Introduction
African American men regardless of age, occupation, or wealth live each day knowing there are people who hate them, and their entire community for no reason except the color of their skin. Live each day fighting a flawed system set up for them to fail, a society that labels, portrays them as dangerous, angry and or violent. African American men are targets of extreme levels of dehumanization and violence because of their natural maleness (Assari & Curry, 2020). Countless incidents of unarmed black male killings by those who are supposed to serve and protect; hundreds of years of oppression, discrimination, flawed systems, and racism that lives to this day are key factors in which why African American men have depression, more than any other race or gender in the U.S. The depression starts very young during their youth and only grows with age and increases with education and wealth. When seeking for a therapist or psychiatrist (if they can afford it) to help them less than five percent are African American.
As a Child
African American youth in the U.S. experience more illness, poverty, and discrimination than their white counterparts; these issues put them at higher risk for depression and other mental health problems (Klisz-Hulbert, 2020). African Americans are less likely to seek treatment whether it be due to finances, transportation, healthcare discrimination, and or lack of color in the medical field especially in therapists and psychiatrists. What Klisz-Hulbert’s study shows is starting out as a child, African Americans are already at a large disadvantage for many obvious reasons which leads to a much higher risk of depression at such a young age.
Sierra Carter is a part of a research team that has been following more than 800 African American families for nearly 25 years. “We found that people who had reported experiencing high levels of racial discrimination when they were young teenagers had significantly higher levels of depression in their 20s than those who hadn’t. This elevated depression, in turn, showed up in their blood samples, which revealed accelerated aging on a cellular level.” – Carter (2020). Carter’s findings clearly exemplify the damage discrimination can do to a person’s level of depression and or physical health. In 2019, the American Academy of Pediatrics identified racism as having an enormous impact on the health of children, adolescents, emerging adults and their families. Carter’s findings show the need for society to acknowledge how racism is extremely powerful and consistent and will damage the ability for an African American child to simply live in the United States (Carter, 2020).
Depression has quickly led to suicide, the second leading cause of death among African American children ages 10 to 19. Making it to twenty years of age as an African American in America is something to be highly appreciative and grateful for sadly, especially for men. That rate is rising faster than any other racial or ethnic group (Klisz-Hulbert, 2020). Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show the rate of suicide attempts for African American adolescents rose 73% from 1991 to 2017 (Klisz-Hulbert, 2020). People don’t choose or want to be depressed, it is put on their shoulders by the structure of the system and society.
A Flawed System
“African American teens are less likely than white teens to be treated with beneficial psychiatric medications, and more likely than white teens to be hospitalized involuntarily. Other reports suggest African American youth with psychiatric disorders are more likely to be referred to the juvenile justice system, while white youth are more often referred for mental health treatment.” – Klisz-Hulbert (2020). When trying to get help for their mental health issues black men are very likely to be wrongly diagnosed and or heavily discriminated against. With less than five percent of therapists and psychiatrists being African American this is a very large issue and with no one to turn to as a young teen for help, the depression and or mental illness will only get worse.
Killing African American Men Slowly
Studies show that African Americans exposed to a police officer killing of an unarmed African American citizen through media or word of mouth, had worse mental health, increased fear of victimization, diminished social trust and a revisiting of prior trauma (Klisz-Hulbert, 2020). Growing up since a child I have seen dozens and dozens of innocent unarmed African American men who look like me, doing simple daily tasks killed in broad daylight for no fair reason at all. Ultimately, things of this nature will only continue to happen and be shared until major changes are made which leads to more depression and other bad mental and emotional health impacts which can result in physical harm on the body as well. It’s a daily reminder that innocent people who are the same as you can be murdered for no reason at any time.
“African American men are disproportionately shot and killed by police more than African American women. African American men are stopped, arrested, jailed more, and significantly overrepresented in U.S. prisons. African American men are six times more likely than white men to spend time in prison.” – Assari and Curry (2020). The experience of constant and accumulating stress due to racism throughout an individual’s lifetime can wear and tear down the body ultimately hurting ones mental, physical, and emotional health (Carter, 2020). No one will ever be able to relate or understand the effects of racism on the body and mind remotely the same as African Americans do.
Doing the Right Things
Assari and Curry’s research on race and gender in the U.S. showed that even though education and income reduce the risk of discrimination and depression for whites and African American women, it is not much help for African American men. In a study that followed 1,200 African American and white people for 25 years, for African American men, the highest educational credentials were associated with an increase, rather than a decrease, in depressive symptoms (Assari & Curry, 2020). In a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults, African American men with the highest income also had the highest risk of depression, in particular, major depressive disorder (Assari & Curry, 2020). Assari and Curry also found that interpersonal discrimination, or people discriminating one-on-one, was not a reason.
Racism, discrimination, and oppression follow African American men every day, dehumanizing them, decreasing their quality of life and shortening it. Whether they are killed by systematic racism physically, or emotionally, mentally by the stress, depression and mental harm it brings. African American men live on average four fewer years than white men. No matter what African American men do to escape this trauma, such as gaining education and earning more money, force them to question their own worth (Assari & Curry, 2020). It is not the fault of the African American man he is depressed but the country that has brought the depression upon them and will not do anything to lift it.
America’s Accountability
Individual responsibility is a core American value, while America won’t even accept responsibility for how distraught and hurt an entire community of its people are. When people or society say things like if you are poor get a job, or if you want a better job go to school etc. Doing things of that nature seem so simple to non-African Americans because they don’t deal with daily occurrences of discrimination, racism, and or the effects of if not one, both. People undermine the societal and historically causes that keep African Americans at an economic and health disadvantage (Assari, 2018).
“As a member of University of Michigan’s Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation, Poverty Solutions and Department of Psychiatry, I study racial inequalities in health. My research has shown that it is not lack of personal responsibility, low motivation or culture of poverty but deeply entrenched societal factors such as racism and discrimination that cause such disparities.” – Assari (2018). It is not the fault of the African American man he is depressed, but it is a result of a poor system set up to keep them depressed.
Renaming streets, taking down statues and saying nice things will not make a change but they are a nice start to a process of progression that is well overdue. People need to acknowledge, raise awareness and stop looking down upon and or blaming African American men for how their lives are. Instead need to focus on how discrimination contributes to blocked opportunities, systematic oppression, racism, the lack of jobs and the use of lethal aggression against their group (Assari & Curry, 2020).
The United States government is more than capable of giving reparations to the African American community, doing so undoubtingly would help with decreasing rates of depression. Aside from checks or money, these reparations could go towards housing, reform in the medical field, and or reform in the criminal justice system for examples (Bailey, 2021). It would give a sense of trust, and make African Americans feel backed by the country that brought their ancestors here and where they now have lived their entire lives. The United States government was able to give Japanese Americans reparations of 20,000 dollars each (44,000 dollars in today’s money) after the bombing of Pearl Harbor (Bailey, 2021), but can’t do a single thing about hundreds of years of slavery and free labor and the depression, trauma, causalities it caused an entire community of people who still face damages from it to this day.
Conclusion
In these articles we see Carter, Curry, Assari and Klisz-Hulbert all touch on the depression specifically, what their studies found and the damage it does to African American Men. All articles resonated with one another by far, while Bailey’s approach was more so constructive towards what can we do now standpoint. All articles agree that the African American Man and community are disadvantaged and unfairly treated in many ways which can and does result in depression and many other harms. What more can African American men do? African American men are strong, resilient and fight through discrimination, racism and hate their whole lives through education and the workforce. African American men rise from oppression, make an honest living and or gain higher education, yet still must prove they are not a stereotype while at an even higher risk for depression. It is not their fault that they are depressed. It is the fault of the nation that brought them here and keeps them at this state of mind and feeling throughout their community. There needs to be more African Americans represented in all places of power, education, and in this case specifically the medical field. The rate of depression is dangerously growing, and it is not in their hands to change route but the systems responsibility to do so.
References
Anne C. Bailey Professor of History. (2021, March 4). Revisiting reparations: Is it time for the US to pay its debt for the legacy of slavery? Retrieved April 24, 2021, from https://theconversation.com/revisiting-reparations-is-it-time-for-the-us-to-pay-its-debt-for-the-legacy-of-slavery-151972
Rebecca Klisz-Hulbert Assistant Professor of Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences. (2020, July 29). African American teens face mental health crisis but are less likely than whites to get treatment. Retrieved April 24, 2021, from https://theconversation.com/african-american-teens-face-mental-health-crisis-but-are-less-likely-than-whites-to-get-treatment-140697
Shervin Assari Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Public Health. (2018, September 4). Why it’s hard for blacks to pull themselves up by bootstraps when it comes to health. Retrieved April 24, 2021, from https://theconversation.com/why-its-hard-for-blacks-to-pull-themselves-up-by-bootstraps-when-it-comes-to-health-92717
Shervin Assari Professor of Family Medicine, & T.J. Curry Professor of Philosophy, Personal Chair of Africana Philosophy & Black Male Studies. (2020, July 21). Black men face high discrimination and depression, even as their education and incomes rise. Retrieved April 24, 2021, from https://theconversation.com/black-men-face-high-discrimination-and-depression-even-as-their-education-and-incomes-rise-141027
Sierra Carter Professor of Psychology. (2020, November 17). Racial discrimination ages Black Americans faster, according to a 25-year-long study of families. Retrieved April 24, 2021, from https://theconversation.com/racial-discrimination-ages-black-americans-faster-according-to-a-25-year-long-study-of-families-143313