From Whitney to Don: On Stigma and Mental Illness in the African-American Community

Recently, the music community lost two international legends, Don Cornelius and Whitney Houston. While their lives are a reminder of just how far our dreams and determination can take us, they also remind us that the pressures of success can lead to depression, suicide, and substance abuse. These are often taboo subjects in the African-American community.

What is the impact of not only their lives, but also their deaths on our collective understanding of mental and physical health? While every community is susceptible to these illnesses, they have gone un-discussed in African-American society.

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Posted by:

Ife

#SMH: Walgreens Celebrates Black History Month

Is this disrespectful to blacks and Black History Month? #You be the judge!!!

Posted by:

LaNisha

Black History Year

Black History Month has come and gone but that is not stopping Detroit emcee and Michigan State University journalism graduate Jashua “JYoung The General” Smith from continuing the celebration. Teaming up with G-Unit’s producer Nick Speed and clothing line sponsor, Dangerous Negro Apparel, JYoung has created Black History Year, a compilation of songs aimed at teaching Black history 365 days a year in a way that is appealing to young people.

“I’ve been studying black history since I was a teenager, and I know firsthand that there’s more than enough information for just 28 days,” said JYoung in a statement to the press. “With Black History Year, I want to educate and entertain for twelve months – and hopefully, even more than that.”

Black History Year, which was named after Dangerous Negro Apparel’s t-shirt campaign, will include a number of installments going in on Black issues such as gentrification, the Black Panthers, the alarming AIDS and HIV epidemic, Haiti, odes to Black comedians and more. The first song on Black History Year’s debut is titled “The Meeting (Malcolm vs. Martin)”, featuring Lansing, Michigan artist, James “P.H.I.L.T.H.Y.” Gardin, which emulates a conversation between the two Black leaders, setting the tone for the tracks that follow.

The project is available for stream and free download on JYoung’s Bandcamp Page (http://jyoungthegeneral.bandcamp.com). Also, follow JYoung on Twitter (http://twitter.com/JYoungS2TS)

Posted by:

krysten

Black History (from a Latino Perspective)

As January moves over to make way for February, we get ready for Black History Month. You know, McDonald’s “365” commercials, jokes about black people getting the shortest month of the year, factoids about George Washington Carver and pictures of Harriet Tubman appearing on the walls of elementary schools, and reminders that we shall not simply delegate this celebration to one month. We’ve seen and heard these images, phrases and American cultural attachés to the point where the month becomes a cliché, a corporate slogan, even unnecessary in the supposed “post racial age” of Obama.

jacked via Joe Maldonado's Facebook page

Let me try to take it from a different angle.

What does black history mean to me? This is not one of those essays that says “Black History is American History”, though we are all deeply interconnected. This is also not a tribute piece to African American historical figures gave me hope and inspiration, though they did.

Let me attempt to explain and expand “Black” History Month from a Latino perspective.

More after the jump.

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Posted by:

The Editor