Mental Health in the Black Community

Floor Speech

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Ms. KELLY of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congresswoman Plaskett for yielding and for her continued leadership in advancing equity and access for all Americans.

Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to speak about something that is far too often ignored in our communities, especially the African American community: mental health.

Before starting my career in public office, I obtained a master's in counseling and worked as a mental health professional. As someone with real-life experiences, I can tell you that mental health challenges are more common than anyone thinks and that the only path forward is to be open and honest about it so more people can get the help and support they need to be healthy and thriving.

According to recent surveys, African Americans are 20 percent more likely to experience psychological distress than White Americans, but just 25 percent will seek care compared to 40 percent of White Americans. Clearly, stigma around mental health and therapy remain a significant barrier to connecting those in need with care.

We can all agree that Americans, no matter where they live or what they look like, should have access to affordable and accessible mental health services. However, this was not the case until 2010, with the passage of the Affordable Care Act, which moved mental healthcare from a nice-to-have to essential care--what it always should have been considered.

Defining mental healthcare as essential healthcare was a major step forward. But as I noted before, stigma still prevents too many from seeking and assessing the care they need. That is why I am proud of the efforts undertaken by the Congressional Black Caucus Health Braintrust and the Congressional Caucus of Black Women and Girls, which I chair and co-chair, respectively, to destigmatize seeking mental healthcare.

Last year, we were joined by the first lady of New York City, Chirlane Irene McCray, for a briefing on how we can destigmatize mental healthcare and better share our personal experiences to help and empower others. The video of that conversation is still on my Facebook page, and it warms my heart to see women sharing their stories on the thread months after the Facebook Live ended.

We need more events like this. We need more conversations where we put it all on the table and accept the simple fact that, yes, it is hard sometimes, but there are people and organizations who can help.

In addition to reducing stigma, which is something every Member of this House can do in their own districts and communities, we need to continue working to connect the most vulnerable with care, in particular, those who are regularly impacted by gun violence. In parts of Chicagoland, our young people have levels of PTSD on par with veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

While we absolutely must address easy access to guns--as a reminder, H.R. 8, the Bipartisan Background Checks Act, has been sitting on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's desk for more than 200 days-- we cannot forget that communities have been experiencing this violence for decades because of congressional inaction.

We talk about PTSD as post-traumatic. Many in my communities have present-traumatic; it is not ``post.'' It goes on day after day after day.

To break the cycle of violence, these communities need programs that empower our young people and create hope. I always say nothing stops a bullet like an opportunity.

We need to work together, Republicans and Democrats, House and Senate, to ensure an end to gun violence and ensure robust programs that address the long-term psychological impacts created by years of unchecked violence. This is going to affect us for generations unless we do something about it.

And, finally, I want to talk about a tragic reality in our Nation. Suicide rates are rising. Suicide is the leading cause of death for Generation Z, our Nation's young people. I believe our host, Congresswoman Plaskett, talked about the effects on African American young people. Our Nation's veterans are still struggling to access the care they need and deserve.

In Chicagoland, we, tragically, experienced a marked rise in first responder suicides. Likewise, we are seeing rising rates in rural America, especially among our farmers because of severe weather, low commodity prices, and the failed Trump trade war.

It is past time to make suicide prevention a priority. We are losing too many fathers, sisters, sons, and neighbors to this epidemic. We are losing too many African American fathers, sisters, sons, and neighbors to this epidemic.

In conclusion, I want to challenge my colleagues to take up the mantle of mental health. In 2010, this House declared mental health essential, just like care for our heart, kidneys, and lungs. We now recognize that our minds and mental well-being are a key part of our overall health and should be covered as such.

However, that declaration was nearly a decade ago. We know it is important, so we need to get to work on it now.

Let's pass Congresswoman Grace Napolitano's bipartisan Mental Health Services for Students Act and help put more counselors and mental health professionals back in our schools to serve our students.

Let's pass Congressman Cleaver's bipartisan Cady Housh and Gemesha Thomas Student Suicide Prevention Act to address the shocking and growing rate of suicide among our Nation's students and young people.

And let's pass Congresswoman Plaskett's bipartisan Territories Health Equity Act to ensure that Americans living in territories have the same access to quality mental healthcare as Americans living in the continental United States.

In summary, Mr. Speaker, 2010 marked a significant and bold step forward. We need to be bold today.

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Ms. KELLY of Illinois. Well, in some communities there is a lack of both physical and mental healthcare, but I think we still have to deal with the stigma that people don't see mental health as a part of healthcare.

I know, in the Chicagoland area, right when I became a Congresswoman, actually, there were six mental health facilities shut down, so if someone wanted help, they may have to take two buses, a taxi, on and on and on. There is such a barrier of not only a facility not being there, but also the ones that are around, it is so hard for people to get to them.

And some of the neighborhoods, like I said, people don't even want to come outside because of the violence and some of the particular--not all over, but in some of the neighborhoods.

People are traumatized by the block they live on. They don't want to send their kids to play in the park. They don't want to go to the store. To deal with this every day, to hear gunshots every day, to have to deal with violence every day, that affects you on that day, but it affects you years later, also.

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Ms. KELLY of Illinois. I think mental health gets put on the back burner, that people will talk about, ``Oh, my arm hurts,'' or this hurts, or that hurts, but they don't want to say, ``I am depressed,'' or ``I am down,'' or ``I need counseling.''

I sometimes think in our community--maybe in others, but we know in our community, ``You need to man up,'' or be strong, or give it to God even. You know, God will take care of this, that, and the other, so have faith, and those kinds of things.

I think that God also put doctors and counselors on this Earth--and therapists--for us to use them and use their services. I think not enough of us do that, or we don't feel comfortable. If no one else in the family ever talks about it, then you don't grow up even thinking that is a possibility.

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Ms. KELLY of Illinois. Definitely.

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Ms. KELLY of Illinois. Congresswoman, you hit the nail on the head. That is so true.

There have been so many studies that show you do better when the person who is helping you looks like you or is sensitive to your realities, your community, what you are really about. That is so true.

Also, that is the other thing. With the Congressional Black Caucus Health Braintrust, the other thing that we really push to do is to diversify the healthcare pipeline because that is the only way that is going to change, too.

The other thing is letting our young people know that that is a good thing, to be a counselor or a social worker or a psychiatrist or a psychologist, that we should be looking into those fields also.

You hit the nail on the head. It is hard enough for people to go to counseling or to admit they are depressed, so when they do seek out care, it has to be someone who can be empathetic and sensitive to their needs. Because if they are not, then the person definitely is not going to go back, and then, we are back to square one.

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Ms. KELLY of Illinois. Right. That would be devastating for our community for that to happen. When I think about my district, which is urban, suburban, and rural--

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Ms. KELLY of Illinois. Yes, I do. I have 1,200 farms. The other thing is, I have people in those areas who don't have cars. There are not buses and things like that, so again, they don't have the transportation or the means even to get out to go to, let's say, a bigger town in my district to go seek mental health help.

We have to do more to have more professionals. This is not the time to cut back. When you think about just the stresses of living today, we need to have resources available for our students and even our veterans, our farmers, people who we named that are suffering from various things that are going on right now.

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Ms. KELLY of Illinois. Right. I think it is hard enough for us to go, and then, if we go and don't feel comfortable or feel like we are getting the respect or getting the care, the likelihood of us returning is not there.

I mean, you would think that with anybody, of course, that you want to be treated with a good bedside manner, with respect. You want to feel that the person is listening to you, not blowing you off.

Even when it comes to physical healthcare, the idea that we can take more or we don't need this or don't need that, that has been found to be true in how we have been treated.

The same thing in mental health. We don't want that either. We don't want to be looked at as the angry Black man or the angry Black woman as we are expressing ourselves.

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Ms. KELLY of Illinois. That is why we have the issue that you know I am very passionate about: maternal mortality and morbidity.

Interestingly enough, yes, some happen before the full term, but some happen when the mom has the baby, and it also happens after the mom has the baby. There could be incidents more than 2 months after the mom has the baby. There is postpartum depression.

But if we are not taken seriously, then one thing can lead to another.

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Ms. KELLY of Illinois. Right.

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Ms. KELLY of Illinois. Economic, educational, you could be in the best physical health. Black women die at three to four times the rate of White women. But depending on which State you go to, the rates are higher.

In my State of Illinois, it is six to one times. I just met with someone out there, and they said it looks like it might be even a little higher. In New York, it is eight to one times. In the State of Washington, it is not Black women but Native women at eight to one times the rate of White women. Yes, it cuts across every socioeconomic characteristic that you can find.

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Ms. KELLY of Illinois. I thank the gentlewoman for her leadership. Anything I can do to help, of course, I am always here.

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