T-Kea Blackman and Jordan Scott want you to know that Black people die by suicide too. Through their Maryland-based nonprofit organization Black People Die By Suicide Too (BPDBST), they have not only clarified that sentiment, but they’ve also created space for the Black community to be equipped with resources and education.
The founders met in a psychiatric hospitalization program, and their friendship served as a launching pad for their mission to save Black lives. Since the inception of BPDBST, Blackman and Scott have implemented various supports within the community through the support group The Black Peer Healing Circle, suicide prevention and safety planning workshops, and their podcast. EBONY spoke with Blackman to learn more about the organization’s work, efforts, and how suicide is a reality we should be paying attention to.
EBONY: What was the personal motivation behind the inception of Black People Die By Suicide Too (BPDBST)?
T-Kea Blackman: It’s many reasons. I think the first reason was because of my own lived experience. I am someone who started struggling with thoughts of suicide in middle school. I didn’t really feel like I had anyone to go to, not because people in my community didn’t care, but as I’ve watched what happened in the community, and also what I’ve seen in the media, mental health was portrayed as white people experience. As I matriculated through high school, college, getting my masters, I was still struggling with these thoughts, but I really couldn’t tell anyone for fear of being judged. I was twenty four when I attempted suicide.
[Then] I lost my 13-year-old cousin to suicide. I started looking at the public health data, and saw that black people had the fastest-growing rates of suicide. I remember talking…
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