Many thanks to Anti-Racism Daily and Nicole Cardoza for allowing us to share this article by Kholiswa Mendes Pepani in our blog!

Everyday, millions of minority students suffer in silence, struggling to cope with the formidable hurdles they face on their path to receiving a higher education. Combating direct and indirect racial discrimination is an all-encompassing battle that continually dares people of color to survive. Carrying this weight while balancing a rigorous curriculum can often come at a serious cost to the mental health and well-being of students of color. In addition to this, the pandemic and the rise in white extremist violence and police brutality has added more strain to the life of students of color. This college mental health crisis is only exacerbated by the lack of support students of color receive from their institutions who fail to provide sustained efforts for equity, and the tangible resources needed to thrive (The Steve Fund Crisis Report).

While transitioning to college is a challenging time for all who are privileged enough to experience it, the adjustment is even tougher for students of color, particularly those who arrive from low-income backgrounds and are first-generation college students. Most college campuses that are not historically Black carry legacies and traditions indicative of white supremacy. From buildings named after racist figures to the white students who go unpunished for racist acts, the message being sent to students of color reverberates clearly, you do not belong here (The Hechinger Report). 

The alienation of entering a space inherently designed for white students is only worsened by incidents of racial discrimination from peers and the institutions themselves. Students of color have, for years, been reporting incidents of racial hostility both subtle and blatant that includes microaggressions, racist vandalism, verbal slurs, and physical assaults (Inside Higher Ed). Such incidents are compounded by a lack of intervention from institutions that fail to condemn or address racism on their campuses. Take Colbie Lofton—a Black student at the Appalachian State University—for instance, in 2018 on the first week of class, Lofton sat in her macroeconomics class and proceeded to ask her professor a question. Behind her, she heard some of her white classmates make the racist comment, “I guess n*****s don’t understand.”

Lofton was unaware of the process of reporting the comment to her university and kept the disturbing insults to herself and neither did her college professor have the heart to take up for her. This left Lofton with the heightened awareness that there are deep prejudices that some people hold against Black people and therefore left her feeling unwelcome and ‘out of place’ in a predominately white school. More often than not, students who are struggling with racism on campus are left feeling invalidated, ignored, and undervalued by administrators who minimize the experiences or redirect injured parties to seek reparation through bureaucratic and time-consuming processes, especially those campuses that cater mostly to white students (Inside Higher Ed).

Many students have stories of being called a racial slur directly or seeing it through racist posts by students on social media. But these types of incidents don’t only happen on college campuses. It also exists in high schools as well. In April 2020, two Georgia high school students posted a disturbing, racist video on TikTok that implies the contents that Black people are made up of. Some of the words and phrases used include ‘Black,’ ‘don’t have a dad,’ ‘rob people,’ ‘go to jail,’ and the last comment implies that Black people always make bad choices (New York Times). Though the students were expelled, there were no evident steps taken to ensure the mental wellness of their black schoolmates was taken care of. It is people who think and act like this who helped ignite the national racial movement, Black Lives Matter.

The outrage over the police killings of George Floyd and other unarmed Black people has given the students’ cause momentum and has forced school administrators to act with urgency and speak out against racism and implement diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. But the efforts of these students have come with a heavy price. During the 2020 protests, two Black college students were repeatedly stunned by tasers and arrested for being in traffic past the nine o’clock mandated curfew. The students were tased because officers felt like they might have had a gun. Turns out the two students were unarmed and were simply driving by the chaotic protests near downtown Atlanta. Later in an interview after the students were released from jail, they said that they felt like they were going to die and that, “it was a blessing that they are still alive.”

The mental healthcare problem in universities has been further exposed by the global pandemic as COVID-19 has cast light on the deeply ingrained racial inequalities that exist in American society. In a recent study done by the United Negro College Fund, one student described their experience saying, “Dealing with COVID-19, the police brutality, and trying to come up with money to pay for fall semester is [causing] me a lot of stress and anxiety because either way, it’s the stress of trying not to get sick, not getting killed by police or finding a way to pay for school that has me on edge (UNCF Student Pulse Survey).”  

Thriving under these conditions is not just exhausting, but also psychologically destructive. These adverse conditions mean that Black and brown students experience depression, anxiety disorders, burnout, and other mental illnesses at a rate higher than their white peers (The Harvard Gazette). Studies show that students of color are more likely to feel overwhelmed at college and keep their struggles to themselves. Before the pandemic began, twenty-three percent of Asian-American students, twenty-six percent of Black students, and thirty-three percent of Latino students with mental health problems sought treatment versus the forty-six percent of white students (The Steve Fund Crisis Report).

The rejection and lack of trust and belonging felt by students of color create huge barriers in their ability to seek help from their institutions. In addition to this, the cost, lack of access to counselors of color, and the stigmas associated with therapy prevent minority students from getting the life-saving care they need (The Atlantic). John Silvanus Wilson, former president of Morehouse College, describes how this student health crisis puts an emphasis on getting colleges to foster an environment that allows students of color to feel safe. 

“This really brings into focus the institutional responsibility,” Wilson says “If I don’t believe you want me here, I’m not inclined to come in and use your services. So trust is how this is going to change.” (The Harvard Gazette)

To close the divide between students of color and wellness, organizations like The Steve Fund are committed to working with universities to promote programs that build understanding and assistance for the mental and emotional health of young people of color. This task force recommends that institutions take a ‘trauma-informed response’ to decision-making to show empathy and build trust with students of color (The Steve Fund Crisis Report).

The subtle and often seamless ways illnesses like depression and anxiety work their way into the mind leaves people feeling dangerously isolated within the mental anguish they experience. One bad day quickly becomes a bad week that begins to feel like a bad life. Seeking help when struggling with feelings of depression and anxiety is the only remedy to an illness that wants to swallow you in a quicksand of grief, panic, self-loathing and suicidal ideation. If you are currently struggling with mental illness, please know that it is nothing to be ashamed of. Mental illness is a disease and one that you can survive. If you or anyone you know is struggling to cope with feelings of depression and anxiety, please reach out for help. You are not weak and you are certainly not alone.