Jay's latest for The Root in tribute to podcast pioneer Combat Jack

The world lost a legend this week. Lawyer turned podcast icon Regge Ossé, host of The Combat Jack Show passed away this week due to colon cancer. As one of the primary inspirations for our show The Extraordinary Negroes and a hero to Jay, Reggie was responsible for countless hip-hop careers and influencing a generation of podcasters and content creators. Jay put his thoughts into words for Very Smart Brothas. And you should check it out.

"One of my heroes died yesterday.

Yes, losing Prince hurt. As did the death of luminaries such as Dick Gregory and Maurice White. But for all their contributions in moving black culture forward, their statuses as legends were solidified prior to their passing. My fear is that Regginald Ossé, better known as Combat Jack, who at 48 years young succumbed to colon cancer months after announcing his diagnosis, was denied a similar fate."

Read the rest over at VSB.

More from The Combat Jack Show.

Mental Health Monday #41: Repressed Sexuality, Comics as Therapy, NYC 1st Lady's Wellness Initiative for Black Women, etc.

NYC First Lady Chirlane McCray promoting Thrive NYC

On last week's Mental Health Monday, Tiffany Haddish opens up about supporting her mother's journey with schizophrenia, WNBA star Imani Boyette is using her platform to broaden the mental health conversation, and The Grapevine hosted a lively conversation around mental struggles in African communities. Check it out here. 

THIS WEEK'S GOODNESS:

"33 Self-Care Sistahs That Helped Redefine Wellness in 2017" by Siraad Dirshe [ESSENCE]

An undeniable part of this wellness awakening is the countless Black and brown women who use their work and Instagram accounts to help change the historically accepted narrative. From chefs to astrologies and fitness trainers, these ladies reminded us how important it is for us to cherish and protect our magic. 

"Motherhood, Fear, and Truth" by Graeme Seabrook [Medium]

So they will try to tell you to be quiet, mama. No one wants to hear about your mental illness during pregnancy, your traumatic birth. No one wants to hear that you simply don’t want to breastfeed or that you are still breastfeeding your three year old. They do not want you to talk of the mind numbing boredom or the soul crushing fear. They do not want you to tell the truth of the emotional load that has worn this slump into your shoulders or the mental load that has carved those lines around your eyes.

"Black Women and Sexuality: Damned if You Do, Damned if You Don’t" by Monique Judge [The Root] 

It’s not just our own people who do this to us, but it is worst when our own people do this to us, at least in my opinion. By “our own people,” I mean black men. Why are you so threatened by a black woman owning her sexuality? What is it about a black woman who is expressing her sexuality that makes a black man feel that he has to tear her down for it?

"Couldn't Afford Therapy, So I Made This": Powerful Comic Tackles Mental Health In Black Communities" by Robust Health [AFROPUNK]

The autobiographical comic is 126 pages, and explores mental health and identity within communities of color. Broken up into 5 chapters—Mental Health, Divorce, Nomad, Identity and Reclaiming Space—the stories hone on the specific trauma faced when juggling the sometimes dueling realities of mental health and growing up in Black or brown families.

"NYC’s First Lady Helms New Mental Health Initiative For Black Women" by Victoria Kim [The Fix]

The goal of Sisters Thrive is to train 10,000 black New Yorkers in Mental Health First Aid, and create a ripple effect of mental health awareness and empowerment within the black community.

“We all know what to do if someone is bleeding, if somebody fractures a body part,” said McCray. “But we don’t know what to do if someone has a panic attack or someone is suffering from depression. These are everyday skills that everyone should have.” These skills can be life-saving, but are not normally prioritized.

"Unharm Our Sons: Black Fathers, Masculinity and Mental Health" by Jeff Baker [The Mighty]

“I swallowed all of them!” I blurted out, as I burst into my parents’ room frantically.

Barely looking up from the TV, my father glanced me over, up and down, as if a passerby had cut him off on a busy crosswalk. “Take him to the hospital,” he grumbled. He then continued flipping through the channels, as my mother darted up to find her keys, purse and shoes, scurrying all around the house in a state of panic. Her visceral, instinctive reaction seemed much more rational, considering the urgency in my voice.

If you have a mental health resource, event, or piece of content we should know about, step into our office. You da bess.

Mental Health Monday #40: Taboos in African communities, churchy stigmas, Tiffany Haddish on her mom's mental illness, etc.

On last week's Mental Health Monday, Jay-Z opened up the benefits of therapy, a story about havig a panic attack at church, how GirlTrek is promoting wellness among Black women via walking, Aliya S. King wrote about how hiding mental illness almost killed her, and more. Check it out here. 

THIS WEEK'S GOODNESS:

How is mental wellness handled in modern African or African descendant communities? The Grapevine hosted a panel of young Africans to discuss factors that affect how mental and emotional wellness are approached across the diaspora.

"Black Girl Going Mad" by Rivers Solomon [Guernica]

“Traumatized people chronically feel unsafe inside their bodies,” Bessel Van der Kolk argues in The Body Keeps the Score, his book on trauma and recovery. “The past is alive in the form of gnawing interior discomfort.” By sixth grade I’d already collected a small backpack’s worth of misfortunes. My mother, baffled, would stare at me as I cried inconsolably and begged her not to make me go to school. By the time I was a teenager, I was already familiar with the numerous ways a body could make itself into a stranger because of pain.

"Why It's Important This 'Girls Trip' Star Is Opening Up About Her Mom's Mental Illness" by T-Kea Blackman [The Mighty]

She couldn’t get all her words out, so she’d just punch me. Just full on. Because of her, I can take a punch like nobody’s business. Teachers would ask, ‘Why’s Tiffany’s lip busted?’ I didn’t say anything. As bad as she was to me, I still couldn’t help but love her.

"What You Learn Making a Film About Black Mental Health in the UK" by Tshepo Mokoena [VICE]

It took a few years to hit breaking point. In January 2015, when Keith Dube was 25, he decided to finally share his struggles with mental health, in the simplest way people have used for the past decade: a blogpost. He wrote about his depression, and coming to terms with his illness enough to face it head-on. But, unlike most people, within a year his stream-of-consciousness blog ended up leading him towards making a film for the BBC.

"Chicago Sky center Imani Boyette is helping break taboo on mental illness" by Terrika Foster-Brasby [The Undefeated]

Using poetry and her WNBA platform, Boyette has become an advocate for mental health, most recently serving as a spokeswoman and summer camp counselor for Sparks of Hope, a nonprofit in Portland, Oregon, that helps children who are survivors of abuse. Through her time speaking out for mental health awareness, she’s observed firsthand the difficulty African-Americans face when approaching this subject. “It is one of the biggest reasons that our community is so heavily afflicted,” said Boyette.

Why is mental illness such a taboo issue in Black churches?

"Golden Krust Caribbean Bakery & Grill Founder Commits Suicide in Factory" by Paula Rogo

Lowell Hawthorne, the founder and CEO of Golden Krust Caribbean Bakery & Grill, committed suicide Saturday evening in his Bronx factory, according to police.

The founder died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was 57.

And because we should all take more opportunities to seek out joy:

Im from Louisiana it doesn’t snow here often 😂❄️❄️ pic.twitter.com/jAD0p8MZzQ

— Da'Quan Bellard (@AlmightyChipp) December 8, 2017

Mental Health Monday #39: Jay-Z & therapy, dating & mental health, panic attacks in church, etc.

Members of GirlTrek, a "a national health movement that uses walking and fellowship to motivate thousands of Black women towards personal and community improvement." - GirlTrek.org

Hey there, person not named Sean Spicer who is therefore winning at life.

Welcome to another round of Mental Health Monday, your weekly dose of stories, resources, and motivation for your everyday life. On last week's Mental Health Monday, info on how mindfulness exercises help Black women, words for Black queer men considering suicide, some ideas for handling seasonal affective disorder, and much more. Check it out.

THIS WEEK'S GOODNESS:

Jay-Z Just Summed Up Why Therapy Is a Great Idea for Pretty Much Everyone by Sarah Jacoby [Self]

It also impacted the way he thought about racism. "You realize that if someone's racist toward you, it ain't about you. It's about their upbringing and what happened to them, and how that led them to this point," he says. "And once I understand that, instead of reacting to that with anger, I can provide a softer landing and maybe, 'Aw, man, is you O.K.?'"

Why 116,000 Black Women Are Walking Throughout the U.S. by Rochaun Meadows-Fernandez [AlterNet]

It all began with two friends taking walks together in the streets of Los Angeles in the late 1990s, but now it’s a nationwide movement that has more than 100,000 black women walking for wellness and social justice.

“GirlTrek was just me and Morgan holding ourselves accountable and supporting each other in sisterhood and love,” says co-founder Vanessa Garrison about how she and co-founder Tanya Morgan Dixon met in college and bonded over shared beliefs in radical acts of self-care. 

It Took 20 Years to Share My Mental Health Struggles. My Silence Could Have Killed Me by Aliya S. King [Very Smart Brothas]

I’m transparent now (for the most part). But I’m also 40 plus with 20 years in my field. And I just got to this transparent space a few months ago. If my 20-year-old daughter told me she wanted to write about anything involving her personal life—nope. I don’t care if it’s mental health, addiction or just her love of making cupcakes. If it’s anything that can be perceived as a weakness, I want her to shut up about it.

I kept my mental health stuff a huge dark secret for 20 years—even to myself. I didn’t tell my parents and I only hinted to my siblings and friends.

Anxiety Ain't Shit: the worst place to have a panic attack by Erma BreAnn [Erma BreAnn]

I was embarrassed. Soon after I calmed down and more people had filtered into the foyer to see what was wrong, that’s when I heard “ain’t nothing wrong with her, she’s just running from the Holy Ghost.”

Mental Health: Don't Feel Guilty For Checking The F*ck Out When Needed by Erin White [AFROPUNK]

You ain’t gotta stay at peak wokeness 24/7 for every moment of the rest of your life. It’s not your individual responsibility to organize so hard that fall into poverty and self-destruction. To feed the world before feeding yourself. In the AFROPUNK community, there are so many of us who want to help others, help each other, with our artistry, time, money, platforms, whatever we have as we hold tight through the Trump storm, and blatant socio-political attacks of White Supremacy. But doing so for too long, to the detriment of your mental health and your relationship with yourself isn’t a good thing for anybody.

Why I'm Speaking Out About My Mental Health Journey by Sinclair Ceasar III [The Mighty]

The sessions have been good. They help me get outside of thoughts that tell me I’m unworthy. I get guidance with being less fearful. I receive tools to help me navigate a depression that tells me there’s no reason or meaning to any of this. Yeah, it gets real. I’ve had days where I haven’t wanted to leave my bed. I’ve had moments where I can’t even send an email, make dinner or start my car. I live with trauma and irrational thoughts. I battle them. I go into the dark places and face ugly things.

Mental Health and Dating in the Black Community by Mike McGee [Dallas Examiner]

When The LAB, a local community think tank, created the forum “A Mental & Emotional Fitness Discussion on Dating in the Black Community,” founder Michael Guinn envisioned the meeting as an opportunity for citizens to cordially ask questions, voice concerns and discuss experiences about a health issue he said was usually ignored by African Americans.

“The reason why these forums are so needed and so necessary is that we don’t often as a community come together and talk and then pool together resources in regard to this type of issue,” said Guinn, a spoken-word artist with a masters in Social Work and CEO of the nonprofit Uplift Your Life Inc.

If you have a mental health resource, event, or piece of content we should know about, step into our office. You da bess.

Alex's latest for Cassius Mag/Wells Fargo on Village Micro Fund: 3 Young Brothers Working To Empower Atlanta Entrepreneurs

In his latest for Cassius Mag, Alex profiled three sharp, ambitious young brothers who are using their Black Excellence and brilliance to provide business consulting, support services, and access to funding to Black innovators in Atlanta, Georgia. Donte Miller, Nathan Jones, and Robin McKinnie, co-founders of Village Micro Fund, are uplifting their community one small business at a time, and "are proving that under-resourced communities around the country can self direct the development of their neighborhoods." Check it out right here for $Free.99.

The co-founders of Village Micro Fund

Alex's other recent work:

Black in the Day: Back to School Edition (Saint Heron)

I'm Attracted to My Therapist and It's Fine (Tonic)

Why the Sister Act 2 Soundtrack Was a Major Milestone of My Black-Ass Childhood (Very Smart Brothas)

This is What Addiction Was Like Before it Became a White-People Problem (Tonic)

Please Stop Inviting Everybody To The Damn Cookout (Very Smart Brothas)

Our latest episode: