Baltimore BLOG: Baltimore’s population peaked close to 1 million in 1950, but the city has been steadily shrinking ever since. Today, there are approximately 620,000 people living in Baltimore. According to Census Bureau figures, somewhere close to 30,000 city residents were lost just in the ten years between 2000 and 2010. City officials have repeatedly attributed our long-running decline to middle class residents moving to the suburbs in search of better schools and safer streets. Do you agree with their explanation?

Dr. Beane: All parents want good schools for their kids, and all residents want safe streets. But not everyone can afford to relocate. An exodus of the middle class was very likely a major contributor during the early decades of Baltimore’s population decline, but relocation is not what accounts for the city’s continuing decline.

Baltimore BLOG: In addition to HIV, what are some other contributors to the high mortality rate in the low-income African American communities in Baltimore?

Dr. Beane: A harsh life in the ghetto not only compromises the longevity of young men or the average life expectancy of elders, it also compromises the survival of the babies. Researchers are now exploring what has been suspected for some time—that stress is a major culprit in the death of Black babies. There are many causes of the stress felt by African American adults living in the ghetto—unrelenting worries about money, homelessness, police harassment, protecting their children from drug dealers, the loss of loved ones and neighbors to violence, etc. Researchers are finding that the stress level of Black mothers during pregnancy that stems from the day-in and day-out experience of racism and discrimination leads to a high level of cortisol in a mother’s bloodstream, and that this high level of cortisol…