News Report: "Called a FAG" YOUNG, BLACK MALES & SUICIDE

I read this on concreteloop.com and wanted to share. Its sad that it takes mutiple media covered suicides for the Black community to speak up but none the less it is indeed a conversation that needs to start.

TAKE NOTE THAT IN 2 CASES OF THE YOUNG BOYS THAT THERE WAS AN ISSUE OF HOMOPHIBIA AND THE EVIDENCE OF THE MACHO PARADOX



In recent years, suicide rates among young, black males have increased more rapidly than any other group. But this is not something that is discussed in our communities.

Isn’t suicide a white thing? Suicide is the third leading cause of death among black youth. It isn’t a white thing.

Most of us are uncomfortable with the topic of suicide. Too often, victims are blamed; their friends and families are stigmatized. As a result, we don’t communicate openly about it, limiting the amount of information available to those working to prevent it.




Last November, 34 year-old Def Jam Executive Vice President Shakir Stewart died from a SELF-INFLICTED GUNSHOT WOUND and that same month, 19-year-old ABRAHAM BIGGS committed suicide on his webcam after he overdosed on pills while streaming a video of himself live on Justin.tv.





Earlier this month, an 11-year-old Massachusetts boy, Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover, hanged himself after enduring bullying at school. According to reports, Carl was taunted daily being called ‘girlie,’ ‘gay’ and ‘fag’, despite his mother’s weekly pleas to the school to address the problem.

Carl, a football player and Boy Scout at New Leadership Charter School in Springfield, would have turned 12 on April 17.

His mother, Sirdeaner Walker, found him hanging by an extension cord minutes before she was going to a meeting to confront school authorities again.




Just last week, an 11-year-old in Georgia, Jaheem Herrera, did the same thing for the same reason. He was found hanged to death in his bedroom closet.

His mother, Masika Bermudez, said he was being consistently bullied at school. She said she had complained to the school, and she said it was her 10-year-old daughter who alerted her to the stress Jaheem was under.

Bermudez said bullies at school had called Jaheem ‘gay’ and had taunted him about his accent. She said when he came home Thursday and she asked him about it, he denied it. She sent him to his room to calm down. That was the last time she saw him alive.

No one seems to care.

A lot of stigma exists in our communities with mental-health issues and seeking help for them. We have to reduce the stigma that seeking help makes you weak and let those individuals know that they can be helped.

The reasons for suicide may be varied, but suicide prevention exists for them all. There are NUMEROUS OUTLETS TO HELP anyone considering suicide realize that they have a lot for which to live, although it may seem like nothing at all.