16 RACE, ETHNICITY AND CANCER BY LAURA ARENSCHIELD C ancer doesn't know the color of our skin or where our grandparents were born, yet race and ethnicity play a role in whether we survive the disease. African Americans in particular have long faced an unequal burden when it comes to cancer deaths. Black people in the U.S. have the highest death rate of any racial or ethnic group for most cancers, according to the American Cancer Society. Black women are more likely than white women to die of breast cancer. Black men are more than twice as likely to die of prostate cancer as white men. Black people are almost twice as likely to die of stomach cancer as white people. Other racial and ethnic groups face their own elevated threats: Women of Ashkenazi Jewish descent are more likely than other women to have a gene mutation that causes breast and ovarian cancer. Latino and Indigenous women have higher rates of cervical cancer than other ethnic groups, and Black women are more PHOTO BY GETTY IMAGES Researchers are working to understand why risks are higher and survival is lower for some groups SUMMER 2021 VIM & VIGOR V1_VVSU2100_16-19_News_CancerDisparities.indd 16 4/28/21 10:32 AM