
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, March 3, 1991                   TAG: 9103040290
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: D-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

EXPLODE 'EM/ FOUR MYTHS ABOUT RACE AND KIDS

BLACK and, sometimes, Hispanic children in America are far more likely than white kids to be born at low weights, or to lack health insurance, or to die young, or to live in poverty.

Such results, from a study by The Center for the Study of Social Policy, come perhaps as no surprise to most people. But don't assume too much. The study explodes a few myths, too.

Myth: Black and Hispanic babies are likelier than white babies to die before their first birthday.

Fact: This is true for blacks, whose 1988 infant-mortality rate (17.6 per 1,000 live births) was more than double the rate for whites (8.5). But the rate for Hispanics (8.1) was better than for whites.

Myth: The chief cause in the rise of out-of-wedlock births in America is that more babies are being born to unwed black teens.

Fact: During the '80s, out-of-wedlock teen births as a percentage of all births declined among blacks. The increase occurred among whites (up 25 percent) and Hispanics (up 20 percent). By decade's end, however, the percentage of out-of-wedlock teen births among blacks was still nearly four times that of whites.

Myth: Black teen-agers always have been likelier to die from violence or an accident than white teen-agers.

Fact: This has become true only in recent years. In 1989, black teens were 25 percent more likely to meet such an end than white teens. But as late as 1984, black teen-agers were less likely than white teen-agers to die of non-natural causes.

Myth: The growth in the number of impoverished children during the '80s occurred principally among minorities.

Fact: While black and Hispanic children at the end of the '80s were far more likely than white children to live in poverty, as was also the case at the beginning of the decade, white kids during the '80s slipped into poverty at about the same rate as black and Hispanic kids.

The truly sobering statistic is the growth in the number of impoverished children of all ethnic backgrounds. At the beginning of the '80s, fewer than one in six children lived in poverty; 10 years later, the number had grown to more than one in five.

While the economy as a whole was growing and some were growing richer, children became the most impoverished population in our society. And why not? They're the most vulnerable. They don't vote. They're natural victims of a decade's skewed priorities.

by CNB