Black, white breast cancer death disparity

This perplexes me...

I agree with the last sentence, but I think there's alot more to it...

I'm wondering if a difference in genetic makeup or lifestyle (taboo in a "multicultural society") has some to do with this...

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"You get the respect that you give" - cnredd

Diet, diet, diet!
Oriental women had low rates of breast cancer till some of their countries started with the the fast food.
And when an Asian woman enters the U.S. her statistics rise with the longevity of her subsequent generations' stay here.Breast Cancer Rising Among Asian-American Women
African American's eating habits are just the opposite of Asians. Fat for flavor. Salt. Pork.
Another interesting diet story is the native American had no phrase in any tribal language that described the disease Diabetic. Soon after the reservation system was instituted (and white flour, sugar, and wheat were introduced into most of their diets for the first time), the native American became the dubious recipient of "A" number one culture for incidence of Diabetes[reference William Katz, Historian and retired Chair of Malheur County College History dept. Ontario, Oregon, also former educator with the Indian affairs for Wallowa tribe, Washington] They still hold that record today, unfortunately.

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Hope for breast cancer patients...

New Breast Cancer Treatment Shows Great Promise
December 16, 2011 - In clinical trials at Johns Hopkins Cancer Center in Baltimore, Maryland, doctors report they successfully pumped cancer-fighting medicine directly into a breast tumor.

It could have something to do with cultural aggression. All of us whites of European descent have roots in cultures that are very warlike. I'm not saying that it's a genetic difference, but maybe a surviving attitude.

Most white people I've known with cancer take a pugilistic attitude towards it. That is the "fight it," "battle it," "don't let it win," and so on. It seems to me that this would lead to earlier and more aggressive treatment and compliance with the treatment, than a less assertive attitude might engender.

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“Quod scripsi, scripsi"

"Sometimes, the source of the beautiful dawning light that drives back the darkness, is your house burning"

This has been common knowledge for awhile.
Part of it is that black women are more likely to be uninsured, so they are less likely to get screenings, mammograms, etc. Also less likely to get early and aggressive treatment. When you're poor and uninsured, you simply don't get health care. Period. It doesn't matter if you have friggin' cancer.
The uninsured can get acute care by walking into the emergency room... but they can't get chemotherapy that way. They can't get radiation treatment or a mastectomy that way.
There may be some programs that help poor and uninsured cancer patients get treatment... but I don't know of any specific program. I guess they'd have to contact the American Cancer Society and see if there are any such programs. Planned Parenthood would probably also be a good resource for information on that.

Beyond that (the being poor and uninsured issue), black women are more likely than white women to get a more aggressive and deadly form of breast cancer- a type that strikes younger women. Beginning in their 20s, into their 50s, black women are twice as likely to die of breast cancer as white women.

So, part of it is physiological. Black women are more prone than white women to an aggressive form of breast cancer that strikes younger, premenopausal women. This type of breast cancer is rare in white women, who are more likely to get breast cancer after age 50.
And part of it is socio-economic: many black women are uninsured. They don't get regular screenings, so they don't get diagnosed until the cancer is already at a later stage. Even after diagnosis, they don't get the same quality of care that an affluent or middle-class woman with medical insurance would get.

So, that's the answer, as far as I know.
Statistically, blacks are more prone to many diseases than whites, including many forms of cancer: prostate and colorectal cancer, cervical cancer, and oropharyngeal (throat) cancer.
It is not taboo to say so. Black educators try to educate the black community about their increased risk of HIV, of Diabetes, of certain types of cancer. Nearly all black people- as well as most people of other races- are aware that blacks are physiologically more predisposed than whites to get certain diseases. Other diseases are more common in whites than in blacks- ovarian cancer, for instance. And breast cancer actually is more prevalent in whites; it's just that more blacks die from it, since they are more prone to the aggressive form that strikes at a younger age.
I don't think anyone feels it's taboo to warn people about what specific diseases they might be prone to and should watch out for.