The Measure of America is a cool book, if you're into that kind of thing. Barring taking an actual physical book home, follow the American Human Development Project online.
I have to wonder about the Native figure, and not just because of articles like this. I read that the average life expectancy of a reservation-based male is 45 years, and a reservation-based female is 48 years. That could be because the infant mortality rate is 8 times that of whites - Tota died at 93 (depending on the birth certificate), after all - but I don't really know how statistics work.
I also know you can't compare a Pine Ridge with an Akwesasne, that Famous Mistake is always made when discussing Indians. Lumping us together into one big Native American Population is like equating Italy with Scotland with Poland, but can I expect anything better from people who see the world like this:
Maybe since they're measuring America and the Indians are actually sovereign nations, the reservation folks didn't even factor into that life expectancy chart, who knows. The good news is, Becky will only be alone for seven years instead of eleven.
And our .8s match, isn't that cute?
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