Black American anxiety at all-time high, experts
say
While violent police encounters involving
Black people dominate headlines, the news
is having a detrimental impact on the mental
well-being of Black Americans, some experts
say.
In the weeks following the graphic video of
George Floyd pinned under the knee of a now
former Minneapolis police officer, U.S. Census
Bureau data found that anxiety among Black
Americans had increased by 26% and depression
increased by 22%.
And while Floyd's death has emerged as a pivotal
moment amid a national reckoning on race,
the issue extends far beyond one summer and
one man. Before Floyd, there was Tanisha Anderson,
a unarmed Black woman seeking mental health
assistance killed by police in Cleveland in
2014, Shereese Francis, a Black woman who
was suffocated during a police encounter in
2012, and countless others.
The surging coronavirus pandemic and subsequent
social unrest from police violence have resulted
in a toxic daily environment that can have
a deleterious effect on Black Americans' mental
health, experts say.
Dr. Thomas A. Vance of Columbia University
suggests that Black Americans are 20% more
likely to experience "serious mental health
problems" than the general population. They
also found that Black youth who are exposed
to violence are 25% more likely to experience
PTSD.
In 2018, researchers from the Perelman School
of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
and the Boston University School of Public
Health examined data from police killings
between 2013 and 2016 and their effects on
the mental health of Black Americans.
"Our estimates, therefore, suggest that the
population mental health burden from police
killings among black Americans is nearly as
large as the mental health burden associated
with diabetes," the authors of the study wrote.
Furthermore, the study indicated that police
killings during that time period contributed
to 55 million poor mental health days among
Black Americans annually. These 55 million
days can have a negative impact on people
at work or even everyday activities like going
to the movies.
"[Police killings] have affected people's
everyday functioning. From people being hyper-vigilant
when you're just going outside to the onset
of having a panic attack when you're pulled
over by the police, it has an effect," Saleemah
McNeil of the Oshun Family Center said.
Quinessa Stibbins, a technical design assistant
and Jackie Robinson Foundation scholar, is
one of the many Black Americans who has experienced
worsening mental health in wake of recent
events. Living in Minnesota during the deaths
of Philando Castille, a Black nutrition services
supervisor killed during a traffic stop in
Flacon Heights, and Floyd, Stibbins has participated
in protests and fundraisers in her community.
Yet, she said she finds it difficult to maintain
her mental health while doing so.
"I struggle with mental health anyway but
seeing all of this has made it infinitely
worse. There's this awful desire to be informed,
especially with continued unrest in Minneapolis,
while also knowing that it is wearing me down.
It's wearing everyone down. The world is a
bad place and it makes me wonder, 'what's
the point?' It gets hard to find a reason
to live when we are surrounded by death constantly."
Instant exposure to death and violence are
issues that many face in a social media-driven
era. Graphic images of the shooting of Jacob
Blake or the killing of Walter Scott, a unarmed
Black man shot in the back during a police
encounter in North Charleston, are seemingly
ubiquitous, appearing in social media newsfeeds
and timelines.
Dr. Colette A. Poole-Boykin of Yale University
recounts an experience in which she mistakingly
watched a video of Kyle Rittenhouse fatally
shooting two protesters after travelling 32
miles across state lines to Kenosha, Wisconsin.
His attorney, Lin Wood, has claimed that Rittenhouse
acted in self-defense.
"I did not watch the Floyd video. I still
haven't seen it. I only saw the 17-year-old
who had the gun," she said referring to Kyle
Rittenhouse, the alleged gunman accused of
opening fire during Kenosha, Wisconsin, protests
over the police shooting of Jacob Blake and
of killing two people. Rittenhouse's attorney,
L. Lin Wood, has argued since that Rittenhouse
was acting in self-defense.
"The only reason I saw that is because it
was a clickbait. I didn't know I would be
watching the actual video. I thought I was
going to be watching an interview," she said.
Watching these videos can trigger a form of
"secondary trauma," Poole-Boykin added.
"You never know who your audience is. You
never know who has gone through traumatic
experiences and then, watching that video
could re-traumatize them."
Isabella Dominique, an activist and Newman
Civic Fellow from Denver, also said she has
been negatively affected by the circulation
of deadly police encounters on social media.
"Seeing constant videos of Black death is
next-level exhausting. It's a constant reminder
that we are not safe anywhere in this country,
no matter what we do. For me, it breeds a
sense of resiliency, but I also think it's
disgusting that that's the case. We shouldn't
have to grow strong and be able to process
violence against our people."
And another concern: the attention garnered
by violence perpetrated so often against Black
men, can leave Black women feeling as though
their stories are sidelined.
"Most of the attention focuses on the issue
of the police killings of Black men. Grassroots
movements and independent journalists are
now tracking police killings because data
from law enforcement on the number of Black
people killed by the police is woefully inadequate.
Even that scarce data however, rarely does
a statistical gendered analysis, which means
that the deaths of Black women at the hands
of the police do not receive the level of
attention that the killings of Black men receive,"
University of Florida criminal law professor
Michelle S. Jacobs writes
Breonna Taylor's shooting is one of the cases
involving violence against Black women by
law enforcement to gain national attention
that perhaps few have seen since Eleanor Bumpers
was shot to death by the New York City police
officers in 1984. Bumpers, a Black woman in
her 60s, was fatally shot after she waved
a knife at officers who were evicting her
from her apartment.
From Taylor's name placed on the back of WNBA
jerseys to celebrities arrested while protesting
in her honor, her death has profoundly affected
many throughout the country, especially those
who see themselves in her story.
Danielle Germain, a 21-year-old college student
and protester in Washington, D.C., said she
intimately identifies with what happened to
Taylor.
"When I think about Breonna, I see myself.
I think that a state of constant fear messes
with my mental health because who wants to
be scared all the time?"
In light of these mental health challenges,
there are resources individuals can tap into
within their communities that may help them
assess their trauma. One of the most common
sources of assistance is therapy. However,
there are often economic and societal barriers
that prevent access to proper mental health
care. With one in five Black Americans living
in poverty, mental health care can be economically
unavailable for many. Compounding the issue
is a severe lack of Black mental health professionals.
In 2017, the American Psychological Association
reported that only 2% of its members identified
as Black or African American.
Saleemah McNeil of Philadelphia is a Black
woman working to break down those barriers.
In Philadelphia, McNeil is striving to offset
the cost of mental health services by raising
money. Shortly after the world learned of
Floyd's death, McNeil set out to raise $5,000
in an effort to provide affordable mental
health resources. McNeil said she exceeded
her expectations, and that she raised more
than $70,000 in just two weeks. She says her
ultimate goal is to build a fully functioning
center where members of the community can
"feel a sense of healing and refuge."
Elsewhere, Germain is building community events
in Washington, D.C., where members of the
community can also seek healing. Germain partnered
with a local nightclub owner, Gabby Miller,
to plan "The Cookout" event to provide a supportive
environment to discuss solutions about improving
her community. Held hours after Rev. Al Sharpton's
"Get Your Knee Off Our Neck" march, the event
was exclusively catered by Black-owned restaurants,
offered vendor booths for Black-owned businesses
and instructed young Black Americans on how
they can vote in the upcoming election.
Whether it be providing mental health services
in the City of Brotherly Love or organizing
community celebrations in the nation's capital,
Germain says the goal is the same; build a
safer world for Black Americans.
"I think a safer world is any world where
I don't have to question my existence or have
my civil rights denied. It's a world where
my fears aren't made into a constant reality,"
Germain said.
