The Washington Post: Black men in D.C. are expected to die 17 years earlier than White men. Here’s why.

The Washington Post, August 27, 2020: Black men in D.C. are expected to die 17 years earlier than White men. Here’s why.

Samuel Mingle, 55, grew up in Ward 8. The closest grocery store to him was a 30-minute walk away.

Mingle, who is Black and has Type 2 diabetes, never questioned why he had to travel so far.

“When you’re living your life, you’re just living to the best of your ability,” he said. “You don’t know that you’re not in the know about a lot of things in the area.”

But the distance between home and a grocery store can lead to some people living longer than others. Heart disease, which can be caused by an unhealthy diet, was a major reason Black residents in the District died earlier than White residents in 2016, according to a new study published in Nature on Thursday.

The study’s researchers set out to better understand the District’s life expectancy gap.

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