L.A. Parker: "T.O. Didn't, But African Americans Do"
Shay
Mr. Parker responds to a black male friend who was withholding judgment on whether football star Terrell Owens recently tried to commit suicide with pills, but his friend commented that black American men don't commit suicide: "An attempt to recall any black men in my past who had taken their own lives produced only one recollection. Other than Bernard, a young black kid who lived a few houses down during my teen years -- he hung himself atop the family pool table -- no other personal recollection of African American suicide exists. A notion that white people kill themselves and black people only kill each other could not be further from the truth. As with most other U.S. social diseases, African Americans, especially teens and young adults, have witnessed an increase in suicides. Statistics show that the suicide rate among black men has doubled since 1980. In 2003, 1,955 African Americans completed suicide. Males (1,597) made up 82 percent of those fatalities. Suicide ranks as the third leading cause of death for black men between the ages of 15 and 24. 'It’s been a misperception that black people don’t commit suicide,’ said Harvard Professor of Psychiatry, Dr. Alvin Poussaint. Poussaint did acknowledge that this sudden rise in African American suicides deserves attention by the medical field. 'Suicide was a stigma in the black community. Historically, killing yourself meant that you didn’t go to heaven. A black person taking their own life was taboo,’ he said. Poussaint said that blacks learned to live with depression, embraced music like the Blues and suffering as part of their life circumstance. Basically, we could sing about our lot in life but never shed tears about our position or status. We rarely did then or even now find psychological intervention. 'Blacks are more accustomed to psychiatry now but I think fear still exists about what (therapy) might do,' Poussaint said.....While suicide ramps up in African American communities, Poussaint stated that other forms of what he termed 'slow suicide' exist. 'Alcoholism, drug addiction, high-risk sexual behavior, these are all forms of dying slowly, all instances where life is devalued,’' Poussaint said. Poussaint debunked the notion that Owens had $25 million reasons to not take his own life. 'Money does not buy mental happiness. It might cushion you but money is no absolute protection for depression and suicide,' he said."
My response: I am not yet convinced that T.O. didn't try to commit suicide. And while black Americans certainly do commit suicide, it should be noted that our rate remains significantly below the national average. Compared to other groups, it is typically just not black Americans' style to kill ourselves. This is due to cultural and religious views regarding suicide mentioned in the piece. I also take issue with the cited suicide stats. The suicide rate of black men may have doubled since 1980, but the overall black male population has also grown (perhaps even doubled?) over those 26 years as well.
The different experiences of American racial and cultural groups never stop amazing me.
As Arnold would say, it's culture, not race. You're absolutely right there. And someone would have to be an absolute fool to deny that different cultures have different attitudes toward different behaviors, suicide included.
So while this is the first time I've heard this statistic, I'm not surprised by it, and I don't find it racist. You and Shay have already cited plenty of cultural factors that would explain it.
And now as the white boy I am I feel I must give about two paragraphs of hemming and hawing and "please don't misunderstand me" statements first. If you understand that culturally I have to do this and know me well enough that you don't want to read my explanations of where I'm coming from, just skip down past the next two paragraphs. If you worry that I'm a prejudiced stereotyper or whatever, then read the next two paragraphs first:
Speaking as an outsider to the black community, but who has lived with, worked with, done business with, and befriended blacks for decades, and someone who admires many aspects of American black culture, I believe that I can often comment on it (as an outsider) better than most white folks. Not as "an authority," but I think most of my black friends will back me up: I speak honestly and from the heart, and I don't deal in stereotypes on racial issues except in jest. And I can take a joke every bit as well as I dish one out.
I can also note things about the white community, because white people in their arrogance often don't think that there are stereotypically white behaviors but there are. And no, my fellow Pale Persons, that doesn't just mean the stereotypes like "go to school work hard and get good grades," which is another subject--yes it's true that there are some black people who see such things as "acting white" and that's bad, but there's more to it than that. And besides, it's over-rated--white trash is the most maligned segment of our society anyway, which should be the subject of another post. THAT IS NOT WHAT WE ARE TALKING ABOUT RIGHT HERE. All I'm saying is, I'm not black but I get black culture better than most. In the same way that I am neither Polish nor Catholic, but I've been hanging with Poles and Catholics my whole life, am married to a Polish Catholic wife and love my Polish Catholic Family. I'm just saying, years of exposure gives me some insight. Not that those are always right. But I'm not just making crap up. And once again, I'm talking GENERALIZATIONS. I swear I'll tap-dance on your face if you start hitting me with this or that example you know that's not the same. STOP IT. This is a discussion not a debate, dammit.
(OK now if you didn't need to read all my hemming and hawing, you can start reading here): I notice that the urban black community has its taboos. They overlap but are not the same as the urban white community. Just to pick one example, black people are more private than white people, as a general rule. When white people think they're just being curious, black people often find that nosy or rude. Just for example.
So on the horrible subject of suicide: I have found that black people tend to be both more religious and to have more social taboos on subjects like this. AND, they tend to be a lot more private about personal and family matters. AS A RESULT, I am quite willing to bbelieve that Black suicide is more common than we have been led to believe. In fact, I'd be willing to wager that it is true. BUT: I'm also willing to bet it is easily overstated.
In fact the whole subject might put some black people in a bind: "Oh I really am pretty sure my brother/husband/sister/whoever didn't do it, because really that is just not what happened here." And just nodding your head and saying, "Yeah, right, we know the truth" would be totally wrong.
I can believe black families work harder to deny suicide. I can even believe black doctors, black cops, etc. work a little harder to deny what they see. People are human, and when they're shamed by something they work a little harder to deny what they don't want to be true.
Still, just to pull numbers completely out of my ass (I'm totally making these numbers up now and I'll kick your ass if you try to hold me to them): maybe instead of 1 out of 10,000 black people committing suicide, it's really more like 2 out of 10,000. We wouldn't know for sure without a lot more discussion and analysis.
But either way, it would be completely irresponsible to just say, in any one case, "well you know they're just in denial, you know those black folks off themselves every day and no one wants to admit it."
Unless you got the suicide note, or evidence that this man chugged down a quart of Hennessey and a whole bottle of Tylenol PM, then STFU and stop making assumptions.
I also find this a relevant (and true) observation:
Whatever questions the Police asked, his answers cannot be held against him because he was incoherent. Thus, there is no way to assure that he understood what was being asked. The Police dispatched two detectives, who were different from the officers who responded to the original call. Those two detectives interrogated both Owens's publicist and later Terrell Owens AT THE HOSPITAL before they had any chance to concoct a cover story. After all, at the time they were questioned by the detectives, the preliminary report turned in by th responding officers had yet to become public, so there was no need to concoct a cover story. Those detectives determined that the "missing" pills were actually not missing. So, they concluded that there was no suicide attempt.
Under Texas State Law, someone who attempts suicide MUST be held in custody for at least 72 hours, and cannot be released without undergoing a psychological evaluation. The very fact that the hospital released Owens within 24 hours supports his story that the original appearances were not correct.
Once the responding officer's report became public, the Police immediately began to backtrack. Since the event was "not a criminal issue, it was a medical issue," whomever it was within the Police department that gave the report to the press actually broke the law, exposing the Police Department to civil litigation.
Those who want to believe that this was really a suicide attempt that is being covered up just don't know the facts. The national press has egg all over their face because they went ballistic with a story that has turned out not to be true. So they are playing coy, not admitting it was an outright mistake, and hinting that maybe it really was a suicide attempt. Of course, they do this with stories about 1) how Owens is human and has problems, too (Duh) and 2) getting input from former teammates and coaches around the league who have no first hand knowledge of the situation, at all.
Most aggregious is the story of Bill Walsh urging Owens to seek psychological help in San Francisco. The subtext of this story suggests that Owens may have been "depressed" for a long time. But Walsh never said he thought Owens needed treatment for depression. So the point of the story is to mislead the public, not shed light on the current incident. It is meant to divert attention from the ridiculous reaction of the press before they had all the facts.
And also, we all know that the press never really admits they screwed up with nearly as much fanfare as they broadcast the original screw up. So rest easy, folks. T.O. did not attempt suicide. If he did, their is no way that the hospital or the police would have releases him. Doing so would open them up to an avalanch of litigation.
The real culprit is whomever the idiot within the police department who gave a copy of the responding officer's document to the WFAA police beat news correspondent. That person, who is probably known within the police department, is most likely having a hard time sitting down tonight as the police chief probably ate him/her a new a**hole. They exposed the police department to being sued.
It is my understanding that Owens has accepted an apology from the Police chief and is not intending to pursue civil litigation. Owens did NOT fire his publicist called 911. He HAS thanked both the police and the paramedics for their work. He has NOT contradicted the original report, except to say that he doesn't remember the questions or answers he gave not only to paramedics and police, but also the doctors at the hospital. He did NOT have his stomach pumped because it was discovered that he had put the pain pills in another container - most likely one of those containers that separates out pills by how often and how many are taken. Also, he HAS fired his personal trainer who shared information about Owens personal life with reporters without permission from Owens.
Bottom line. So-called "natural" supplements still have a chemical reaction with your body, and can have adverse effects when mixed with other supplements and/or medications. And that is what happened. The hysteria by the press was somewhat understandable by the press given the partial information they had. But once again, we have a case of the press overblowing a case with partial information, then grudgingly changing the story later without much apology for the damage they have caused.
Owens will probably start on Sunday in the game against Tennessee. For those of us who are fans of the Dallas Cowboys, and of the Texas Longhorns, this week's game is bittersweet. Vince Young, the Texas hero who passed and ran Texas to the national championship last January is getting his first start against Dallas this week. While I really would like Vince Young to do well, I also want the Cowboys to slaughter the Titans. Oh well.
"Allergic reaction" is sometimes employed generically to describe an adverse reaction to a drug or mix of drugs, not merely for a specific description of the immune system sending antibodies against an allergen.
I've known far too many cases where suicide "runs in the family" as it were to overlook the possibility that differing suicide rates among black and white populations could be genetically related.
Going back over my 35 years of black life, I can only think of one black person who has committed suicide: a teen boy down the street who killed himself in the early 1980s, shortly after my family moved into our neighborhood in central Florida. And I remember the **HUGE** taboo and foul comments in the (2/3 white) neighborhood, solely among the black residents of the neighborhood about the boy's death too. From the perspective of virtually every black person who I know, killing yourself is perhaps one of the worst things you can do after murder and child molestation. It is also widely viewed as "a white thing", selfish, you not being a "strong" brotha or sista and "punking out", and a life in eternal damnation.
Getting back to T.O., I do believe that he needs to deal with some psychological issues in his life though. And if he did try to commit suicide, the aftermath spin may be due in part to the cultural taboo issues that I've outlined above. Above all, he must be seen as a "strong" brotha and a known suicide attempt would be hard for him to live down among other folks.
My understanding is that he normally takes 35 pills a day, all vitamins and suppliments. He took a dose of (prescribed and medically necessary) pain killers because of his broken hand, and when he went to go take the next however many vitamins and creatine tabs and whatever he normally takes, he also included another dose of painkillers. After he had taken them, he realised his mistake, and called for help.
The hospital induced vomitting (he didn't have his stomach pumped), observed him for a while to make sure that he wasn't in any respiratory danger, and then let him go home.
And if you have ever taken hydrocodone, it can sure as hell make you loopy.
I'm one of those who call risky gang behavior, drug use, and promiscuous sex slow-motion suicide.