Dr. King said " Racism is meant to instill in Black people A degenerating sense of nobodyness."
As you travel across America, go into any inner city downtown area and you're likely to see large numbers of Black men standing on corners, living under highways or camped out by food pantries, who are homeless and unemployed. Many observers, both black and white are quick to call them lazy. As a Black man, I know some of the real reasons behind these growing numbers. But when I'm asked by my children I am forced to tell them some of the bitter truths of racism in America. Many of these homeless Black men that you see are those who have finally given up. They have given up on their families, their communities, their hope for the future, their desire to find a meaningful jobs, their country, despite many being veterans who proudly served their country and most of all they have given up on themselves. There are so many more Black men who you don't see who are suffering quiet lives of isolation and depression.
Are black men less likely to seek help for mental illness? Are they even willing to acknowledge that they may have a problem? Journalist and author John Head has seen this problem from the inside and out. For more than 20 years, he worked as a health reporter for the Detroit Free Press and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. But his own personal experiences led him to write Standing in the Shadows: Understanding and Overcoming Depression in Black Men. Listen to his personal observation of the problem on NPR. After listening, click the back arrow to come back to this site and post your comments. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89238847
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