Mental Health in the Black Community
Floor Speech
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Mrs. BEATTY. Mr. Speaker, first, I thank my colleague and friend, Congresswoman Plaskett, for leading tonight's Congressional Black Caucus Special Order hour.
First, and certainly fitting, to tonight's topic on mental health, I salute the life and legacy of a giant in the healthcare industry who passed on November 10, Bernard Tyson, president and CEO of Kaiser Permanente and friend.
Just this year, Mr. Speaker, he was talking to the editor-in-chief of Fortune magazine about lessons learned and lessons that were worth remembering, and now he has left them behind, and those lessons were about mental health.
He was talking about, in this healthcare system, we have a system of healthcare for the body and for the mind, and he had integrated both into his system, and he had done it in a seamless way and in a way that did not have stigma.
So, tonight, I say to my friend: Rest in peace. Rest in positive power in healthcare.
But also, Mr. Speaker, the Congressional Black Caucus is coming together tonight, as the Congresswoman has said and as she powerfully leads us, to elevate the conversation about mental health in the African American community.
Millions of adults and children are impacted by mental health conditions each year, including depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress, and anxiety.
For too long in our country, there was a stigma associated with mental health, especially in our community, the African American community. According to the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Offices of Minority Health, just in 2017, suicide was the second leading cause of death for African Americans between the ages of 15 and 24. Additionally, the death rate from suicide for Black men was four times greater than for African American women in 2017.
We are encouraged, encouraged to see more influencers, such as Jay-Z and the ``Breakfast Club'' host, Charlamagne, speak out about mental health disparities in the Black community. But as the gentlewoman is leading us tonight in saying more must be done, the Federal Government has a moral obligation to invest more resources into mental health services.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for her leadership, and I thank her for being a voice for us on this topic.
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