​Commentary:   Mental health a vital issue in black community

By Davida Mathis
Excerpts from Greenville Online

As I have said for years:  “Racism will drive you crazy.”

This is not a medical or psychological assessment, rather, strictly anecdotal.

However, I’ve been a lawyer for a long time; I’ve been black even longer. I have seen the injustice and very unequal protection under the law African Americans experience.

I have witnessed what racism does to the souls of its victims. Racism is demoralizing and debilitating. I have also seen the attitudes of African Americans toward mental health.

We face the realities of racism in this country daily, but we are reluctant to face the realities of mental health conditions.

African Americans have less access to treatment, we are less likely to receive treatment, and even when we do receive treatment we receive a poorer quality of care.
.   .   .

Bottom line: we must take charge of our mental health. As a community we are monolithic in the notion that Black Lives Matter.

We must also be in solidarity that Black Mental Health Matters.
TedxTalk:  Phillip J. Roundtree -- Black Mental Health Matters
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Davida Mathis has practiced law in Greenville for 27 years and was the first African-American female assistant solicitor in the 13th Circuit Solicitor's Office.
"Black Pain" -- Terrie M. Williams

Champ Bailey on Black Men & Race
Champ Bailey on black men & race - part of Hall of Fame acceptance speech -- reality of "FEAR"

How Racism Makes Us Sick
​Ted Talk:  David R. Williams, Professor of Public Health at the Harvard School of Public Health

"How Racism Makes Us Sick"

"David R. Williams developed a scale to measure the impact of discrimination on well-being, going beyond traditional measures like income and education to reveal how factors like implicit bias, residential segregation and negative stereotypes create and sustain inequality. In this eye-opening talk,

 "Williams presents evidence for how racism is producing a rigged system -- and offers hopeful examples of programs across the US that are working to dismantle discrimination."

​NBC Nightly News (June 2020)

The Toll of Racism on Black Americans Physical and Mental Health