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Friday, April 1, 2011 | 6:23am
Daily News: CDC Study Finds 21% of Brooklyn Latinas Attempted Suicide
I’m making it my personal business to combat this trend and I need the Nation’s help.
@nydailynews #latina #suicide
What’s up Nation. I’m going to keep it light on the blogging tip today but I had to get to this post. As I was leaving the host, our local news station, NY1 (which is now on channel 8 for some reason) was discussing an article published by the Daily News today quoting a study stating 15% of Latina (female) teens in New York have tried to commit suicide.
The 2009 study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the rate was alarmingly high when you consider 10% of all city high school girls reported suicide attempts. But don’t think this a New York city problem, tt’s part of a national crisis: 11% of Hispanic girls across the country admitted a suicide attempt. But the New York rates are particularly skewed especially in my home borough of Brooklyn with an astonishing 21% rate.
“They don’t have high rates of suicide in their mother countries, so what is happening here?” said Rosa Gil, who runs the program Life is Precious for suicidal Hispanic girls in Brooklyn and the Bronx.
Now I know we don’t get a lot of women who visit Highbrid Nation for some obvious reasons and others that may not be so obvious. But we’re all adults and some of you have sisters, maybe even children this age who if not Hispanic have friends that are. We need to be aware of these statistics. The article goes on to blames the stats in part on a cultural disconnect between Hispanic teens and their moms, who are often single immigrants working several jobs without the support from family who may be back home. I can dig that but 21% in Brooklyn? That’s nuts. Everyday on the train I see packs of Hispanic girls. That means for every ten I’ve seen its probably that TWO of them likely tried to check out early. That’s very sad.
We need to begin to do something about this. I’m going to reach out Rosa Gil and find out how I can help. I’ll get back to you with a follow up post because this is something that just isn’t sitting well with me.
FILED IN News
Good post, Juan.
It starts with doing away with the taboo that there is something wrong with admitting that we have problems and seeking help for those problems (Step one of the 12 step program). We don’t want the neighbors to gossip or the cousins from across town to be in our business…..there is a certain stigma that is put on someone who seeks help for something as simple as depression (which is a condition that is surprisingly high in this country). People often tell me, “I’m not crazy. I don’t want people to say I’m crazy.” Many Latinas think that if they seek help for their issues, they may lose custody of their children, so they put on their best face and deal with whatever they are going through…or they resort to drugs/alcohol to help them cope….as a substance abuse counselor for more than 15 yrs, I can tell you that very few Latinas seek help for their addictions because they are not supposed to use/drink. That is supposed to be the man, who drinks. The Latin woman is supposed to be at home, taking care of her family, and she is supposed to be holding it down, strong. And if she goes to treatment, it’s perceived as an admission of failure…and nobody wants to feel like a failure…so, most struggle with the addiction and the feelings of shame/guilt, which compound whatever mental health issue and family issues that are going on…It’s a very complex issue that needs to be addressed with sensitivity, honesty and education. Thank you!
I agree with you E.L.
Most hispanic/latin women do hide their true emotions for several reasons. Whether it be guilt, shame, embarrassment, etc. You’re right, they don’t want to be looked at as a failure because they are the woman and they are supposed to be strong. Another reason why they may attempt suicide is because of sexual abuse. I have several female friends and relatives who have been sexually abused and for whatever reason they do not want to talk about it. Most were abused by thier own fathers. My own sister was molested by our uncle who lived with us when we were kids. Which sickens me, I just don’t get why men get turned on by children. My sister was 8 or 9 at the time, thats the same age as my daughter right now! Simply disgusting. But that is my opinion, I can’t imagine why else latina teens would be attempting suicide. It is sad, something needs to change here…
MAN I FUCKIN HATE THE WORD HISPANIC, BUT ANYWAYS, YOU DUDES ARE RIGHT, MAINLY ON THE SEXUAL ABUSE THING, I’VE MET AND DEALT WITH A LOT OF LATINAS THAT HAVE BEEN SEXUALY ABUSED, WETHER BY A RELATIVE, SO CALLED FRIEND OR PARTNER (MALE OR FEMALE) AND SINCE LATINOS ARE EXTREMELY OLD FASHIONED, A LOT OF THESE ISSUES ARE REPRESSED, BECAUSE WE’RE ALWAYS WORRIED BOUT WHAT THE FAM OR FRIEDNS ARE GONNA SAY,OFTEN, A LOT OF THEM ARE NOT BELIEVED, SAD AND TRUE, LOW SELF ESTEEM AND LATINA WOMEN BEING SEEN AS SEXUAL OBJECTS IS ANOTHER,WEIGHT ISSUES START BECAUSE OF THIS AND IT DOESNT HELP WHEN PEOPLE BRING YOUR SELF ESTEEM DOWN, TEENAGE PREGNANCY AND PEOPLE TURNING THEIR BACKS ON YOU AND YOUR “FAM” TELLING YOU CONSTANTLY ABOUT HOW SOCIETY IS GOING TO VIEW YOU AND ETC, DEPRESSION KICKS IN, PRIDE SOMETIMES KEEPS THEM FROM SPEAKING ABOUT THESE ISSUES, A FUCKED UP HOME LIFE, EITHER SINGLE PARENT WHO WORKS 24/7 AND PAYS THEM NO ATTENTION, BOTH PARENTS WHO THEMSELVES GIVE THE EXAMPLES OF PHYSICAL AND VERBAL ABUSE, A LOT OF THEM SEEK ATTENTION THE WRONG WAY, A LOT GET MANIPULATED BY PIECES OF SHIT, CAUSE THEIR MENTAL STATE IS ALL FUCKED UP, AS A FATHER, SON, HUSBAND, BROTHER, NEPHEW AND ETC, IT SADDENS ME THAT A LOT OF MY HERMANAS THROUGH OUT THE COUNTRY ARE TAKING THIS ROUTE TO SOLVE THEIR PROBLEMS, WE DEFF NEED TO HELP ‘EM OUT, GIVE THEM HOPE THAT LIFE IS WORTH LIVING.
Why do you hate the word Hispanic? My only comment to this is doesn’t this exist in the Black community too? Yet we don’t see these same statistics.
Y DO I HATE THIS WORD MY LATINO HERMANO?, CAUSE, HISPANIC IS A DERROGATORY WORD,A LABEL THAT WAS PUT UPON EVERY CONQUERED LATIN AMERICAN COUNTRY BY THE SPANIARDS 2 C US AS THEIR PROPERTY,4 EVERY LATIN AMERICAN COUNTRY SUCH AS MEXICO, CENTRO AMERICA, SUR AMERICA, PUERTO RICO, CUBA N LA REPUBLICA DOMINICANA, THERE’S A LOT OF LATINOS THAT FEEL THE SAME WAY AS I DO, N I HEAR A LOT OF LATINOS THAT ARENT SPANIARD CALLIN THEMSELVES SPANISH, LOL, IF U AINT FROM LA MADRE PERRA, EXCUSE ME, LA MADRE PATRIA, U AINT SPANISH, LOL, ASK THE HERMANO DIAZ, SPANIARDS WILL N HAVE NEVER CONSIDERED US THEIR EQUAL, JUST AS WE DONT N WILL NVR C THEM AS LATINOS, 4 THEY’RE EUROPEAN, THEY MAY B THE FATHERS OF OUR SPANISH LANGUAGE, BUT THATS WERE IT ENDS, WE’VE COMPLETELY JUMPED OFF TOPIC N YEA, AFRICAN AMERICAN COMMUNITIES SUFFER THE SAME THING, DK IF ITS THE SAME PERCENTAGE, HIGHER OR LOWER, SUICIDE IS FUCKED UP REGARDLESS OF WHAT PART OF THE COUNTRY U LIVE IN OR UR NATIONALITY, U SHUD STUDY UP ON THAT N C HOW DIFF NATIONALITIES DEAL WITH TEENAGE SUICIDE HERMANO, FUNNY THAT FROM EVERYTHING I WROTE HERMANO JUAN, THE ONLY THING THAT CAUGHT UR ATTENTION WAS ME HATIN THE WORD HISPANIC, LOL, OYE, LOL, C’MON JUAN!.
That’s sad that ‘hispanic’ is supposedly worse than ‘latin’–spanish is a latin language. The word’Latin’ points at exactly the same thing that ‘hispanic’ does.
IDK WHAT YOUR NATIONALITY IS MISS HOLLAND, BUT 2 A LOT OF LATINOS, BEING CALLED HISPANIC, IS AS BAD AS BEING CALLED A WETBACK, SPICK, BEANER OR GREASER, AND THIS ISNT ABOUT WHO LIKES AND WHO DOESNT LIKE 2 B CALLED HISPANIC, THOUGHT THIS DISCUSSION WAS ABOUT SUICIDE, ONCE AGAIN, PEOPLE NOT READING THE WHOLE THING AND ONLY FOCUSSING ON ONE WORD, LOL.
I Feel you, CHAMP415…for those that don’t know, Hispanic denotes possession of Spain. If you are from a country that was once a colony of Spain, and haven’t turned a blind eye to their atrocities and how they decimated the native populations and exploited our countries’ natural resources so they can live in luxury, then you will not want to be referred to as a possession of Spain. FU*K SPAIN AND ALL OTHER COLONIZING EUROPEANS!
COSIGN ONE MUTHAFUCKIN HUNDRED PERCENT HERMANO!!!!!!!