Contrary to popular belief, it's real and it affects more people than you think. Mental illness, especially in the Black Community is often over looked and under reported. It's another taboo that we as a people just don't want to address.

Now let me be clear about what I mean by mental illness. Schizophrenia. Multiple Personality Disorder (for those that believe in it). Anorexia. Bulemia. Addiction. And yes, that one that many people suffer with in silence, depression. Any ailment that affects your mind and/or impacts your behavior. They are real. And this list is nowhere near exhaustive. These are the kind that I have experience with. The kind that I have seen in my lifetime.

My first comment on this matter is: stop ignoring it. People do not shoot up movie theathers with a sound mind. People do not kill dozens of children or massacre countless classmates because they feel like it. It just doesn't work that way. It's so much deeper than that. We, as a society and in the Black Community, simply write it off as "crazy." Those people just ain't right. They're insane. Heartless. Emotionless. They care about no one but themselves.

But has that not been you? Have you not been hurt so bad (emotionally and physically) that you want to hurt another person? What stops you? Jail? Religion? Reason? Fear? What if you lacked impluse control? What if your brain didn't tell you to stop? To me, this is what mental disease is. Lacking a "sound" mind. Again, we call it crazy. A simple word that is so loaded in this context.

There used to be legitimate places for people that suffered from mental disease. Asylums. Institutions. And later hospitals, where the inhumane practices of electro shock therapy, labotamies, etc. were no longer performed. The mentally ill were a separate part of society and could get the medical attention from the qualified staff that they required. Now, we barely have any of these places left. Like many social programs and necessities, due to governmental cuts and the lack of concern from the general public, the mentally unstable are out on the streets with you and me, trying to survive like us. Only they have a key disadvantage. They do not think like us. So how do we expect them to to function in our world? We need these places back. Those the suffer from mental illness need a place that will give them the extensive, extended care that will help them get better, or at least manage their symptoms.

Now, I'm not making excuses for people that decide to harm themselves or others and claim that they are mentally disturbed. But think about it. There must be a reason that this is admissible in our courts. Insanity pleas. Not guilty due to mental disease or defect. These people, that are simply not trying to get a lighter sentence, do not belong in jail. They need HELP! We all know jail does not work as rehabilitation. Mentally impaired criminals need help as far as management for their disease. Maybe it's medication. Maybe its counseling. Each case is unique. Find out what works, do it. Help these people.

Mental disease is in our faces. Black America, it's time to acknowledge the fact that it's there and try to embrace those that are suffering. We all have an uncle, a cousin, a brother or sister, a parent, a grandparent, SOMEBODY that we know that's a little "funny in the head" as we like to call it sometimes. Help them. And if you can't help them, find sozmeone that can. They are not weird. Enough with that mess. The first step is realizing that you or someone you love has a problem. And the next step is to speak up, speak out, and make a difference. Now.