Brothers Lets Talk

Black men have been historically burdened by the need to constantly prove their masculinity by handling all issues on their own, without asking for help of any kind, avoiding any possible display of vulnerability, as showing weakness would contradict their validity as men and, in that sense, even compromise their humanity (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health, 2017). However, failing to include mental health in the rhetoric of barbershops is a huge missed opportunity. The fact that black men coming from many different walks in life meet there to talk in a fraternal manner makes it an ideal place to promote a necessary healthy conversation among a demographic that can benefit greatly from it (“Black Men and Mental Illness Can Be a Conversation, Too”, 2015).

If barbershops were directly targeted by health organizations and harnessed in their full potential, men could find themselves in a safe space where educational material to prevent or explain mental illness could be brought, as well as information on where to get the most appropriate help if they feel the urgency to talk to a professional counselor. Barbershops could function as a first point of contact for men in need of assistance with emotional problems that they do not dare talk with anyone about (“Black Men and Mental Illness Can Be a Conversation, Too”, 2015).

One of the reasons why it is urgent for black men to start a dialogue around mental health is racism. Recently, racism has been identified as a direct cause of posttraumatic stress disorder and other severe, actual physical issues, contributing to the early death of over a hundred thousand black people every year (“Black & African American Communities and Mental Health”, 2017). Arguably, some believe, that the harmful attitudes that have characterized America’s mainstream approach towards African Americans have been significantly phased out. There is enough evidence to suggest otherwise, but even if one agrees with this perspective, the remaining instances that still happen have very real and tangible consequences (Williams, 2017a).

Besides the increased propensity to negative health outcomes, there is also the historically determined, nearly ingrained distrust of authorities, who either participate in the discrimination in an active manner or fail to address it in a timely, fair manner, which leads black men to perceive said authorities as less than willing to act with their well-being in mind (“Black & African American Communities and Mental Health”, 2017).

"Serious studies report that one fifth of adult black males are more likely to report psychological difficulty than their adult white male counterparts, which interacts with poverty to make the number three times higher for those black men who are poor. Even worse, teenagers of African American descent have a higher likeliness of attempting suicide―8.3 percent vs. 6.2 percent, as per the U. S. Office of Minority Health (“U. S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health”, 2017)."