My brother took his own life on May 10, 2010. Rarely a day goes by that I don’t think of him. But just because I thought about him, it didn’t mean I could talk about him. For a long time, I couldn’t. Sometimes when the subject of suicide came up, I would want to —
My brother took his own life on May 10, 2010. Rarely a day goes by that I don’t think of him. But just because I thought about him, it didn’t mean I could talk about him. For a long time, I couldn’t.
Sometimes when the subject of suicide came up, I would want to — or literally have to — leave wherever I was. Not helpful if you’re in the news business.
I’ve come to realize that I have to talk about it. We have to talk about it.
Why do we have to? Because our silence is not protecting us.
Suicide is a public health crisis for the country — but that crisis is becoming acute in the Black community. Black suicide rates are climbing, increasing more than 50% over about the past 10 years according to CDC data. And the suicide rates among Black youth are increasing particularly dramatically. The rate of Black youth suicides by firearms exceeded that of white youth in 2022.
At a time when government-sponsored public health initiatives are retreating from issues that impact different communities differently, we’re going there with care, sensitivity and honesty.
I hosted an NPR’s Morning Edition live event called Going There: A Matter of Life and Death. It brought together a panel of clinicians, lawmakers and people who have lived with this pain to talk about this epidemic, in front of a live audience who have also experienced it. Speakers include CEO emerita of BET Debra Lee, Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-NJ, psychiatrist Dr. Paul Nestadt, retired NFL champion Vernon Davis, WWE superstar Ettore “Big E” Ewen and Rev. Johnny Parker, who is both a pastor and a counselor.
It was an attempt to try to find out why this crisis is happening, how it is affecting us, and most importantly, what we can do about it.
During the conversation, Super Bowl-winning tight end Vernon Davis shared his struggles with panic attacks and depression.
“I would have these episodes in the game,” Davis said, “I would go sit on a bench and breathe hard. I just felt like, for a split second, that I didn’t want to be here. I had nothing to live for. It happened so fast, and it was just so sudden.”
Davis now says that focusing on his mental health is a daily priority. And, after Davis lost both his brother and sister in quick succession, he started speaking more openly about his experiences with mental health.
“There’s people out there who are going through the same thing that I went through,” he explained, “they just need to hear that there’s someone else out there that is going through the same thing.”
Dr. Paul Nestadt is a psychiatrist, medical director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Suicide Prevention, and a national authority on suicide. He notes that white people still account for the majority of suicide deaths, and the suicide rate has decreased slightly among white Americans. Meanwhile, the rate has gone up among Black Americans. Access to guns accounts for at least part of that increase.
“When that trend in young Black people, especially young Black males, started to go up was also a time when we saw a dramatic increase in firearm ownership in the Black community. That was in 2020, in the context of the pandemic, the murder of George Floyd, and a variety of other things,” Nestadt said.
As a result, 2025 survey data shows the lowest rate of self-reported suicide attempts among young Black people in America in years. But, Nestadt said, “the death rate has gone higher than it’s ever been. And that just comes down to the fact that when an attempt is made, now with so many more guns in the house, that attempt is fatal.”
Nestadt emphasized that it is crucial to correct several prevailing myths about suicide: chiefly that only people with long-term mental illnesses are vulnerable and that mentioning that you are concerned that someone might take their own life plants the idea. Neither is true. He says suicide is often an impulsive act, and interrupting that thought can work.
Every panelist brought similar words of wisdom. Among the most important advice:
- Reaching out to offer support to loved ones who seem like they might be struggling can be lifesaving.
- Free and low-cost resources and treatment options are out there, and are effective.
- Remembering those we’ve lost to suicide as the full people that they were can be healing to those left behind.
There’s a lot we can do to support each other and take care of ourselves.
And if you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can reach someone 24 hours a day, just to talk or to help get access to care.
Check back often for more exciting news!
