If black Mississippi were a separate country, its infant mortality rate for 2005 would behigher than that of Panama, Jamaica, Jordan, Mauritius, Bosnia, Latvia, Estonia –higher than 97 of the 224 countries measured by the CIA World Factbook.
In that year, Mississippi lost 17 out of every 1,000 live births. This means that, out of every 1,000 kids born in Mississippi that year, 17 did not make it to one year old.
I wonder what God thinks of that? (Oh, rates for white infant mortality in Mississippi are close to the U.S. national average of 6.37. Singapore led in 2007 at 2.30 deaths per 1,000 births.)
Rates have been rising, especially in the South, throughout this decade. But Mississippi’s shame stands out.
Mississippi is now officially a Third World country. And many other Southern states are heading rapidly toward that category.
Something to think about.
