Are Black women the key to lowering suicides by veterans?

By Cameron Searcy, NDG Intern

At a time when suicides by military veterans are surging, the U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs is seeking help by examining a group with the lowest suicide rate in the nation: Black women.

When a soldier returns home from war, they often face a difficult struggle to adjust to civilian life.  The psychological effects of warfare, coupled with the difficulty in expressing their inner turmoil, are a leading factor in the high rate of depression suffered by returning soldiers.  Unfortunately, these dispirited veterans too often believe the only solution to life after war is suicide.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports Black women commit suicide at a rate of less than 3 per 100,000. On the opposite end of the spectrum, white males account for the highest number of suicides of any other group in the country.  According to the CDC their suicide rate was 25.96 per 100,000 men from 2005 to 2009.

Experts are seeking insight into how they handle adversity while facing challenges, by studying the behavioral patterns of Black women.  Although this concept is an ambitious step in the right direction of assisting our soldiers, the same ambition faces a significant roadblock to success.  Black women are molded from an early age to provide one another with emotional and spiritual support.  While this concept is not exclusive to Black women, it is a core value within the community.  The idea the military can take aspects of Black female culture and “cut and paste” to fit their objective is perhaps optimistic to the point of being unrealistic.

Another factor not taken into account are the atrocities of war soldiers in combat face on a day-to-day basis. A soldier struggling with the psychological issues of war is not comparable with the lives of Black women outside the military and it is a quite a stretch to compare the two groups.

Perhaps a better approach is to analyze the coping mechanisms utilized by former prisoners of war or studying the brain patterns of soldiers who have fared better psychologically after returning home. This approach by experts would likely result in a more apples to apples comparison. Ultimately, the struggles faced by Black women and soldiers differ greatly.

Perhaps the military may derive a few key lessons by studying support amid the Black female community, but it may prove to be in vain as those characteristics might not translate as easily as they hope.  The history of Black people in America has shaped the women to assume the roles of serving as the backbone of their family and community.

While admirable of the government to recognize the strength of Black women, these qualities likely cannot be simply emulated because they represent a skill acquired over a lifetime.