Good news on the death front: people of all races and genders are living longer. Overall, minus 2.4% in 2009 vs. 2008.

Of course, when you look at the details, the story reads better for some than others. Citing the study:
The age-adjusted death rate decreased from 2008 to 2009 by 2.8 percent for females and 1.4 percent for males. (Life expectancy for males rose to 75.7 in 2009, and for females to 80.6.)

White females have the highest life expectancy (see Figure below), followed by, in order, black females, white males, and black males. Figure 2 also shows that this pattern has not changed from 1975 through 2009, even though life expectancy for all groups has generally increased over this time period.

From another angle, the percent decrease in death rates was highest among 1 to 4 year olds (down 7.7%), followed by 15-24 year olds (down 6.7%), then 75-84 year olds (down 4.9%) and those 0 to 1 (down 4.2%).

For full details: CDC Mortality Data 2009