From left: Dr. Charles E. Lewis, Jr., Victor Armstrong, Dr. Altha Stewart, and Dr. Anthony Estreet.
The crisis of black youth suicide continues to ring alarms. On Thursday, July 10, dozens of researchers, practitioners, advocates, policymakers, and people with lived experience gathered at New York University’s Washington DC facility at 1307 L Street, NW to assess what progress had been made in addressing this issue since the publication of the report, Ring the Alarm: The Crisis of Black Youth Suicide in America, in 2019 raised awareness of the deadly impact suicide was having among black youth in the United States.
Sponsored by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and the American Psychological Association, and led by Dr. Michael Lindsey, dean of NYU’s Silver School of Social Work who served as the Working Group Chair for the Congressional Black Caucus’s Emergency Taskforce on Black Youth Suicide, chaired by Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ-12), the three-panel symposium featured a fantastic lineup of leaders who brought scientific rigor, critical thinking, dynamic advocacy, and passion to their efforts to save young black lives.
Dr. Lindsey moderated the Scholars Round Table, which included Dr. Annelle Primm of The Steve Fund, Dr. Derrick Matthews of The Trevor Project, and Dr. Tami Benton of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. The Community Roundtable was Moderated by Lula Haile of Vibrant Emotional Health and included Dr. Alfie Breland-Noble of the AAKOMA Project, Inc., who received a $20 million grant from Melinda French Gates; Rafiah Maxie of Soul Survivors of Chicago, who lost her 19-year-old son to suicide in 2020; and Dr. Sidney Hankerson of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital.
I participated in the Policymakers Roundtable, moderated by Victor Armstrong of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Joining me on the panel were NASW CEO Dr. Anthony Estreet and Dr. Altha Stewart of the American Psychiatric Association.
Dr. Lindsey is a preeminent scholar in the field of black youth mental health. He co-authored the 2022 study, Black Youth Suicide: Investigation of Current Trends and Precipitating Circumstances, in the Journal of the Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, which analyzed national data from 2003-2017 that found a statistically significant increase in suicide rates among Black youth aged 5–17, with the highest rises for girls and ages 15–17. Armed with those findings, he got the attention and support from the Congressional Black Caucus, which held a hearing on December 6, 2018, that led to the creation of the CBC Emergency Task Force on Black Youth Suicide and Mental Health, chaired by Congresswoman Watson Coleman.
The latest data show that upward trends in black youth suicide continued through 2021, with suicide rates among black youth increasing 36 percent since 2018, from 8.2 per 100,000 to 11.2 in 2021. It’s doubtful that current rates of black youth suicide will be forthcoming from the CDC under the current administration. With the freezing of NIH-sponsored research, especially any that could be cast as DEI, it will be challenging to track black youth mental health issues over the next several years.
The challenge is heightened with the passage of the Big Ugly Bill, which includes severe cuts to Medicaid, which, in conjunction with the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), is the largest single payer of mental and behavioral health services for young people in the United States, covering nearly half the children in the country. The legislation will significantly reduce federal matching funds for states’ Medicaid programs. Unlike the federal government, which can print money to cover budget shortfalls, every state except Vermont has some form of balanced budget provision.
By continuing the 2017 tax cuts, a massive transfer of wealth will continue to flow from the most vulnerable Americans to the wealthiest. While Congress can incentivize foundations and wealthy individuals to invest in America’s children through tax deductions and credits, it will be just a drop in the bucket in meeting the mental health needs of children and youth.
Congress could create a permanent “universal” or “above-the-line” deduction that allows all taxpayers, regardless of whether they itemize, to claim a deduction for charitable contributions. A temporary version of this existed during the COVID-19 pandemic and proved popular. The CARES Act of 2020 established a $300 deduction for all taxpayers, regardless of whether they itemized their deductions. It included stiff penalties for fraudulent claims.
Congresswoman Watson Coleman is determined not to let this issue fade from the minds of her colleagues and the public. She will introduce a resolution in September during National Suicide Prevention Month, outlining several actions needed to drastically reduce the number of black youth planning to end their lives. “I consider Congresswoman Bonnie Watson an angel for her work, her advocacy, and the fact that she cares.” Dr. Lindsey stated emphatically. “She has been a long-standing advocate of the mental health needs of the Black community and was the chief architect of the task force.”