By Sterling Davies | SAC OBSERVER Staff Writer
For Terry Sharp, growing up in Queensbridge, New York in one of the nation’s largest housing projects – surrounded by domestic abuse, gun violence, and drug use – the door seemed closed on discussing the negative impact his environment was having on his mental health.
Although Sharp, now 34, knew from a young age that he struggled with depression, there was never a moment to stop and process the cause and the weight of it all. “I always dealt with feeling like there was something wrong with me or like I’m not enough,” he said. “I just didn’t know how to address it.”
Sharp moved to Sacramento in 2018, and his depression persisted. It wasn’t until he faced an all-time low that his approach to life shifted. In October 2022, Sharp was shot multiple times by police officers and was incarcerated for six months.
High Suicide Rates
“They took money, they took my car. I couldn’t get the keys to my house,” Sharp said. I literally came out of jail with the clothes I wore in the hospital.”
Sharp’s story mirrors the mental health struggles of Black men across the nation. As of 2024, suicide is the second-largest cause of death for Black men between the ages of 15 and 24. And suicide rates for Black men are four times higher than for Black women.
Many African Americans, including Sharp, gathered June 29 at The OBSERVER’s “It’s OK Brotha” Mental Health and Resource Fair in Oak Park to discuss resources and advice surrounding Black men’s mental health. Throughout the event, men of color across different ages and backgrounds shared their mental health journeys, shedding light on the highs and lows.
‘Just Don’t Talk About It’
Within the African American community, Black men often feel pressured to suppress their emotions and remain “stone-faced” as Cameron Sykes, 34, puts it. Sykes, a member of Stop Stigma Sacramento, a county-funded mental health initiative, spoke at the event on how older generations of Black men have passed down the notion of needing to withhold emotion, whether positive or negative, closing the conversation on mental health altogether.
“When I was young, [mental health] wasn’t really emphasized at all,” Sykes said. “We were actually encouraged to not talk about it, whether it was our fathers or coaches or something like that.”
Childhood Trauma
For Black men, exposing feelings of despair can be viewed as weakness and call into question their manhood, Sykes said. Oftentimes, suppressing emotions leads to suppressing childhood struggles, creating larger issues down the road.
“It’s a different trauma for Black children,” Sykes added. “Growing up in underfunded neighborhoods, we’re shown stuff that we’re not supposed to see … having absent family members, having brothers or sisters shot. Those are the types of things that we see in the Black community far more than you see in other community groups.”
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