Spikes in Suicides Bolster Calls for Overdue Support
If you’re thinking about suicide, are worried about a friend or loved one, or would like emotional support, please contact the 24/7 National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741741 or go to suicidepreventionlifeline.org. For TTY Users: Use your preferred relay service or dial 711 then 1-800-273-8255. Starting on July 16, anyone can simply dial 988.
By Katherine C. Gilyard/ Howard University News Service
The year 2010 feels like a lifetime ago for 33-year-old Carl Johnson, but the death of a close friend makes the year one he’ll never forget. Fresh out of finals week, and a week before his 21st birthday, Johnson got the phone call. His friend of four years, 22-year-old Jameel Smith, was found dead by suicide.
The conversation with Jameel’s roommate left Johnson speechless. “I remember Julius hysterical and crying on the phone, trying to get it out: ‘He’s gone.’”
Looking back, Johnson recalls what might have been warning signs, but while in the thick of finishing his senior year at Morehouse College in Atlanta, the then 20-year-old was just trying to get through himself.
“It wasn’t necessarily that something was wrong with him and then it happened; he would, like, go down these rabbit holes where he didn’t really want to talk to people and just keep to himself,” Johnson said. “Actually, around that time, I’d come over to Julius and Jameel’s apartment and asked about Jameel. He just said, ‘He’s just having one of his moments where he don’t wanna talk to anybody.’”
Johnson is one of many people who have been reflecting on their own tragedies with the recent suicide death of Regina King’s son, Ian Alexander Jr. Condolences and an outpouring of support for King have been flooding social media timelines around the world since news of her son’s death broke last Friday.
The shock of the 26-year-old musician’s death is an experience that more families and friends are encountering with an increase in suicides among certain segments of Black, Indigenous and Hispanic communities. Concern and awareness are growing with more attention on the risk factors exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, as well as news reports and social media posts about Alexander and others. For example, Cheslie Kryst, TV correspondent for “Extra” and 2019 Miss USA, died on Sunday in Manhattan, and Mayor Kevin “Scooter” Ward, 44, of Hyattsville, Maryland, just outside the nation’s capital, died on Tuesday.
Suicides have increased by 3% among Black males of all ages. The spikes are highest among 15 to 24-year-olds at 16% and 25 to 34-year-olds at 12%. These spikes are occurring despite an overall 3% decrease in deaths by suicide since 2019 across the United States, according to the 2021 Rapid Release Report from the National Vital Statistics System….
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