Time To Talk About Mental Health in The Black Community; 12 Books By Black Authors Follow

Black mental health is not taken seriously enough; it is very discouraging and very frustrating but I am hoping the more the community discusses it, the more people will realize that;

1) no, mental health doesn’t make you crazy
2) no, mental illnesss(es) are not for white people only
3) sadly, the denial to talk about emotions & the lack of discussing mental health in the community among Black adults and especially children, is continuing to let suicide run rampant -especially among those whom are not adults.

All Black lives matter, regardless of age, but when we have children as young as 5 and older attempting -succeeding- in taking their lives due to the trauma of racism in America, and bullying at school more often than not. Here is but one story, that of a beautiful 9 year old Black little girl.

Or what about all the missing Black women and girls? Why is there no outrage over that?

It is hard to talk about, but we have legal killings by capital punishment killing the Black community, or stealing fathers from families, much of the time due to self defense, drugs (which the white community is not absent of, so no one has any right to look down on anyone) -drug offenders do not need prison but that is another article- and a multitude of other ‘crimes’ later -far too often too much later- found to be innocent of said crime by DNA testing, but it’s took late because they’ve already been executed by the government. Or released after 60 years of serving a sentence they were innocent for.

And it is as though it’s become so common place everyone just looks the other way. FUCK THAT!

Or the police, who are here to not serve and protect, who are feared by most and how can anyone question why? They do not just murder, I would like to add. The beatings and other cases I have worked on in the past, that I want to update regarding both the victim and the killer(s) or abuser(s), are far more sick than I think anyone understands. Working nationally over 10 years as legal aid and as a counselor to victims I have a lot of confidential incidents I cannot share but there are also no shortage of ones I can share, sadly.

We have gang crime, which, I believe in just another form of suicide, and will go into those details at another time. But it’s taken kids lives, along with the drugs implemented by the government, as they admit or you can dig deep enough yourself to find these truths, if you are willing…

Suicide and self destructive of any sort, be it drugs, alcohol, knives, guns, wreckless behaviors that would get most white teens therapy are ending the lives of those in the Black community.

I focus on the children a lot; but we need the adults to step up initially, I believe, and show these children it is okay to speak about their emotions; show them it is okay to be upset and hurt. We need to educate them more and prepare them… We also need to ensure Black women and men know that they can call on a friend or a family member and reach out when feeling depressed, suicidal or just “off” and know they won’t be judged.

Below are from BlackMentalHealth.com which I hope you will check out as well. For now, here are a few, 12 to be exact… I’ve read many of them, especially Black Pain, number 12 on the list, and highly suggest it…

It’s gonna take Black men and women to first accept mental illness, especially understand how NORMAL it is for the trauma that the American government, school systems and society has caused for hundreds of years! Racism is trauma; and children are being more and more traumatized with Black children under the age of 11 and suicide still steadily rising since the early 1990s.

Black children aren’t going to talk about their problems if they see the adults can’t talk about theirs or if no one tells them it’s okay. Suicide is preventable; mental health is vital and it also impacts the physical but that’s for another article.

Please, consider reading and learning for yourself, for your loved ones and for the kids… For the COMMUNITY. There are far too many methods of legal murder in this country; taking a life by ones own hand should be the easiest one to put an end to as much as possible, if only we are open about it…

Link to books HERE.

Black, Missing, Ignored- The Current Situation

For anyone wanting to help in any way the Black women and children missing in America, going unnoticed by the media and government, there is an organization called Black & Missing. You can find this site by clicking here. It has profiles of the missing women, as well as a place to donate, offer anonymous tips, report a missing persons, get updates and more…

Additionally, coming up May 22, 2022 is a run/walk fundraiser to help this extremely important organisation. That website is here.

Please see below for links and details…

The ‘Hope Without Boundaries’ 5K Run/Walk is a fundraiser for the Black & Missing Foundation, Inc whose mission is to bring awareness to missing persons of color, provide vital resources and tools to missing person’s families and friends and to educate the minority community on personal safety. Proceeds from the event will go towards: funding for families of the missing, flyer distribution, financial support, victim recovery, and burial service assistance.

“The number of persons of color missing here in the Washington DC Metropolitan Area and around the country is alarming. We are holding this inspiring, family-friendly 5K to bring more attention to the countless number of missing children, parents, brothers, sisters, grandparents, and friends who might otherwise be overlooked.”  – Co-Founders, Natalie Wilson & Derrica Wilson

Senate bill 825 in Wisconsin courts there is a proposed bill regarding these missing women. That we are just now seeing a bill come out for this issue is atrocious. That it isn’t even a federal bill,…. leaves me so enraged I am speechless. You can read the proposed bill here from the Wisconsin government website.

There is another organization that actively tweets missing Black men, women and children. Please follow them at https://twitter.com/Black_Missing

Anyone with other resources please comment and I’ll approve it, and add to this list… Thank you guys.

I also hope my video made sense. I am trying to make them more focused and not let my emotions get the best of me. I hope I am doing that.

New Video Up – Systematic Racism, Trauma, Children and APA Makes A Promise

The past few years I’ve been doing noting but studying, however, to convey and share that with anyone via blog or video was somehow too much. I am in a position in life that has left me lost, but I won’t go on about that. I have decided it’s time I do what I know I am here to do, and so…

There will be some changes to my YouTube page, and in the following video I cover that, I also talk about the American Psychiatric Association and their admission to systematic racism that cost us research which could have potentially helped saved Black children under the age of 10 who are attempting and also succeeding suicide.

They have made a pledge; the link is in the description in the video.

Thank you guys for staying, I hopefully am going to do better this time. YOUR FEED BACK HELPS; good or bad… Please feel free to message me, email me or comment. My email is noctem_aeternamx@yahoo.com

Here is to a new beginning…

Purpose Of This Page

I have to begin this by saying this will be a page for people to reference anytime they desire, simply by clicking “purpose of this page” which is located at the top right and also in the left side panel. I am posting it as a blog because I began this page in 2018 and after too many traumatic events happened, I had to withdraw from almost all aspects of the internet, in consistency anyway.

Now I am back and confident I am ready to begin what I’ve spent so many years working on. Below is the ‘mission’ of this page… Thank all of you who have stayed and been patient as I got lost and found myself once again.

There are so many issues to address I’ve decided to make separate websites for each main topic… The purpose of  this page is to, hopefully, alert people to the urgency of mental illness and mental health in the Black community, speak on different types of trauma, including why racism is trauma and what  poor mental health does to the body physically.

It is not anyone’s fault if they are struggling with mental illness. Racism in the Black community is a cause of a lot of other severe mental health and physical health related issues, too many of them fatal.

There is a great importance in not only accepting mental health but understanding it, and the genuine risk in increasing numbers of suicides, for example… And I want to make this clear, suicide at any age is horrific, but the number of Black children between the ages of 4-12 that are taking their own lives and/or attempting to take their own lives is unprecedented.

It’s no surprise medical research doesn’t have much on this growing problem. This is something I really want to focus on and expose. This number has been increasing over the past two decades silently. Children in this age group are usually not ones to consider suicide let alone act out on it. But they are.

We need to make it a priority to learn about mental illnesses, what causes it, what is sparking these children and what sparks adults, what role does racism play when you have additional stressors such as poverty or abuse or other in ones life and most importantly; what can we do about it.

The point of these posts is to share facts and stories of what is going on right now among adults and children as young as 5 years old. It is to take the worst situations going on with mental health, that which is scarcely spoken on. I hope it will open dialogue among people, help parents, teachers and other caregivers notice signs and symptoms in children and adolescents, but also in grown men and women, too.

Mental health is just as real as any physical ailment, and in too many situations it is proving to be just as fatal. In fact, mental illnesses have physical symptoms more often than not; sadly, most of them lead to dying to early.

The risk is real and the reality of lose of loved ones by their own hand is real. This is another reason  I believe the community needs to get that village mentality as well as we need to see more Black men and women rising up as professional psychologists and psychiatrists. Even if it is just someone in the community who is willing to be open about their struggle; someone for others to go to, someone people know they won’t be judged by…

I have was verbally ‘attacked’ by a white man when I previously said we need more Black therapists. He accused me of separatism. I am not a separatist at all, but as a survivor of many forms of abuse, I do not want a male therapist. It only makes sense to hear people within the community speak of not feeling comfortable with a white therapist.

If you cannot understand this that is your problem; and so let me state it again. The reasons many in the Black community don’t feel comfortable going to a more than likely white psychologist is understandable. One of these reasons;  white people do not typically understand, especially on a personal level, what it is to be Black in America. We need more Black psychologists and psychiatrists. I will be compiling a list for people to access of Black professionals to look into and/or contact. 

Finally, because this topic is very heavy with sadness, obviously, I want to make sure to balance it out with fact and real history. This will be posted originally on another blog which I will post a link to *here* when it is up and running, and I will reblog from it from time to time.

Learning and remembering true history outside of the negative is vital, especially for children. As a warning I will share the horrors of the past and the hidden glory of the past on my other page, for both need to be known. However, I will only be posting positive stories in history here, as I said, this is a very heavy topic.

MENTAL ILLNESS IS NOT SOMETHING TO BE ASHAMED OF; IT DOES NOT MAKE A PERSON CRAZY OR STUPID. Mental health has nothing to do with intelligence, just for the record.

I truly hope this website will serve to help even one person. Coming up soon I will have many resources and information I hope to aid in this current, silent crisis.

And because it is silent, let’s work at changing that and make it off the charts until self love and self acceptance has been achieved, along with the reality of Mental Health.

This Can Save Lives And It’s One Simple Thing ALL Of Us CAN Do…

As I worked today one of the most heartbreaking pieces I’ve done in awhile, which says something given the type of sick, hate filled work I work to end. But children are innocent and helpless… Furthermore, I am not stupid; I, as do you, know why this isn’t state, national or international news.
(This first part of the series will be discussing in depth Black children & suicide, and looking into possible solutions. It is one of many in a series of videos and essays to come- this shall be posted on this page in approximately 24-48 hours)

So as I was looking around her video popped up. It is short, and it could save a loved ones life- I beg you to watch it; I understand now that therapy needs to be more Black orientated…but this is a simple, basic technique to use on a loved person, and being human, having a soul and wanting to reach out are all natural, knowing no limitations.

 

Let me repeat that; this extremely easy approach is important for your loved one to have; again, it crosses all lines society has created; from gender, political, sexuality, nationality, financial, skin color or tone, age, disabilities.

Why does it cross this line? Because we are all of the same… I struggle with a severe mental illness(es) due to childhood traumas. Had I had someone when I was younger to listen to me and not judge, I may would have healed. I don’t know, and I am thankful for all I’ve been through.

Why? Without my battles, scars, hospital visits and such, what right would I have to speak out?

I know we all need different things, but one thing I believe most would agree which is so comforting to haven life is a non-judgmental person who does not interject with their personal feelings, opinions, views or something randomly off topic to make the person feel unheard. Mental health can get to a point of it being absolutely, utterly debilitating. 

And as I read more on the project I have in works, at all the suicides… it is so clear to me, more than ever, we have to find a way to not only educate children on how to react if you feel said way but we also need parenting classes for children who struggle. There are many other solutions, I believe and I am hopeful. 

Having someone to listen, without bias, without judgment and not only listen but empathize with the person; that may seem so basic and normal but it isn’t. And it is scary, but it also is life saving…

With the number of suicides all across America high, and those in the Black community as well, most worryingly amongst the ages 5-12… we need to take action fast, create community centers and other means of support… More on that soon, please do watch the following short video though, and if you don’t cry I am surprised 🙂 It’s short, and she discusses why it is important to just have someone there to …simply listen, nothing more nothing less.

Rant: White People, You Are Not Victims

Absolutely heartbreaking truth

My mind is blown; and it angers that I am not surprised but still I remain absolutely stunned that people truly go about their lives not caring for the plight of others, regardless of age, because it does not impact them. What appalls me even more is the claim that they are not racist, that is one of the first things most of these sort are ready to shout. The second and equally detestable remark these sort of people (who sadly seem to be a majority as of right now) deny they have any sort of privilege due to being white. Or better yet, those who claim that “white genocide” is happening and white people are the victims of this racist society.

I don’t know if it is brainwashing -I believe this to be an excuse; think for yourself! Or perhaps it is some form of denial because it is a disgrace, it is very hurtful to know how unjust and cruel people can be; especially when you are not the one being treated bad. The guilt and shame is almost overwhelming; I loathe the treatment of my light skin and am not afraid to call people out on it when I see my friend or family being treated differently; there is no excuse for it! 

I don’t know what in this universe could justify these forms of treatment to other people simply because of skin color; but here we are. Facing it, accepting it and all of its ugly facilities is the first step; speaking out is the next, I believe.

That all being said, in accordance with the research I am doing on how racism impacts Black children in both the short and long run I came across an article a moment ago that has me in a fury. The post began and repeated itself in saying that “researchers are not sure why suicide has risen in Black youth recently” – really? Either they are absolutely disconnected with reality or the media is, as the mainstream media is trying to brainwash white people. I am sad to say it seems like it’s working. Which is why it is so vital we make sure we get the TRUE STORIES, THE TRUE HISTORY AND FACTS out and spread it to as many people as possible. Truth will win in the end, and it’s time we ALL start doing whatever we can to end this extremist government and society.

As for the article I speak of, yes, they did manage to speak reputable research and give true facts, they did what most mainstream media does; find a way, any way to make sure it is not the white person to blame.

It doesn’t take an intelligent person to realize how disgusting this system is. Just a person with a heart/soul and even just an inkling of awareness to the current tragedies.

I will post some of the stories of these tragic young deaths in the upcoming future, I would do so now but I want to be able to write with full attention on the child or adult for that is the least I can do.

Coming up shortly is part 2 in the series about racism and it’s psychological -as well as physical- impact on children and later on, adults. 

*Also I will be posting photos and links to children who have died over racist bullying but were never mentioned -to my knowledge- by anyone other than local media…when lucky.*

Why Is No One Speaking About Racism & Suicide?

” Scientific evidence is now overwhelming that the early years of life are foundational to health and wellbeing, as well as to social, educational and economic success, throughout life. “

This is going to be a series of posts as doing it all in one may be overwhelming… I have been studying neuroscience and the developmental stages of the brain for 10+ years. Currently I am working on a book regarding the development of the brain and the different stages under different circumstances… Racism is one of the worst and most obvious problems facing non-whites, and Black children are suffering for it more than anyone in the media or even activism speak about. Be it out of ignorance or lack of a soul, the problem remains. So I hope to shine a bit of light on it and maybe, hopefully, do some good…

I share this because the developmental stages are crucial,  and the fact very few people in general, let alone in public policy, ever stop and think about what racism is doing to Black children… The first topic I am working on is sadly morbid but also sadly highly ignored by most of America.

From having to worry for their own safety to that of their caregivers and loved ones, the constant stress  -among other things- obviously impacts mental health…but what exactly is it doing? And what can be done to stop it?

Besides having little ones in my life who are “Black”, I also have worked with numerous at risk children, most of whom were also Black. Recently, since some of the police killings have finally made the mainstream news, I was working with one 10 year old little boy whom, after Tamir Rice’s death, refused to leave his home for any reason. He was certain he would be next…

Ten years old and that is what he is thinking about.

I know the topic of mental health in general is a taboo topic… But it is just as real as any physical ailment -if not worse- and if we could manage to get over egos and look at these problems perhaps we wouldn’t have so many people self loathing and at the saddest extreme, dying.

Strictly speaking from a mental health point of view, an alarming number of Black children between the ages of 5 to 12. *It is important to note here that while suicide is the fourth leading cause of death among all children between the ages of 10 and 44 it is not the time people are most at risk. According to research and statistics adults in the age group of 45-65+ have the highest numbers when it comes to suicide.

Among others, JAMA Pediatrics released a study further discussing the rise in suicide among Black children, in part stating: