The United States of America is a country that, despite much of the relative progress in race relations, remains earned by a history of prejudice. Even today, elements of our society have a significant impact on the life expectancy and mortality rates of African Americans. According to Jesmyn Ward's memoir, Men We Reaped, and researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, the biggest social factors contributing to black deaths in America are poverty, lack of education and poor social support (237). These factors are the most significant elements linking the deaths of the five young black men in Ward's memoirs and many deaths of other African Americans today. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Of the three major contributing factors, poverty is the most significant. In our capitalist society, money buys happiness or at least better living conditions in general; therefore, the lack of wealth in many American “black neighborhoods” is the main social factor in African American deaths. One of the five young black men of Men We Reaped, whose name was Charles Joseph Martin, died in a car collision with a train. According to Ward, “there was no reflective gate arm at the level crossing. There were flashing lights and bells that were supposed to warn of the passing train, but they didn't work consistently, and since it was at a crossing in a mostly black area, no one really cared about fixing them or installing a reflective gate. arm." Chances are, if this incident had occurred in a more affluent neighborhood, doorbells and flashing lights would have worked and a reflective gate arm would likely have been installed long ago. While these are just guesses, the concept that wealthier neighborhoods generally have safer and more consistently updated public services than less wealthy neighborhoods, it does not larger black population, it is common for teenagers to drop out of high school. Ward's memoir exemplifies this notion, stating that “Rog dropped out of high school in the tenth grade; it is not uncommon for black youth to drop out here” (26). What's worse is that this commonality is not only accepted, but expected. According to Ward, this systemic type of racism leads teachers and school administrators to ask, "why figure out what will motivate this kid to learn if, statistically, he's just another young person." black male destined to drop out anyway?" (208). This forced lack of education has some serious side effects. In an uneducated environment, drug abuse often becomes more common. According to Drugscope.org, “drug education, based on lessons learned from research, … has the potential to reduce drug abuse.” Rog, formerly known as Roger Eric Daniels III, died of a cocaine-related heart attack. It is difficult to live a healthy and safe life without education. While poor social support does not only occur in African American societies, it is still a major contributing factor to African American deaths. Lack of social support often leads to negative social interactions such as homicides and suicides. Men We Reaped exemplifies one such social interaction “when someone came out of the bushes in front of Demond's house and shot him” (77). Later in the memoir, another interaction is demonstrated when Ronald Wayne Lizana “shot herself in the head.