2024 Black Love Day #31
Nya Akoma BLACK friends and family! We at BLACK sincerely hope you are all enjoying your #BlackLoveDay celebrations and have found time today to spread black love throughout your communities. I wanted to give you all a bit of insight into this year’s theme, Breathing Solutions to Increase Love in Black Families, and why the founder selected it to move forward together in 2024.
A certified breathologist, Handy-Kendi emphasizes the use of breathing techniques as a therapeutic tool to navigate stressful life events. Her vision is to fortify Black families against adversities, promoting resilience through year-round Black love practices. Breathing techniques, or the practice of controlling and regulating your breath to achieve certain benefits, as a therapy is a practice that dates back longer than we can even trace. The founder of AAHA (African America Holiday Association), Handy-Kendi, is a firm believer in using them for mental health. In the most up-to-date data available to us, studies have shown a recent spike in suicide rates among African Americans. Black people ages 10-24 saw a 36.6% increase in suicide rates from 2018-2021, according to a Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). That same study shows that suicide rates in White people ages 10-24 saw a 3.9% decrease for that same time period. From the National Institute on Mental Health, “Black people face increased rates of risk factors, including experiences of racism, higher rates of unemployment and financial and food insecurity, disparities in other aspects of health, and limited access to care, all of which result in an increased burden of mental illness in black communities.” (NIMH, 2020)
In order to bring awareness to the black mental health crisis and to provide our black community members with some useful and affordable techniques to help cope with mental health issues, Handy-Kendi felt that theming Black Love Day to be a call of action to attack the rising rates of depression and suicide among black youth would be an excellent choice. In a statement she issued, Handy-Kendi said, “As a certified Breathologist of 50+ years, I have also played a part in the resurgence of using ancient breath techniques as a healing tool for modern times. Now, with Feb. 13th as a day of transformation and another month of black love programming, we can address the spike in Black youth mental health, suicides, and depression. Racism is a key factor in disproportionate Black family mental health issues and access to mental health treatment. With the U.S.A. polarized, election year looming, we offer breathing solutions as the simplest tool, that costs nothing but impacts the greatest self-care, to increase self-love in Black families, strengthening them from SLE’s (stressful life events, such as racism, violence, economic disruption, conflicts, and substance abuse) through Black love 365.” (Khandelwal, 2024) Handy-Kendi says that black people have historically been taught not to take care of themselves during times of oppression and in a time where social media prevalence has made it easier than ever for messages of hate to reach our black youth we have to take steps to ensure that they know how to cope with stressful situations, depression, and other mental health issues.
Today we implore you to spread a message of love throughout your black communities. Help teach our black youth about how to use their breathing to regulate their emotions and provide them with access to resources for mental health help if they need it. Let’s use the five tenets of Black Love Day every day this year. Together, we can reduce the rates of suicide and depression and help black youth and their families heal.
References
African American Holiday Association. (2024). 31st Black Love Day Feb. 13 Focuses on Black Youth Mental Health Crisis. 31st Black Love Day Feb. 13 Focuses on Black Youth Mental Health Crisis and New Black Love Movement Month (BLMM) (einpresswire.com)
Khandelwal, S. (2024). 31st Black Love Day: A Beacon of Mental Health in the Black Community. 31st Black Love Day: A Beacon of Mental Health in the Black Commun… (bnnbreaking.com)
National Institute on Mental Health. (2020). Addressing the Crisis of Black Youth Suicide. Addressing the Crisis of Black Youth Suicide – National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) (nih.gov)
Jenco, M. (2023). Study finds spike in suicide rates for Black adolescents, young adults in 2021. Study finds spike in suicide rates for Black adolescents, young adults in 2021 | AAP News | American Academy of Pediatrics
About the Author:
Tia is an investigative journalist here at BLACK. She holds degrees in Political Science and Applied Economics from SNHU and she is a first-year law student at Purdue Global Law School, pursuing her J.D. She also has a certification in Human Rights from Wassmuth Center for Human Rights in Boise Idaho, and she recently interned for the Office of Budget and Entitlement Policy at Cato Institute in Washington, D.C. Tia is a RESULTS 2024 Organizing and Advocacy Fellow and Outreach and Partnerships Coordinator. She lives with her husband and three children in Hurricane, West Virginia.
In her free time, she enjoys contemporary art, fashion, home décor, reading, and family. Tia is passionate about protecting American consumers and corporations and is a strong proponent for open markets, human rights, and equality for all. Her current focus is slavery reparations, entitlement program solvency, and budget appropriations process reform. While Tia is not black, she supports the fight for equality and stands with BLM. She believes that unearned privilege creates a duty to act against racial inequality and injustices.
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