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Suicide in the Black Community
By Gordon Jackson
The Louisiana Weekly
Sunday 06 April 2008
Dallas - Theories continue to abound surrounding the deaths of Rufus and Lynn
Flint Shaw, a couple with New Orleans roots, who were found shot to death in
their Oak Cliff home March 10.
The case has raised the painful issue about suicide, particularly in the Black
community.
The husband and wife team were victims of an apparent murder-suicide pact,
where it's speculated that Rufus, 56, shot Lynn, 53, then took his own life.
In the book, Lay My Burden Down, noted Harvard Medical School psychiatrist
Dr. Alvin Poussaint and writer Amy Alexander analyze how much of the Black community
- determined to be victors, not victims - strive to downplay issues of mental
illness, depression and resulting suicides within the culture.
"It is very much a misperception that Black people don't commit suicide
and that comes in part from a need, the very real and legitimate need, for Black
people, for many years to be very strong," Alexander is quoted as saying
in a book review by HealthyPlace.com. Alexander had an older brother who committed
suicide.
"They [Blacks] see mental disorder and depression as a sign of personal
weakness or moral failure," said Poussaint, who considered his brother's
slow and painful death from heroin abuse as a precipitated form of suicide.
DeSoto pastor of Lifeway Church, Dr. Karen Hollie discusses the stereotype
regarding suicide among Blacks as well as the way Blacks deal with pain.
"There are some stigmas involved. We particularly don't engage in that
kind of thing," said Dr. Hollie, who was a practicing psychological therapist
and counselor for 25 years, before leaving her practice two years ago, now applying
her training as pastor of Johnson Chapel Community Church, also in DeSoto before
going on to Lifeway.
"We have a different set of coping skills that we employ for a lot of
things," Hollie said. "The helplessness and the hopelessness is not
the same. We seem to have some other avenues that we employ and some just say
we have some economic implications for it that makes a difference. We generally
just don't fall into that."
According to an article published in the Journal of Black Psycology, Felicia
Griffin-Fennell and Michelle Williams attribute the reluctance of Blacks and
women to kill themselves to their religious convictions, turning to God for
help in times of distress and believing that He has full authority over life
and death. Many site the fear of eternal damnation as a reason for their reluctance
to attempt or complete suicide.
Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control suggests that from 1988 to
1992, white males were 12 times more likely to kill themselves than Black males
and white women more than 15 times more likely than Black women. Authors of
Racial Differences in Hopelessness as a Risk Factor for a Nearly Lethal Suicide
Attempt, in the Aug. 1, 2006 issue of the Journal of Black Psychology, say that
suicide is about hopelessness, adding that a better understanding of racial
differences in hopelessness and suicide may result in more effective interventions
to slow the increasing Black American suicide rate.
According to a 2003 report by the National Institute of Health, "On an
average day in the United States, one African American dies by suicide every
4.5 hours."
Poussaint stated the birth, growth and adopting of blues music as an example
of how many Blacks just learned to deal with their oppressing and depressing
times.
Still suffering from the vestiges of slavery and still targets of institutionalized
racism and discrimination today, with health and economic disparities in their
disfavor in almost all societal categories, Blacks are the first group of people
who need to seek help for possible mental illness and depression, yet the last
ones to get it. That is compounded by the fact that Blacks still make up only
about 2.3 percent of all psychiatrists in the industry, making it more difficult
to receive culturally sensitive consultation and treatment.
According to the Violence Policy Center, through their review of the report
American Roulette: Murder-Suicide in the United States, Florida, California
and Texas led the nation in murder-suicides. More than 10 murder-suicides, almost
all by gun, occur each week in the United States. The Shaws' case appears to
be consistent with the study.
The study stated that 90.4 percent of the offenders were male. According to
another study, The Epidemiology of Murder-Suicide in Journal of the American
Medical Association, which reviewed only couples, more than 90 percent of these
acts were perpetrated by men. Additionally, according to the VPC report, when
women are the perpetrators, the victims tend to be their children, not their
intimate partner. The men, according to the report, tend to be older than their
victims. VPC also reports that they usually occur in the home, and most frequently
involve intimate partners, where the male is usually older.
Additionally, according to a study by the American Journal of Psychiatry, the
over-whelming majority of male perpetrators of murder-suicide were depressed.
According to a close friend, in his last days, Rufus rarely left the house and
became increasingly agitated - both signs of depression.
The study by the VPC, based on a national news clipping service and Internet
survey taken from January 1, 2005, through June 30, 2005, is considered by VPC
as one of the largest and most comprehensive studies ever conducted on murder-suicide.
During this six-month period, at least 591 Americans died in 264 murder-suicides,
and almost all murder-suicides (92 percent) involved a firearm. Using these
figures, the VPC estimates that nearly 1,200 Americans die each year in murder-suicides.
The racial makeup of those cases was not reported in the study.
Emphasizing that she was looking at the case as an outsider, Hollie assessed,
given both of the Shaws' commitment to service in the Black community, theirs
might have been an "altruistic" suicide, similar to cases involving
people in the military.
"It involved an excessive sense of duty," she said. "Because
they were somewhat activists and recognized people in the community - that weighed
on them heavily. The more, in fact, that they were self-sacrificing is what
defines it. That's probably what they had more than any other kind of suicide."
Hollie further stated the Shaws would have had to meet four strong indicators:
their social situation, their emotional status, behavioral patterns and verbal
statements expressing their wish to be dead. Seeing how one could have completed
all four indicators, she assessed, however, for both to have completed them
at the exact same time is extremely remote.
"People don't usually fit the same indicators at the same time ... that's
a bit more rare," said Hollie. "With the [alleged] suicide pact, both
would have had to possess that desire strong enough. Generally, what you have
is one at a different state than the other, who is trying to coax the other
one through."
Other factors remain that seemingly do not match with the Shaws' situation.
As printed in The Dallas Examiner's March 20 issue, to many of Rufus' friends,
who spoke of his possessing an indomitable spirit, the decision to take his
own life seemed extremely uncharacteristic. However, Rufus was diagnosed with
prostate cancer, the severity of it still unknown, but it could have caused
enough of a depression for him to lose his will to live.
Still, associates of Lynn reported her determination to rebound from her recent
troubles. She was accused of forging a document on District Attorney Craig Watkins'
letterhead to avoid paying a loan and resigned as DART board chairman. Additionally,
Jim Schultze, a columnist for the Dallas Observer, had just informed them of
his intent to release several e-mails, which would not portray Lynn or her closest
associates in a favorable life. These factors combined had the potential to
destroy her standing in the community.
All of those issues would have been enough to at least ponder suicide, Hollie
assessed.
"Absolutely, that would have been enough," she said.
However, friends and associates saw what they perceived to be inconsistencies
with one intent on killing themselves. Lynn had been reportedly shopping at
5:30 p.m. the day of her death. That evening, when their bodies were discovered,
a full meal had been prepared and two plates of food sat unfinished on the dinner
table. When they were found, they were fully dressed. Despite calls and messages
to friends and loved ones, there was no suicide note. Finally, in his call to
Sen. Royce West, their family attorney, he spoke of enemies who would see to
it that they were dead by the end of the day.
According to Dr. Donna Holland Barnes, President and CEO of National Organization
for People of Color Against Suicide, none of these behaviors were inconsistent
with suicide. With regard to Lynn's making plans for the future, Barnes explains
that people who contemplate suicide are often ambivalent to the end, part of
them wanting to live, the other part wishing to die. She stated of course they
would be fully clothed, "Why wouldn't they be clothed?" she asked,
adding that they knew they would be discovered and would not want to be found
undressed. With regard to Rufus' statement about their enemies, she stated,
it may be a last ditch effort to escape the humiliation associated with suicide
or even an attempt to make sure their life insurance would cover their death.
But what about the unshakable feeling throughout the Black community that foul
play was involved? While Barnes said she could not rule out a double homicide,
she did provide a possible explanation for some of the numerous doubts that
abound. The Black community in Dallas was grieving. Denial and anger are early
stages of grief. She explained that the FBI indictments of many of our most
outspoken Black leaders, combined with the deaths of Rufus and Lynn may have
sent the community into a state of mourning. Barnes, who knows too well the
impact of suicide on loved ones, having lost a son to suicide, said the community
needed an opportunity to heal and suggested a town meeting to discuss their
feelings of grief.
In the final analysis, the Shaws' death at least suggests the need for Blacks
in Dallas to depend on their already strong spiritual roots and strong community
bond to help each other admit weakening states due to the constant pressures
of being Black in America and not be afraid to seek help.
"So many of us and people in our community are under pressure, doing various
things," Toska Medlock Lee, a neighbor of the Shaws, said during the vigil
held outside of their homes the day after their deaths. "We don't know
what goes on behind the doors of people's homes. And we don't understand why
people do what they, when their rope is breaking."
Barnes said her organization is available to support those struggling to accept
the deaths of the Shaws. NOPCAS is a 501c (3) not-for-profit organization founded
by three African American suicide survivors. For more information about suicide
among Blacks, or support, visit www.nopcas.com or contact the organization at
202-549-6039.
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Tuala Williams contributed to this story.
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