This infographic shows data collected by two government population and health agencies including the U.S. Census Bureau and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. It displays an aggregated amount of information pertaining to black mental health in the U.S. As any statistical data would, these numbers also include a margin of error that cover any missing information. However, I believe this set of data is more skewed than ever imaginable because of the common avoidance of the general topic of mental health in the black American community.
According to personal experience and research conducted by the National Alliance on Mental Illness, among the many reasons we attach an unmentionable connotation to discussing mental health in the black community are our lack of knowledge about mental health, the pressures of manhood forced upon black men by the black American church, and our reluctance and inability to access health care. From the start of an African presence in America, the force that is white supremacy assigned an inhumanity to black women and men; brick walls expected to stand strong and steady against any sort of traumatic or heavy wave of emotions. This surmise of emotional and mental strength beyond measure has since been ingrained in the black community and is often passed on by the black American church and justified with scriptures from the Bible. To this day, as blacks practice and are continuously influenced by this modern Christian culture tainted by the western view originally meant to cater to whites and means of capitalist greed, the taboo nature of black mental health is firmly perpetuated.
Black Mental Health Matters! 