ashland.news
December 8, 2023

Letter: ‘Don’t their Black Lives Matter?’

May 16, 2022

The Buffalo, New York supermarket killer slaughtered at least 10 people, nearly all of whom were black, in a “racially-motivated” hate crime—a sickening outrage. Years ago, I lived in Buffalo not far from that Tops market location, bringing this horror close to home.

In a related societal issue with profound racial implications, a 2009 study conducted by researchers at Harvard Medical School found that 45,000 Americans die every year as a direct result of not having any health insurance coverage. Given their percentage of the U.S. population (12.4%), that’s at least 5,600 African Americans per year, due to disparities in access to adequate coverage.  

The thousands of blacks who die because they lack health insurance are victims of an institutional hate crime. Don’t their Black Lives Matter?

John Marciano

Talent

Bert Etling

Bert Etling

Bert Etling is the executive editor of Ashland.news. Email him at betling@ashland.news.

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