The North Star: When Black Children Take Their Own Lives

Donney Rose, Writer/Chief Content Editor at The North Star

A recent article by Scientific American gives attention to a heartbreaking increase in Black youth dying by suicide and the reasons these tragedies are happening

A couple of years ago I was a guest speaker at an event in Baton Rouge called “My Brother, You Matter,” which sought to bring attention to an epidemic in East Baton Rouge Parish: the uptick of death by suicide among Black males in the community. 

I remember being asked to perform a poem that spoke to the urgency of the crisis and being caught off guard when researching just how alarming the dilemma had become for mostly young men in the community. After being in numerous conversations about police violence against Black citizens and inner-community gun violence, I was taken aback to be involved in an event that was centered around the self-imposed loss of Black male life.

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