http://www.unnaturalcauses.org/

Of course it is.

My one problem with this doc is that it is a textbook case of preaching to the choir. No poor person or POC will be surprised to learn that science has corroborated what we have seen played out over generations in our communities: Stress due to a lack of power and resources leads to physical illness. The real question is weather or not anyone really cares about the physical health of those who have less power than themselves.

Often in this doc, comparisons are made between the US and other rich or industrialized nations. Other nations with less stark income gaps or with more socialized public policy tend to have better health outcomes. Here is what the filmmakers are missing: the US is THE RICHEST NATION. Many people in the US believe that we got “here,” the top of the economic heap, through bloody competition and that to stay there will require even more callus attitudes about the quality and worth of human life. We need only look at the disparities that exist between those who have designed the Iraq War and those who die in it to see that better health outcomes for the powerless are considered a small price to pay for world dominance in the minds of some very powerful Americans.

If you are not watching the broadcasts, try and get your hands on this thought provoking doc.

This documentary draws attention to a fascinating area of public health research that charts the correlations among socio-economics, race and health. One study of thousands of British civil servants showed that the lower on the hierarchy a worker was positioned, the worse their health was. Another study showed that the amount of time your parents owned their own home during your childhood, the better your immune system will be at fighting off a cold. The explanation for this consistent link between wealth, race, and health is stress. Stress increases the level of a Cortisol in your blood stream, a hormone that increases memory, blood pressure, and generally gives you a performance boost in tight situations. But, in high and prolonged doses, Cortisol contaminates your system and essentially ages you more quickly.

I would love to see a study of how poor people explode this linkage with traditional and subversive cultural strategies. Isn’t music basically a Cortisol reducing strategy at its core. Dancing has to be a way of reducing Cortisol. Laughing is definately all about bringing down the blood pressure. I want to see the stats for how many conga drummers defy the averages for heart attack among their socio-economic peers. I wonder how many street artists are exceptions to the rule.