It's the Ryan Laugh Show on WNYC. Good morning again everyone. Have you heard about

the death of Tori Bowie? Do you know who Tori Bowie was? The death of Tori Bowie has

called attention to persistent racial health disparities, particularly in pregnancy and

childbirth. Friend Tori Bowie, Tori for short, if you don't know, was a three-time

medalist at the 2016 Rio Olympics who later earned the title of Fastest Woman in

the World after a big win at the 2017 World Championships. Now Bowie was

found dead at her home in Florida in early May. She was just 32 years old and she

was eight months pregnant. The autopsy report which was released this week concludes

that she died due to complications from childbirth and lists respiratory distress and

eclampsia as possible causes. Context, the maternal death rate among black

Americans is 2.6 times higher than the rate for white Americans at every income level this

disparity persists. So we'll talk now about how these sometimes insidious, sometimes very

blatant health disparities are perpetrated and the death of Tori Bowie in particular with

me for this is Linda Villarosa, a writer at the New York Times magazine, a contributor

to the best selling 16-19 project, author of the book, Under the Skin, The Hidden

Toll of Racism on American Lives and on the Health of Our Nation, that book catalogs

the long history of racial health disparities and lays bare some of the reasons why in

the richest country in the world, black Americans are disproportionately robbed of years of

life again and again and again. Linda, welcome back to WNYC. Thank you for joining

us even under these terrible circumstances. Thank you. Good to be with you, Brian.

What went through your mind when you'd seen the news that Tori Bowie had died due to

complications from childbirth? I think I just felt heartbreak. I also thought about

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