THE THREAT AND PREVENTION OF SUICIDE AND ITS CAUSES
The Invisible Ache: Black Men Identifying Their Pain and Reclaiming Their Power, by Courtney B. Vance & Robin L. Smith (Hatchette Book Group, New York, NY, 2023, 268 pages).
“Papa was like a shadow that was always hanging over me.”
-CORY MAXSON, FENCES
Book Review by Dennis Moore
How fortuitous and ironic that I would make this book, The Invisible Ache, the last of my more than 400 book reviews written, as I now go into retirement. This spellbinding and historic book co-written by Courtney B. Vance, a member of my church here in Los Angeles, compels me to write this review.
Along with co-author, Dr. Robin L. Smith, The Invisible Ache, pulls back the covers on social taboos, and makes this book a profound and historical commentary on race and mortality, and it resonates with me for so many profound and personal reasons full of ironies.
It jumps at you from the very first page, as it states:
“It happened on a Wednesday.
I was costarring in Six Degrees of Separation, and the Vivian
Beaumont Theater in Manhattan had been my second home for the
Last year and a half. I had a matinee that afternoon, another show to
do in the evening, and a short break in between to catch my breath.
When the phone rang, I was lying in bed trying to shake off
Sleep and get my mind ready for my midweek hump. I fumbled
For the receiver.
It was my mother calling. She was hysterical.
‘”Courtney’” she screamed. ‘”It’s your dad! He’s dead!”’
‘”What?”’ I asked. ‘”How?’”
I was already reeling. But the words she said next nearly
Knocked me to my knees.
‘”He shot himself,’” she said, her screams lowering to a hush.
‘”I found him. In the TV room’”
Courtney is no stranger to loss. When his father died by suicide, it shattered his heart and cracked his world open, launching him on his own mental health journey. Then, three decades later, it happened again. This time, it was his twenty-three-year-old godson who took his life. Courtney realized that he couldn’t just look inward, working on himself in solitude. Black boys and men were suffering. Black boys and men were dying. He decided to share his personal struggles to show his brothers that there is no shame in hurting and no shame in healing, and that when you hurt, you’re not alone. No matter what you’re going through. There are ways to regain your footing and create a life that is gratifying, honorable, and full.
That is what I mean, when I say that The Invisible Ache resonates with me, and to a certain degree it is therapeutic, for Lord knows, I have seen much death and pain in my life!
I have wrestled with death and the contemplation of suicide so many times in my long life, as well as my oldest son Darius! As a matter of fact when I was living in San Diego and my son was living in Alabama, he called me and asked me if I had ever considered suicide. I was honest with him and told him that yes that thought had crossed my mind, but due to my faith and religion no matter how dark things had gotten for me I dismissed it. As a matter of fact, 2nd Corinthians, verses 8-10 states: “For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself.” I draw strength from this, as I am sure Courtney did after the suicide of his father.
I have actually felt suicidal while living here in the Sierra Retirement Village in Lancaster, California, about 70 miles north of Los Angeles, due to this area known as the Antelope Valley being under a federal consent decree. Having a therapist for the last couple of years through a video chat every Wednesday certainly helps diffuse any thoughts of suicide, and my faith and religion helps tremendously. The latent racism in the Antelope Valley is stifling, unlike anything that I have experienced in life.
Perhaps the most insightful and thought provoking aspect of this book is made by the co-author Dr. Robin L. Smith, pictured above, in Chapter 5 The Mental Health Crisis. She states: "And then there's the nauseating, never-ending loop of clips showing Black men being beaten and murdered by police. The video of Ahmaud Arbery out for a jog literally being hunted and running for his life as if he were a character in a video game, by bigots who displayed an unapologetic entitlement to say who they think belongs where, demonstrated what could happen to a Black man who didn't stay in his place."
Dr. Smith cautions her co-author in The Invisible Ache, Courtney Vance, by stating: "That's why I suggested Courtney stop saying that his father and godson committed suicide."
What makes more sense to me now that I think of it, is Dr. Smith stating: "I talked with him about changing his language because you '"commit'" a rime, and suicide is not that. It's an act of desperation. It may be an act that comes out of anger and deep despair. But it's no more a crime than death from a heart attack or a stroke." Profound!
The attached report by a Monitoring Team indicates a 27-year old black woman being shot and killed by a white LASD Sheriff Deputy in her own home while her daughter was watching. This same white LASD Deputy had shot and killed a 61-year old black man in his own home two years earlier, and the elderly black man was unarmed. I have actually felt the need to put a chair underneath my door at night out of fear of the police or the white supremacist element coming into my home to harm me.
This monitoring report also points out an elderly black woman being thrown to the ground by a white LASD Deputy at WINCO store, walking distance from my home, breaking her arm. There is currently a federal lawsuit in court against the deputy and the Sheriff Department here in Lancaster. There has also been a history of hangings of black men here in Lancaster. This is what Courtney Vance and his co-author speaks of in The Invisible Ache.See attached monitoring report here.
My son was going through a dark period in his life, which would repeat itself many years later when he was going through a divorce and seemingly had no one to turn to. I talked him into driving from Alabama and staying with me here in California for a week, which also reunited him with his younger brother Julien whom he had not seen in 13 years.
That seemed to have done the trick, for now he is in a much better place mentally. That is what Courtney Vance seemed to have meant when he said in The Invisible Ache: “Black boys and men were suffering. Black boys and men were dying. He decided to share his personal struggles to show his brothers that there is no shame in hurting and no shame in healing, and that when you hurt, you’re not alone. No matter what you are going through. There are ways to regain your footing and create a life that is gratifying, honorable, and full.”
My son Julien, is pictured here with me at a Father’s Day service at my church in Los Angeles on July17, 2018, where ironically, the co-author of this book, Courtney Vance would give the sermon. Vance and his wife, Angela Bassett, along with their children, are also members of this church, West Angeles Church of God in Christ! Coincidentally, at the time of Courtney Vance giving his sermon, he was the President of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), and my son Julien was a member of, as he was just graduating from CalArts in Valencia. Click link to view Julien and I in front of church where Courtney Vance gave sermon here.
A poignant and thought provoking passage in this book by the authors states: “So many Black boys and Black men wind up in the pipeline to jail, a dead end that strips them of their right to vote, stains them with a mark that makes it nearly impossible to get a good job, and destroys their ability to prosper or just take care of their family. And then the cycle starts all over again, when their children grow up amid all that brokenness, victimized by the same system.” How prophetic!
These authors, Courtney B. Vance and Dr. Robin L. Smith, further states in this insightful book: “The fact that so many Black men have been able to achieve, sidestepping that fate and finding a way forward despite it, is a testament to our gifts and resilience. But constantly navigating an obstacle course can wear you out. Ducking and dodging, finding a way over and around, take a heavy toll mentally. And some brothers break from the burden.”
The co-authors of this book, Vance and Smith, references many episodes in which black men and boys have been subjugated and/or murdered, such as Emmitt Till, Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, George Floyd and countless others. As a matter of fact, I have actually written two reviews of books about Emmett Till and his murder by whites in Mississippi, as well as Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri!
There is a particularly poignant passage in this book by the authors that states: “So many Black boys and Black men wind up in the pipeline to jail, a dead end that strips them of their right to vote, stains them with a mark that makes it nearly impossible to get a good job, and destroys their ability to prosper or just take care of their family. And then the cycle starts all over again, when their children grow up amid all that brokenness, victimized by the same system.” This is reminiscent of my earlier review of Michelle Alexander’s NAACP Image Awarded book The New Jim Crow.
The authors further make a profound statement and observation in this book: “The fact that so many Black men have been able to achieve, sidestepping that fate and finding a way forward despite it, is a testament to our gifts and resilience. But constantly navigating an obstacle course can wear you out. Ducking and dodging, finding a way over and around, take a heavy toll mentally. And some brothers break from the burden.”
This thought provoking book by the authors about the challenges that black men face, coupled with those imposed on them by the police, is a must read! It does offer suggestions to address the stigma of suicide and where to go to for assistance, which is noteworthy.
Dennis Moore has been the former Associate Editor of the East County Magazine and the book review editor for SDWriteway, an online news magazine that has partnered with the East County Magazine. He is also the former President of the Bethel AME Prison Ministry in San Diego. Mr. Moore can be contacted at contractsagency@gmail.com or you can follow him on Twitter (X) at @DennisMoore8.