Well, perhaps it will at least be one chip at the "Personal Responsibility!!!!" monolith.

One of my professors was talking about studies showing that racism against black men is what *caused* their higher blood pressure, that it wasn't as genetic as is currently thought, which is why treatment effectiveness tends to be different depending on the patient's race.

I'm not quite sure why that popped into my head; I feel it's related but I'm having a hard time making the explicit connection. Sigh. Sorry.

The Chron loves stories about these "no, duh" studies. (Quick search.) :

NORTH BAY - Gap widens between rich and poor - Study shows big increase in number of working families living in poverty
Jim Doyle, San Francisco Chronicle, 03/01/05

BAY AREA - 1 in 4 families can't afford basics - United Way study finds widespread poverty
Jason B. Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle, 09/29/04

Welfare reforms not ending poverty - Study of single moms says paychecks don't provide much lift
Meredith May, San Francisco Chronicle, 04/16/02

25% of State's Kids In Poverty, Study Says
Hearst Newspapers, San Francisco Chronicle, 02/24/01

Grandparents Raising Their Children's Kids - Many live in poverty, study finds
Yumi Wilson, San Francisco Chronicle, 06/03/97

U.S. Child Poverty Rates Climbing, Study Says
Ramon G. McLeod, San Francisco Chronicle, 12/11/96

Studies find poverty puts kids' IQ at risk
Lisa M. Krieger, Examiner, 03/29/95

I recently watched a PBS documentary on health disparities that was really eye opening. Sure, it's a well d'uh idea in a lot of ways, but there are a lot of dumb rich and head-in-the-sand people who have no common sense about this kind of stuff and need as many kicks in the butt as the media can administer.

Plus, we're not just talking about a year here or a year there, we're talking about decades.

It's also important that people know that health disparity and its correlation to class is much, much, much worse in the United States than in any other Western country. That means that it's not just a natural order, but something that is directly related to policy and practice. And policy and practice are things that we can work to change.