Opinion: Cancer death disparities are real, but so is the ability to do something about them

Cancer is a relentless, vicious disease that continues to claim too many lives, and the troubling reality is that the toll is even worse for people of color. As a pastor, I have tried to bring comfort to grieving families who have lost a loved one to cancer, in many cases, because the disease was diagnosed too late to do anything about it. It does not have to be this way.  A combination of science and government may be able to do something about this disparity very soon — and U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin is leading the way. Research has shown that Black people have a disproportionately high mortality rate for many types of cancer. Studies show that people of color tend to have lower cancer screening rates and, thus, often have their cancers diagnosed at a later stage when treatment is far less effective.