Mississippi was the first state to offer paid family leave. Among states it has the most generous public insurance programs for pregnant women. In addition, Mississippi has chosen to invest in programs aimed at reducing maternal deaths and racial disparities in childbirth. Gov. Tate Reeves repeatedly brags on how wonderful Mississippi is as a state to raise children. He also repeatedly proclaims that Mississippi will never, ever be like “woke” California, a state he often slams when bragging on “his” Mississippi.
Let’s look at what I’ve said though. Using one of Reeves’ favorite tactics, which is to often distort or even outright lie, I did the same in the first three sentences of my letter. It isn’t Mississippi which has done the things listed. California is the state which has taken several steps to proactively address issues of maternal and infant health care, along with racial disparities. Also, as to raising living children, data for infant mortality in 2020 (deaths per 1,000 live births per year), show that it isn’t Mississippi with the fewest infant deaths. It is instead California. Mississippi is at the bottom with the most infant deaths.
The above contrasts now have additional importance. The New York Times (NYT), Feb. 12, just published results of a new study of two million California births. The study looked at which newborns and/or mothers survived, or didn’t survive, in the year after childbirth. The National Bureau of Economic Research chose California for research in part because it has the most births per year. So, in 2007-2016, much data were gathered. Also, the study was able for the first time to match up infant births and deaths born to first time mothers with hospitalization data and data on race and income.
So what were the results? Which babies born to first-time mothers were more likely to die in their first year, or which were more likely to live? And also, which mothers were more likely to die?
It may not be much of a surprise, based on the research findings as quoted in the NYT, that “the richest mothers and their newborns are the most likely to survive ... ”
Wait though! I’ve just pulled another Gov. Reeve’s move! I only gave half the quote! The rest of the quote is,“EXCEPT when the family is BLACK.” (caps mine)
How “bad”or how much disparity is in the numbers? Moving on up, for every 100,000 births, 173 babies of the richest white mothers die before their first birthday. For the poorest white mothers, 350 babies die. For the richest Black mothers, 437 babies die. For the poorest Black mothers, 653 babies die. As the NYT sums up, “The richest Black mothers and their babies are twice as likely to die as the richest white mothers and their babies,” and “Money protects white mothers and babies. It doesn’t protect Black ones.” Hold “disparity” in mind! Disparity is a word Gov. Reeves doesn’t want anyone to know about.
It is not news to say that Black mothers and babies have the worst childbirth outcomes in the United States, i.e. there is disparity based on race. What is news, however, is to say that it doesn’t matter whether a Black family is rich or not, Black babies and mothers are still more likely to die! Now recall that California is the state researched. It has in place major health assists for mothers and babies, across all races, assists which Mississippi largely lacks. Shouldn’t this help get rid of some disparity for Blacks. As well, even though Black households in the U.S. are factually known to have a lower average income than whites, California is above the national average at $81,575 (all races). For contrast, Mississippi is below the national average at $48,716. Shouldn’t being “rich” help as well.
The stark news is the NYT headline stating that the health assists and being rich haven’t mattered. “Childbirth is Deadlier for Black Families Even When They’re Rich.” If the numbers are bad in California, what might that say about numbers in Mississippi, with far fewer health assists and much lower average incomes.
Return now to Gov. Reeves, along with his compliant Republican legislature. In a public stunt of fanfare mimicking other anti-woke GOP MAGAs, Reeves recently pushed Mississippi to ban something that hardly even existed in the state to begin with, except possibly in a few graduate level courses. What he banned is the teaching of Critical Race Theory or CRT. In their perverted and distorted view of CRT, anti-woke officials such as Reeves (DeSantis and others) have blubbered (or Bubba’d) that “it ain’t right to have white children learn that people in Black or colored skins may have it worse in society than people in white skins, because that might make them white kids feel ashamed and guilty about being white.”
In academic language though, the ruling white Bubbas in Mississippi really don’t want anyone to learn in school that structural racism is a reality which lies behind or fosters disparities or inequalities. If there is one topic in CRT which Mississippians should have freedom to study — freedom being what the GOP claims to stand for even while ferociously censoring it out — that topic is structural racism and disparities. Structural racism simply means that coded into the very operations of society are features and mechanisms, both subtle, but also blatant, which favor one race over another. For example, what subtlety lies behind observations that a Black infant cared for by a Black doctor is more likely to survive his first year than if his doctor is not Black. No one is saying white doctors are blatantly racist, but something is occurring!
Structural racism describes a society in which Black mothers need to know what data driven research has now documented: “It doesn’t matter if you and your family are rich. You and your babies will still be more likely to die than the very poorest of white mothers.” In “woke” California, it can be stated, studied and taught, that “there are many ways systemic racism makes its way into the well being of a pregnant or birthing person.” It can be said that “the effects of racism on childbirth start long before people arrive at the hospital.” (NYT, Feb. 12 , 2023).
Not in Mississippi though! Gov. Reeves has banned any thinking along those lines. His intellectual (well at least mental) beacon is still the guiding light of the Lost Cause. Most likely he will call on Mississippians in 2023 to once again celebrate with him “Confederate Heritage Month” for the entire month of April. In 2022, all other Southern states were “woke” enough to stop doing so.
— Beverly E. Johnson,
Kosciusko
