Terry DeMio published an excellent article in the Cincinnati Enquirer last month pointing to the inequities resulting in higher hospitalizations for Black children.

Our daughter has spent most of her twenty years as a clinical dietician working in children’s hospitals. Researchers at Cincinnati Children’s Medical Center wanted to know why so many Black children were readmitted to the hospital for asthma. Why do Black children suffer more with life-threatening complications of Type 1 diabetes?

The findings keep coming back to poverty, housing and food availability for Black children. 

–79.1% of children who were readmitted to the hospital for asthma were Black. About 20% were White.

–The lack of available medical services in predominately neighborhoods of color creates greater transportation challenges.

–A growing trend in the last two decades has seen full-service grocery stores moving out of lower income neighborhoods, which has resulted in the lack of availability of healthy food choices. Jones, the Cincinnati Children’s endocrinologist points out, “For some people the closest grocery store might be the Dollar Tree. You can imagine how hard it is to have access to fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, meats, proteins.” 

–Virtual learning caused by the two-year pandemic has meant that an average of 25-30% of children in low-income areas have had no access to the internet. This will only widen the inequities in the poverty gap.

–The study shows “that there are social constructs, stemming from inequities over time, that give Black children less of a chance to stay well.”

Yes, all lives matter; but we also must recognize the inequity gap for Black lives. How can we work together to close that gap? Jesus said, “Much is required from those to whom much is given, and much more is required from those to who much more is given” (Luke 12:48).

Mike Slaughter, pastor emeritus and global church ambassador for Ginghamsburg Church, served for nearly four decades as the lead pastor and chief dreamer of Ginghamsburg and the spiritual entrepreneur of ministry marketplace innovations. Mike is also the founder and chief strategist of Passionate Churches, LLC, which specializes in developing pastors, church staff and church lay leaders through coaching, training, consulting and facilitation services. Mike’s call to “afflict the comfortable” challenges Christians to wrestle with God and their God-destinies. Mike’s latest book Revolutionary Kingdom: following the Rebel Jesus is available on Amazon and Cokesbury.