50 is the New 25:
The Crisis for Survival Shifts from Violence to Healthcare
by Mark Anthony Neal
A generation ago, when crack cocaine was the scourge of black communities and hip-hop still wavered between decrying its impact and singing hosannas to the underground economy it enabled, one of the common narratives about black life regarded the mortality rates of young black men. Given the seeming randomness of crime and the level of violence in many of our communities, many of us who came of age in the post-Civil Rights era lived with the expectation that we might not make it to the age of 25. At the time, black male mortality was treated as a national crisis, deserving of national conferences, prayer vigils and the creation of "boys only" charter schools.
Some of us did, indeed, survive, and a term like "40 is the new 30" has become an anthem for a generation that faces middle age with vigor. But the highly publicized death of Michael Jackson at age 50, as well as the deaths in recent years of prominent 50-somethings like comedian Bernie Mac, singer Luther Vandross, actress Lynne Thigpen and dancer Gregory Hines suggest that, despite optimism about the quality of life in middle age, the age of 50 might signal an invisible health crisis in the black community.
Read the Full Essay @ theGRIO
The Crisis for Survival Shifts from Violence to Healthcare
by Mark Anthony Neal
A generation ago, when crack cocaine was the scourge of black communities and hip-hop still wavered between decrying its impact and singing hosannas to the underground economy it enabled, one of the common narratives about black life regarded the mortality rates of young black men. Given the seeming randomness of crime and the level of violence in many of our communities, many of us who came of age in the post-Civil Rights era lived with the expectation that we might not make it to the age of 25. At the time, black male mortality was treated as a national crisis, deserving of national conferences, prayer vigils and the creation of "boys only" charter schools.
Some of us did, indeed, survive, and a term like "40 is the new 30" has become an anthem for a generation that faces middle age with vigor. But the highly publicized death of Michael Jackson at age 50, as well as the deaths in recent years of prominent 50-somethings like comedian Bernie Mac, singer Luther Vandross, actress Lynne Thigpen and dancer Gregory Hines suggest that, despite optimism about the quality of life in middle age, the age of 50 might signal an invisible health crisis in the black community.
Read the Full Essay @ theGRIO
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