I am writing this post to share deep sentiments and a reflection about the recent suicides of Dr. Antionette "Bonnie" Candia-Bailey. Dr. Bailey, former Lincoln University VP of Student Affairs, was repeatedly bullied by Dr. John Moseley, Lincoln University President. Dr. Moseley, a White-presenting man, who has a Black wife, caused such distress that Dr. Bailey felt as though her only way to seek relief was to kill herself. Dr. Nakita Mortimer, another Black woman whose experience was eerily the same, suffered the same fatality in July 2023.
These situations continue to pierce my soul, mind, heart, and physical functioning. I too almost committed suicide, while at my last employer. The stress and duress I experienced due to anti-Blackness, inflicted by White, Asian, Hispanic, and even fellow Black individuals who resemble me, cannot be overstated. Yet, American institutions do not teach or train us to consider all the ways anti-Blackness functions and permeates American culture. Even now, I cannot fully articulate the magnitude of this problem, but I know that Black people in this country, even in what are deemed some of the most prestigious positions, face constant attacks and fatal suffering. Can you imagine how desperate a person has to be to take their own life because of racial bullying?
It is racial terrorism.
America is driving every-day Black people to kill themselves. America is murdering Black women. America is murdering Black men. America is murdering Black children. This epidemic continues to be absolutely mortifying. Yet, it seems that no one is talking about it.
Please take a moment and do a quick inventory about who you are and the affects you are having on Black people around you (this includes Black people, too). Consider some questions I ask in my book:
Who are the Black people in your organization or circle?
How are they coping and/or not coping with their experiences and existence in White America?
What has and is your agency doing to take an inventory of how Black people are treated, and their experiences at work?
How have you been programmed to serve Whiteness/Eurocentricity?
In what ways has White American culture set you up to be anti-Black?
In what ways have you and do you use Eurocentricity/Whiteness, anti-non-Whiteness, and/or anti-Blackness, to ascribe value to or diminish yourself and others?
What does your current process of racial repair-ations look like?
What does your organization's process of racial repair-ations look like?
Which Black person in your organization or community may be potentially considering suicide due to the ways in which members in your organization have bullied and/or mistreated them?
I am deeply hurt and disoriented right now.
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