The Racial Gap in Depth of Disdain

LZ Granderson: My theory is that there are a number of destructive forces that were affecting both whites and minorities. LZ: There's been a huge change in attitudes towards race in the U.S. And I think that's been hugely beneficial to African Americans at a time when sort of the opposite is happening to whites. He says we've only seen this strong rise in death of despair at least until more recent years among whites and not minorities. But your theory wouldn't predict that as those causes of death of despair continue to mount which we wouldn't see more deaths of despair in the last 20 years, he adds.