This will be short today. In fact, I was going to skip today until a news item cought my attention. Then again, many do. The Washington Post reported on some recent research that, among other findings, suggested that America has suffered some 1.6 million ‘excess’ deaths in the Black Community over the past two decades. I believe they use the term ‘excess’ for what I would call ‘amenable’ deaths, those that could have been delayed (since we all die eventually) if they had acccess to the kind of medical care and other resources generally available to all in other advanced countries. That is, there would have been 1.6 million fewer deaths among Blacks if the mortality rates between the races were equal.

They place the blame for this at the hands of unconsionable levels of inequality, partly structural in character, that we traditionally find in America. One domension of American exceptionalism is extremely high levels of inequality. As income and wealth and opportunity disparities have soared since the beginning of the 1980s, so have certain social outcomes associated with the differential ability to secure what is needed to thrive.

Inequality covers many sins but let us focus on one. Too many individuals cannot get health care, or cannot afford decent care, or skip and delay care due to copays and other costs, or fail to take any or all their prescribe dmedications due to inflated prices. Many become sick when they did not have to, or sicker than they have to, or die when they might have lived. Sick and unproductive workers, let us not forget, cost money and weaken productivity.

A second study determined the price society pays for failing to achieve a level playing field (e.g., health equity) that facilitates the premature passing of African Americans was $238 billion in 2018 alone. The notion of inequality (as suggested) covers many dimensions of American life … access to good schools, to social networks, to better jobs, and so forth. Some historical lessons are sharp and obvious. Domestic workers and farm laborers were excluded from the 1935 Social security Act because they were mostly black workers. For decades, redlining steered minorities into specific geographic areas that were less desirable. When the researchers expanded their analysis to a broader population the fiscal cost soars. The failure to achieve equity in America, primarily health equity, cost the nation $1 trillion dollars. Now we are talking real money.

You would think that some 60,000 preventable deaths every year would raise alarms in society. But then, we have tens of thousands of gun related deaths every year without any action being taken. And therein lies my conundrum. Why do we look upon what ought to be a national calamity with such indifference? How can we not respond to such outrages? Are we that callous a country?

I watch a lot of what I call ‘brain rot’ shows. Mostly, these are true crime semi-documentaries where some grisly murder takes place and the authorities successfuly track down the miscreant or miscreants. Given the number of series devoted to such themes, Americans apparently find blood and mayhem quite amusing or at least distracting. Often they are wrapped up in seductive titles … Snapped (usually women who kill their spouses) or Killer Siblings (family members who go off on a murderous crime spree) or The Murders of Atlanta or New York (or wherever). I’m not criticizing since I am one of the faithful vieweres.

Here is my point. In these shows, the authorities (and sometimes whole communities) devote incredible energy and expend enormous resources to identify and capture the guilty party and then seek justice for their criminal acts. The investigations and pursuit for such crimes can take years and cover many states or even countries. The costs involved can be extraordinary, suggesting that the search for resolution and justice is passionate, admirable, and even moving. Moreover, there typically is a sense of finality and completion when a satisfactory ending is achieved. In many cases, justice involves not only determining who did the crime but finding the victim (or the few bones that remain) who might have been dumped in lake, buried in a secret grave somewhere, or stashed in some unused freezer or locker somewhere. The subsequent finding of guilt in a courtroom and the incarceration or execution of those responsible (we hope they got the right person) leads to palpable relief on the part of all concerned, often entire communities, amidst tears of relief and even joy.

That is all well and good. We breath more easily when justice is served. But this usually involves the death of one person or, in extreme cases, less than a handful. While every death can be viewed as tragic, how can we ignore the preventable deaths of thousands while being so concerned for a single violent act? Why so little public outcry when many perish? Why no calls for justice? Why are not those responsible brought to justice. Really, when was the last time you saw CEO’s or lawyers for tobacco companies, the NRA, pharmaceutical firms that overcharge, or politicians who refuse to expand access to health care brought to justice? Arguable, they are responsible for unknown numbers of deaths. And yet, they earn 6 to 8 figure salaries and enjoy the lifestyle of potentates.

I can easily think of several reasons why we treat these deaths differently. A conventional murderer often selects a specific victim and the manner of dispatching that unfortunate is up close and personal. We can draw a direct line from one person to another. Institutional slaughter is less personal, less visceral, and carried out within respectable boundaries … the seeking of corporate profits to please shareholders or satisfying one’s political base to remain in power. Then again, Mafia murders were done for similar reasons.

I understand all that. Yet, I cannot escape one reality. On the one hand we may have one death for which the state might spend millions in the search for and punishment of the guilty. On the other, there will be thousand upon thousands of unecessary deaths where those responsible will remain pillars of society. They eventually will retire to their villas in Tuscany or their mansions in Naples Florida. Where is the justice in that?

Something strikes me as being out of whack here.