville W. Taylor, Contributor
IT'S THE last Sunday in Black History Month and of course, we are preoccupied with the results of the drawn out two-year race. Unfortunately I was not there yesterday when the results were announced, primarily because I was watching a series of races in honour of the memory of a great black Jamaican, Bishop Percival Gibson.
Even so, just before starting this column I listened to the advertisement with the voice of another Percival, P J Patterson, the 'outgoing?' Prime Minister. I couldn't help but be bemused and unamused with the imagery of him passing the baton. After all, inasmuch as I am a die hard track and field fan, it is a little disconcerting to see men in tights, bent forward reaching for a baton behind them.
Anyway, for all it is worth, I am glad that the infernal race is over and we can then return to a bigger and more important race that is being lost. I am not referring to Asafa Powell's race last year against Gatlin, which 'groined' to a halt. Neither am I alluding to what could be a national junior record being run by the fastest high school quartet ever in the world, Holmwood Technical.
'TRACKLETHES'
Indeed, while I am deeply interested in the phenomenal performance of our local 'tracklethes' there is a race that black people are losing while we squabble about who should be the ruler in this little piece of Jamrock.
We are losing ground so fast in absolute and relative terms when compared to all other races that even our sprinting prowess and the historic speed skating victory by Shani Davis in the current Winter Olympics can't compensate. Maybe you missed it but despite the name he is a black American man. And he is the first person of colour to win an individual Winter Olympic medal.
That is perhaps the one bit of good news and it is always good to hear that black people have broken new ground. However, scary as it may sound; black people are dying out like the native Jamaican Boa, the Indian Coney and credibility among politicians.
You see, 100 years ago in the United States, even with the Jim Crow Laws (not to be confused with the John Crow laws), which oppressed blacks, people of African descent comprised 20 per cent of the population. Now they have a toe-hold of only 12.8 per cent.
LIFE EXPECTANCY
In America, life expectancy for whites is more than 78 years which is more than 10 years longer than blacks can expect to live. In continental Africa, the average life expectancy has declined by 10 years in the last decade and is still slipping. In some countries such as the critical Southern African four, Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Zimbabwe, one is lucky to live to 40. When compared to Japan, which has a life expectancy of close to 85, a country such as Sierra Leone, with citizens who can only anticipate a life of half that length on average, is a lap behind.
The picture becomes even more distressing when we examine the more progressive countries in the developing world.
The English-speaking Caribbean has the longest life-expectancy for any set of people of African descent. On the average, only white Americans have comparable rates in the Americas. A country like Barbados has life expectancy rates which match Americans on the whole. Simply put, there is no other set of black people who live longer or is healthier.
Given that we are living so long and are so healthy, perhaps due to the steam-fish, afu yam and natural green bananas, we as mostly black Caribbeans should consider ourselves fortunate.
However, what is ironic is that the Caribbean has the second highest prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the world, behind Sub-Saharan Africa. Still, there is a more worrisome pattern here. Unlike Africa where the countries with the highest AIDS/HIV rates are the poorest, the reverse is true in the Anglophone Caribbean. The Bahamas, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago, have the most robust economies and lowest levels of poverty.
HIGHEST LEVELS OF HIV
However, they also have the distinction of having the highest levels of HIV in the region.
While it is true that HIV is no longer a death sentence due to Anti-Retroviral (ARV) drugs, it is likely to have a devastating impact on the reproduction rates of these countries. Thus, while persons who are HIV positive may live until "dem sun dem," it usually means that they should "lock up the baby shop."
So, since we are having an increasing percentage of our race being taking out of the 'breeding stock' perhaps we might just have to look at other areas to enhance our longevity. Well, guess what? We also have among the highest self-inflicted mortality rates of all races. Black people kill more Black people that any other race does. What is most painful is that close to 70 per cent of those who kill and are killed are in the 18 to 24 age group.
If this were a set of farm animals we would call them prime breeding stock. So figure this one out. What happened to a population of animals-and we are all animals- when the young bulls, lions or bucks die out before reaching maturity? ... Extinction!
Well, that is our future if we don't wake up. In this critical piece of rock we introduced guns and mixed them with politics among our young males. Now it is as incurable as HIV/AIDS.
So before we jump to celebrate and before Bruce Golding gets green with envy as he salivates in anticipation of impending elections, remember. We have another race to run.
Dr. Orville Taylor is senior lecturer in the Department of Sociology, Psychology and Social Work at the University of the West Indies, Mona.
