BLANCK MAGAZINE ( THE MENTAL HEALTH ISSUE) Blanck Lite- THE MENTAL HEALTH ISSUE | Page 22

Some black folk are reluctant to engage with
services due to a lack of trust in the system
and an understanding, whether real or imag-
ined, that the services available are not de-
signed for us and cannot accommodate our
specific cultural needs.
the amplified narrative that you are ugly, un-
desirable, unwanted, loud and rude? (Don’t get
me wrong! We’ve navigated through the vola-
tile terrains of superficial Social Media spaces
by generating our own hashtags; Black Girls
Rock and Black Girl Magic, but it is always ap-
parent that these creations are reactionary.
A resistance to the systematic devaluation of
black women) When coupled the generational
trauma passed down by the effects of colonial-
ism on our parent’s generations colonial bond-
age but the centuries of systematic oppression
and brutality, how do you think seeing video
after video of young men who look like your
sons, brothers and cousins being mercilessly
beaten and murdered by white uniformed in-
ternational gangs known as Police departments
or worse still by people who look exactly like
them will effect ones mental health?
I’m grateful that God sent His angels to carry
this family member as he soared through the
air towards the concrete ground landing with
only minor scrapes and bruises. How else can
I explain how he was taken to hospital with his
physical health unscathed from the fall. His
mental health, however, glared at us like an
explicitly gruesome and offensively open gash
exposed for us all to observe. He was sectioned
immediately after being discharged from hos-
pital, at which point I was able to speak to fi-
nally speak to him. I can’t remember what I
asked for him to pour his heart out to me on
the phone, but it flooded out as if his words in-
22 / BLANCKLITE / OCT 2018 / www.blanckdigital.com
tended to drown me in their heartache. He was
trying to confess, somehow. All I remember say-
ing was that I couldn’t care less what he felt he’d
done wrong in the past or whatever life; none of
that mattered. What mattered to me was that we
have cultivated a society in which a beautiful,
black man would rather throw himself out of a
window than talk his pain?
As the family members left the room, in the
Psychiatric Hospital, I sat next to him. Heavily
medicated he’d become an unpredictable and
unfamiliar zombie, but when everyone left the
room and it was just the two of us, he transmog-
rified into his normal self. He was present again
and his eyes reminded me of those of a lost child
as he asked me the next most difficult question:
‘Why is this happening to me?’
I put this question to you and ask us all to take
responsibility for our brothers and sisters: why
is this happening to us and how can we take
steps to improve it? My thoughts are that it starts
within and it starts with us. Let’s cultivate safe
spaces to discuss mental health, let’s reflect on
our own healing and self-improvement, let’s talk,
let’s seek help, let’s not feel afraid to say, ‘Yes we
are indeed magic, but we are also human.’
Follow Sheila Nortley on IG @sheilanortley