Blacks don’t commit suicide or so it was thought. In the wake of the murder suicide of NFL player Jovan Belcher it makes one wonder what in the life of anyone could be so bad that they would seek out death as a form of comfort. Unfortunately we will never know because that answer died with Jovan Belcher and many others like him who choose to end their lives.
Black men/women have all ways been viewed as a pillar of strength being able to cope with the many odds stacked against them; they all ways seemed to prevail. However, in recent years the world has come to see that black men/women are not super human beings. They are capable of the same stress and other emotions of other men/women.
There is something dark and sinister about suicide that can be attributed to mental illness. This is not something that just started; it is something they we as a people have begun to take a closer look at. Donnie Hathaway was in the height of his musical comeback when he took his own life by jumping from a window. Many years later it was determined that the condition he suffered from was Bipolar.
Kenny McKinley depressed of an injury that limited his playing time and sidelined him while playing for the Denver Broncos took his own life by self inflicted gunshot, Don Cornelius, depressed over his present health condition founder of the nationally syndicated Soul Train by self inflicted gunshot, Paul Williams, depressed after illness took him from the stage to consulting for the group he was once a part of by self inflicted gun shot. Phyllis Hyman who longed to be in a loving relationship found herself in the pits of depression over her love life and weight issues took her own life by overdose.
We have turned a blind eye to this epidemic because black people just don’t that we don’t commit suicide! We survived slavery and Jim Crow, we can withstand anything thrown at us some would like to think. We have become mute when it comes to the thought of mental illness, yet mental illness is on the rise in our communities.
We can no longer ignore the signs when it comes to those we love. Seek out medical help there is nothing wrong with it. Don’t be afraid to admit the weight of the world is on your shoulders and has become too much to bare. Don’t be afraid to ask for help seek treatment the life you save may be your own.
Posted By: DAVID JOHNSON
Thursday, December 6th 2012 at 1:56AM
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