Strong but Sinking: The Hidden Toll of Family Strain, Incarceration, and Suicide Among Black Men in the African Diaspora
by Abasi Key, M.A. and Felicia Swafford, Ph.D.
For the Black/Afrikan diaspora community, this conversation is both urgent and deeply necessary. For too long, suicide has been minimized as an issue that affects others, yet rates among Black men continue to rise (Griffin-Fennell & Williams, 2006). Even young Black men raised in supportive two-parent households, with fathers who provide guidance, are not immune.
When college aspirations collide with institutionalization and systemic inequities, protective factors often collapse under the weight of stigma and stress (Greer & Cavalhieri, 2019). This paper explores the challenges fueling suicide in the Black/African diaspora community, stigma, institutionalization, relational pressures, family loss, and spiritual struggle. It lifts solutions rooted in coping strategies, cultural strengths, and collective action.
The Challenges in the Black/African Diasporic Community
The first and enduring challenge is silence. Suicide has often been dismissed as “not a Black issue,” leaving many to suffer in isolation without language or support (Griffin-Fennell & Williams, 2006). This stigma prevents open dialogue, discourages care-seeking, and reinforces the belief that Black men must endure hardship without complaint.
Institutionalization further magnifies these pressures. Black men in the diaspora are disproportionately criminalized, incarcerated, and excluded from opportunity. The psychological toll of systemic racism compounds when incarceration interrupts education, fractures families, and adds lifelong stigma (Greer & Cavalhieri, 2019; Marshall-Fabien & Miller, 2014). For young men who once thrived in stable households, institutionalization represents not just a legal setback but a profound emotional rupture that feeds hopelessness.
Relationships also carry unique pressures. In some corners of the diaspora, masculinity is associated with strength, resilience, and, at times, sexual prowess. For men balancing multiple partnerships and fathering children across families, may appear as signs of vitality but often conceal loneliness, financial stress, and relational strain (Griffin-Fennell & Williams, 2006). Burlew et al. (2025) note that the demands of sustaining these roles, alongside systemic barriers, escalate stress to levels that erode mental health. Thus, what is socially celebrated can, in practice, deepen despair.
The loss of close family members represents another devastating factor. Whether through the death of a parent, sibling, or child, loss strips away vital anchors of belonging. Marshall-Fabien and Miller (2014) found that weakened family networks intensify depressive symptoms, particularly among Black men. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Black/African diasporic community bore disproportionate loss, leaving many men to grieve multiple loved ones while cut off from support (Burlew et al., 2025). When grief compounds existing burdens—racism, institutionalization, and relational strain—the risk of suicide escalates sharply (Griffin-Fennell & Williams, 2006).
Even faith and spirituality, often lifelines, can become sites of struggle. While spirituality provides hope for many, men who feel judged by religious institutions or abandoned by God may sink further into depression (Parker et al., 2022). When spiritual doubts intersect with social stigma, the pathway to resilience narrows.
The Solutions in the Black/African Diasporic Community
Yet alongside these challenges, the Black/African diasporic community carries profound strengths. One pathway forward lies in embracing culturally grounded coping strategies. Greer and Cavalhieri (2019) caution that avoidance and denial—common responses to racism and stress—often worsen outcomes, but adaptive approaches like problem-solving, spirituality, and peer support foster resilience. These strategies help men move from isolation into connection, creating networks of care that buffer against despair.
Healing from family loss especially requires both personal resilience and communal support. Johnson and Carter (2019) highlight the power of cultural values such as communalism and racial pride, which ground individuals in shared identity during crisis. Spirituality, when inclusive and affirming, also offers meaning amid grief, though struggles with faith can intensify vulnerability (Parker et al., 2022). On a personal level, Brooks et al. (2021) demonstrate that self-acceptance helps protect against the hopelessness that often follows loss. By fostering ties of kinship, affirming self-worth, and holding space for spiritual struggle, the diaspora creates pathways to survival.
Social networks remain equally critical. Marshall-Fabien and Miller (2014) emphasize that community ties buffer against depression during hardship. For men returning from institutionalization, grassroots spaces like barbershops, fraternities, and neighborhood organizations often provide informal yet vital mental health support. These everyday institutions function as bridges back into the community, countering the isolation that fuels suicide risk.
Ultimately, coping strategies rooted in cultural strengths, spirituality, and community must remain central. Johnson and Carter (2019) show that these values predict psychosocial well-being across the diaspora. When cultivated intentionally, they transform coping from individual survival into collective resilience. This is the foundation upon which suicide prevention in the Black/African diasporic community must be built.
A Collective Call to Action
Preventing suicide in the Black/African diasporic community requires layered action. Families must speak openly about mental health and affirm vulnerability as strength. Faith leaders must build inclusive spaces that welcome struggle as part of spiritual life. Communities must strengthen networks that catch men before isolation turns deadly. Professionals must deliver care that integrates cultural identity, communal values, and spirituality into the healing process.
At the individual level, Black men must be supported in developing adaptive coping strategies that replace silence with dialogue, isolation with connection, and shame with acceptance. When families, communities, and systems unite around these values, suicide prevention becomes not only possible but transformative.
Suicide in the Black/African diasporic community—especially among Black men—is not inevitable.
It is the outcome of stigma, systemic inequities, relational strain, and profound loss. Yet this same community holds the cultural, spiritual, and social resources to resist despair. By centering culturally responsive coping, affirming Black cultural strengths, and expanding communal care, we can move from silence to survival, from grief to resilience. Black men—including those navigating institutionalization, multiple partnerships, and family loss—deserve not just to survive but to thrive within the global African diaspora. Black men also deserve to live, love fully, and thrive.
Abasi Key, M.A.
Abasi Key, who is driven by the tragic loss of his son to suicide in 2022, is the Director of Community, College, and Career Affairs at Purcell Marian High School in Cincinnati, Ohio. With over 30 years of nonprofit leadership experience, he founded Keyz2Life and Keys Please Global to serve veterans and underrepresented communities by providing housing and supportive resources.
Felicia Swafford, Ph.D.
Dr. Felicia Delgado Swafford is an Organizational Psychologist specializing in DEI initiatives within the tech and finance industries. She serves as Vice President of Keys Please Global, a nonprofit organization that provides housing and resources for underrepresented populations. A former associate professor, she has taught graduate and undergraduate psychology courses in research methods, mentoring the next generation of scholars.
References
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Burlew, A. K., et al. (2025). Black/Africana mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic: Stressors and the role of support. Journal of Black Psychology.
Greer, T. M., & Cavalhieri, K. E. (2019). The role of coping strategies in understanding the effects of institutional racism on mental health outcomes for African American men. Journal of Black Psychology, 45(5), 405–433. https://doi.org/10.1177/0095798419868105
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Parker, J. S., Purvis, L., & Williams, B. (2022). Religious/spiritual struggles and mental health among Black adolescents and emerging adults: A meta-synthesis. Journal of Black Psychology, 49(2), 153–199. https://doi.org/10.1177/00957984221136800