In past decades, according to the United States Center of Disease Control, black youths historically had lower rates of suicide than those of their white peers. Recently, however the number of suicides by younger blacks has been increasing significantly and narrowing the gap. During the 15 years from 1980 to1996, the suicide rate for black youths aged 10 to 19 years increased from 3.6 to 8.1 per 100,000 population. In 1996, suicide was the third leading cause of death among blacks 15 to 24 years of age. High school-aged blacks were as apt as whites to attempt suicide. Suicidal behavior among all youths has grown, and rates for black youths have increased more. .

             The book Lay My Burden Down: Unraveling Suicide and the Mental Health Crisis among African Americans by psychiatrist Alvin Poussaint explains that suicide is more common than people think in black communities. Poussaint says that many black youths this age commit suicide due to mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety and despondency,. Rising suicide rates and the tragic circumstances of those individuals who kill themselves at an early age indicate that the American society is lacking in provision of necessary oversight and care. .

             One of the major problems is that white healthcare professionals do not have the necessary experience and knowledge or have the wrong information to recognize that an individual is suffering from depression. They wrongly believe that blacks do not lead "complicated emotional" lives (16) and suffer from depression let alone have suicidal tendencies. They also misdiagnose mental health concerns and do not recognize depression in blacks, especially when the youths downplay their negative thinking or use different terminology to describe their symptoms. In addition, black youths are often adverse to talking with mental health clinicians who have ignored their problems in the past.

             Carl Burton and Kenneth Poussaint are two black youths who unfortunately joined the statistics of those who committed suicide.