Every day mail is delivered to our addresses. When completing a form, we fill in our mailing address. Often when making a new acquaintance, we may mention where we live. Our zip code may seem to be a trivial matter. Yet does our address determine more in our lives than we realize?
Deirdre Mask has researched “what street addresses reveal about identity, race, wealth, and power” (Deirdre Mask, The Address Book, New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 2020, cover page). Her quest began with her own curiosity, that transformed into an essay and then into a book.
While investigating, Mask discovered the “Addressing the World, an Address for Everyone initiative” by the Universal Postal Union to establish reliable addresses for billions of people. A solid address is the least expensive way to lift people from poverty, she notes (Mask, p. 4).
In India, for example, having an address is essential for establishing identity. Every Indian resident is issued an Aadhaar card that gives a unique twelve-digit number. Without this number, the resident has no access to government services such as food assistance, health care, or pensions. With no address there is no card. In India’s slums there are few addresses (Mask, p. 20).
The impact of having no address is not limited to impoverished countries. West Virginia has been trying to assign addresses for decades. Some people living in rural areas have no address at all; some don’t want one. Deliveries are often executed by lengthy and confusing directions from locals. In one case, paramedics were directed to a house “having chickens out front.” But every house had chickens “out front” (Mask, p. 6).
While addresses may be missing in some areas, in other cases the addresses hold powerful meanings.
The author and her husband were searching for a new home in London’s workingclass area of Tottenham. The house for sale was situated on a lovely street with parks and pubs nearby. The house was as described with wood floors, bay windows and fireplaces.
But the address was on Black Boy Lane, a throwback to slavery in England. The Masks did not make an offer on this house. As an African American, Ms. Mask felt living on Black Boy Lane would be especially problematic for her (Mask, p. 11). Such addresses should be problem for everyone.
What other factors in our lives are affected by our addresses or our zip codes? In Oklahoma, where we live affects our children’s physical and mental health as well as those of the adults in their families and neighborhoods.
A national Race for Results report released on January 10 of 2024 showed that the wellbeing of children of color in Oklahoma ranks below national index scores. Twelve areas were determined as indicators of a child’s thriving.
Black children in Oklahoma ranked thirtieth among fortysix measured and ranked the lowest of all ethnic categories. The index score for white children was the third lowest in the nation, behind Kentucky and West Virginia.
Considering eight of the twelve indicators, Oklahoma scored in the bottom ten of all states for all children (Carly Putnam, “New Report Spotlights Imbalances Among Child Well-being for Oklahoma’s Children of Color,” January 10, 2024, http://www. okpolicy.org ).
Why aren’t Oklahoma children flourishing? Shiloh Katnz, Executive Director of the Oklahoma Policy Institute (part of the KIDS COUNT network) believes, ”The latest Race for Results report arrives at a timely moment when many elected officials are minimizing the importance of programs and services that create and foster opportunities for Oklahomans who for too long have been underserved…. Oklahomans—and especially our elected officials—cannot sit idly by and accept these results” (Putnam).
Crisis in children is not limited to physical needs. One in five Oklahoma children struggle with mental or behavioral issues like anxiety, post-traumatic stress, depression, or mood disorders.
Without treatment, the outcome is often poor school attendance, substance abuse, isolation, self-harm, or suicide. In our state, suicide in young people aged ten to twenty-four accounts for the second leading cause of death in children.
Oklahoma ranks thirtythird nationally in offering access to mental health services (http://www.ouhealth.com).
In response, Oklahoma Children’s Hospital is addressing this need by establishing a Behavioral Health Center. This facility will be the only resource in our state directly linked to a hospital. But sadly, this center won’t be open until (hopefully) two years from now, in 2026 (http://www. ouhealth.com ). Why haven’t our elected officials aggressively confronted this crisis?
What is the future of Oklahoma’s sons and daughters? As adults, Oklahomans have the third highest obesity proclivity in the nation, behind West Virginia and Louisiana. Doctors report the impact of obesity to be high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes (Jillian Taylor, “Oklahoma Ranks Third in Adult Obesity Prevalence, Per CDC,” September 27, 2023, (http://www.Kosu. org ).
One in four adult deaths in Oklahoma is caused by heart disease, 30% higher than the national average. Dr. Beau Hawkins, an O.U. Physicals cardiologist stated, “Oklahoma has the third highest rate of death due to heart disease… and the fourth highest rate of death due to stroke” (Lindsay Cuomo, “5 Issues Affecting Oklahoman’s Health,” September 22, 2015, http://www. okmag.com ).
With all these statistics proving Oklahoma children are currently suffering and will continue to suffer as adults, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt has just rejected a traditionally accepted federal feeding program through the Department of Agriculture. This project feeds hungry children through the summer months when subsidized meals at school are not available.
His reason? “…he wasn’t sure how the plan was administered” (Janis Blevins, “Oklahoma Is No. 6 in Childhood Hunger. It Seems Stitt Wants to Keep Us in the Top Ten,” January 11, 2024, http://www. oklahoman.com ).
However, the governor was also “not sure” how the plan to give tax vouchers to parents to provide private school tuition would be administered. This uncertainty did not seem to bother Stitt when wealthy parents needed a tax break (Blevins).
How will hungry children in Oklahoma be fed this summer? Stitt believes that nonprofits will “fill the gap” (Blevins). Does the governor realize that 400,000 Oklahoma children experience food insecurity? (Blevins).
Thankfully for our children, four Oklahoma tribal nations (Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Osage) are signing up for federal funds to sponsor summer food programs. The Osage nation is offering the program to all children who qualify (Molly Young, “Fourth Oklahoma Tribe Offering Food Assistance for Children After State Opts Out,” January 12, 2024, http://www.oklahoman. com ).
Apparently, your address and your zip code do determine your health, among many other factors. A 2023 nation- wide study of childhood wellbeing saw Oklahoma as one of the worst states in the nation to be a child. “Childhood poverty, death, and obesity were getting worse in Oklahoma, instead of better” (Young).
With all of our knowledge, our state tax dollars, and our reputation for hard work and compassion, how is it that Oklahoma children are not thriving? Is it because they have “the wrong address”? God forbid.
The blame falls directly on our state officials who put politics before duty. Instead of banning books, denying the truth of history, and attempting to deny civil rights to all Oklahomans, they could be building the state economy, encouraging affordable housing, and promoting a decent minimum wage. The disparities in physical and mental health care should be priorities instead of quarreling about how teachers should use pronouns.
Having an Oklahoma zip code should not be a liability, especially for children. They did not ask to live here.