New Booklet Addresses Mental Disease Bringing up issues like depression and bipolar disease in the black community can prompt responses like, “Mental illness and suicide only happens to white folks,” or “I’m not crazy, I just need to pray.” The reality is one in five African Americans suffer from a mental disorder—The same as their white counterparts says the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) has released a 15 page booklet, A Family Guide To Mental Health: What You Need to Know, geared toward the African American community, in hopes to spark a conversation between loved ones, reduce stigma, and encourage those to seek professional help.
May 04, 2007
The Magic Formula for Fighting HIV A few nights ago, hundreds of New Yorkers filled the pews of Brown Memorial Baptist Church in Brooklyn. They came to hear basketball legend Earvin “Magic” Johnson and other community leaders talk about HIV in the black community. The evening, sponsored by Abbott Laboratories, was part of a nationwide campaign called “I Stand by Magic: Campaign to End Black AIDS.” The grassroots campaign aims to reduce the rate of new HIV infections in the African-American community by 50 percent over five years (Brooklyn’s HIV-positive population is believed to be about the same as the combined caseload of 45 states). Front man Magic tours the country, talking to groups like the one filling the church, encouraging them to get tested, to protect themselves and, if they are already HIV positive, to get care and treatment and to stick with it.
Bringing up issues like depression and bipolar disease in the black community can prompt responses like, “Mental illness and suicide only happens to white folks,” or “I’m not crazy, I just need to pray.” The reality is one in five African Americans suffer from a mental disorder—The same as their white counterparts says the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) has released a 15 page booklet, 
A few nights ago, hundreds of New Yorkers filled the pews of Brown Memorial Baptist Church in Brooklyn. They came to hear basketball legend Earvin “Magic” Johnson and other community leaders talk about HIV in the black community. The evening, sponsored by Abbott Laboratories, was part of a nationwide campaign called “I Stand by Magic: Campaign to End Black AIDS.” The grassroots campaign aims to reduce the rate of new HIV infections in the African-American community by 50 percent over five years (Brooklyn’s HIV-positive population is believed to be about the same as the combined caseload of 45 states). Front man Magic tours the country, talking to groups like the one filling the church, encouraging them to get tested, to protect themselves and, if they are already HIV positive, to get care and treatment and to stick with it.
