The Racial Violence of Suicide: Decolonizing Suicide Prevention for Black Youth

Suicide is the second leading cause of death among adolescents in the U.S. Despite over 50 years of treatment development, efficacy testing and major advancements in suicide prevention, suicide rates in the last 10 years have significantly increased from 6.3% in 2009 to 8.9% in 2019 among adolescents (Ivey-Stephenson et al., 2020). The prevalence estimates of suicide attempts are highest among non-Hispanic Black adolescents (Ivey-Stephenson et al., 2020). Even more alarming is new data suggesting that suicide rates are two times higher among Black children ages 5–12 compared with their White counterparts. Although increases in suicide rates among Black youth have been documented since the 1990s (Bath & Njoroge, 2021), racial disparities in addressing Black youth suicide have not been adequately challenged. Black youth suicide must be centered and prioritized; otherwise, mental health disparities will continue to further expose Black children and adolescents to premature death. To adequately address the Black youth suicide crisis, a “ground zero approach” is necessary to truly begin decolonizing current evidence-based treatments of their implicit bias toward preserving the lives of White youth. Thus, Black suicide and its historical negligence are forms of structural anti-black violence and must be reckoned with as such.