In my continuing effort to bring to light the mental illness in people that look like me, I present to you one of my all time favorite singers, Donnie Hathaway. Though it’s still discussed as to how and why he ended up dead, one thing for sure is he suffered with and from extreme mental illness. It was also reported that just before his death, he thought white folk were out to get him. A part of his illness? Plain ol’ paranoia? We can’t be sure, but one thing for sure is he was suffering. Let’s not suffer in silence. My motto: If left untreated, mental illness will kill you just as fast as any cancer or other terminal illness, you can trust in that. And yes, that includes a reckless lifestyle.
I thought about how I would like to bring Mr. Hathaway to you and I’m still not sure, though his story does need to be told, but not harped on. His music was his gift to us and his music is all he owe us. So I’ll just bring his music and leave the wiki link for those who want to know more about this Black genius. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donny_Hathaway Please feel free to add any song that you like.
Oatmeal, Milk 'N Honey
DEPRESSION: my muse 
This made me tear up.
I knew about his “suicide” but never really knew what happened…Whenever one of us dies and we say “they’re out to get me” and the media makes it out to be just a paranoid episode, it makes me wonder what the real truth?
Micheal Jackson suffered…Whitney Houston suffered…ALL the blues singers suffered, some died because of it.
GOD!
When will it stop, Jesus?
How many more people that look like us must keep suffering because of this diseased plantation?
By the way Giving Up has special meaning for me.
One more thing about his “suicide”. Didn’t Martin Lawrence say the same things about white folks then was caught naked waving a gun in the air? Didn’t Dave Chappelle escape to Africa after an incident with white folks?
Hmmmm……
There are many Black artist and entertainers that have suffered “breakdowns” in the past. What need to be done is compare the ones who had very public “breakdowns” with ones that did not. Let’s take a close look at those two lists and see what is what. Here, I’ll start you off: Chris Rock.
It’s reported that he jumped out of a window in the Essex Hotel. In an interview with James Mtume who present with him at the studio said, “Hathaway said that “white people” were trying to kill him and had connected his brain to a machine, for the purpose of stealing his music and his sound. He suffered from depression and “paranoid schizophrenia”, which he was of course medicated for.
I know what you mean when you say it made you “tear up”. My heart also remains broken for him because I myself walk this same road. I have to wonder what keeps some of us here and other have to go on? Is it strength? or maybe it’s fear and cowardice. Contrary to popular belief the taking of ones own life is ANY but cowardly. It goes against everything your brain is wired for.
As for when will it stop? It’s not gonna until we separate ourselves from all that have but the best interest in heart for us. That goes for coons, negroes, colored folk outside of our plain as day enemy. We have got to separate lest we all be jumping out of windows and taking hands full of pills and sucking on shotguns.
Giving Up is one of my favorite that make me emotional to this very day.
Thank you sis for your support of my efforts here and understanding this Black male’s craziness. On top of all this mess we still stand.
The pain of being black in a white supremacy society is something we can all relate to. And I’d like to add that we need to show the same empathy for the mentally ill black female as well…
who is usually dismissed as just another “black bitch”… by most black people
Ms. Pam you gotta know that by no means is the Black woman left out of this. When I speak of Black people I mean all Black people. I my goal is that all Black people speak up and out about this illness. If one suffers we all suffer.
Thank you so much for stopping by.
Miss Pam:
Black female illness is grossly overlooked. In fact, it’s laughed at and ignored. I suffered from depression but kept mostly to myself. Other women lash out at others in school, at work, etc…No one ever talks about black women’s plight.
Funny how Brooke Shields got so much empathy for her Post partum depression, eh?