Sacramento Observer publisher encourages black men to attend mental health resource fair
Weekend event aims to reach African-American men through panels, resources and community
Updated: June 28, 2024 12:35 PM PDT
It remains a concern in the United States and a significant issue for the health of black men. We have an event this weekend that tries to address their mental health by providing resources. Now with me is Larry Lee, president and publisher of Observer Media Group, who is part of the group that is putting together a special resource fair. Thank you for being here. Thank you for having me. Yes. Tell us about the event that’s happening now. It’s going to be on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Oak Park Community Center. The Observer will be hosting the A. Okay. Is that okay, brother? Um, it’s a mental health resource fair. Um, the idea is really to address the mental health needs of African-American men here in Sacramento County. We’re working in partnership with Sacramento County, the University of Southern California School of Journalism, and, uh, the Annenberg School of Journalism. You and your colleagues have done a lot of work recognizing the need for this kind of resource fair. Tell us about that. Absolutely. Our senior staff writer, Genoa Baro, who has done some great health work over the past few years, really dedicated the first half of this year. She wrote over 30 articles about the mental health needs of African American men on everything from cultural competency, caring, um, to doing research, getting black men to be vulnerable and talk about the importance of their mental health needs. We talk a lot about disparities in the health care needs of African Americans, like high blood pressure, strokes, and other issues. But we rarely talk about our mental health needs. Why is that? Stigma, generational trauma, and so on. There are a lot of reasons why, as a community, it hasn’t been an ongoing theme. But through this work, we hope to start a healing conversation. It sounds like this event is specifically designed to break down certain barriers, break down prejudices, and get people to talk openly, right? That’s right. What is the most important benefit that you get from doing exactly that? Um, it’s just a start, it’s kind of a self-reflection for us as a community. I think if we can really get in touch with people’s mental lives, we can really make a difference. Uh, I found out that Stephanie Clark is going to be one of the speakers. Uh, we saw the kind of trauma that he went through after the murder of his brother. Yeah. And he’s been very vocal and very open about mental health and how mental health and therapy helped him. So there’s a lot of people like that, a lot of stories like that. We’re dealing with not just the normal lifestyle trauma that people go through, but also the racial trauma that African-Americans go through. It’s really a double-edged sword. So, we hope that we can really address that. It’s a very important gathering. We’ll also give you some information about the fair itself. Uh, again, where, when and how can you get involved? Absolutely. We have a free event on Saturday morning at the Oak Park Community Center from 10 a.m. to about 2 p.m. And one of the important activities that we do is a community listening session, where we’re asking the community to join us at the Observer to discuss our coverage of African-American male mental health. So if you want to see more reports from our newsroom, please join us for this great information. I really hope this event is a success. Thank you so much. This is the first time we’ve had an event like this. Thank you so much.
Sacramento Observer publisher encourages black men to attend mental health resource fair
Weekend event aims to reach African-American men through panels, resources and community
Updated: June 28, 2024 12:35 PM PDT
The event taking place on Saturday will specifically address the mental health needs and awareness of black men. The “It’s OK Brotha Black Men’s Mental Health and Resource Fair” is scheduled to take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. June 29 at the Oak Park Community Center, 3425 Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Sacramento. According to Sacramento Observer organizers, the event will feature expert panels and discussions and is free to attend. Larry Lee, president and publisher of Observer Media Group, spoke about the event in an interview with KCRA 3 on Friday morning. “We talk so often about disparities for African Americans, especially in other medical needs, like high blood pressure, strokes and other issues,” Lee explained. “We rarely talk about mental health needs.” The Observer is partnering with the University of Southern California Annenberg Center for Health Journalism and the Sacramento County Health Department to host the event in honor of Mental Health Awareness Month. “There’s stigma. There’s generational trauma and there’s a lot of reasons why as a community it’s not an ongoing theme,” Lee said about the need for events like the “It’s OK Brotha” resource fair. “We hope that through this activity, it starts a conversation that can be healing.” To watch the full interview on KCRA 3, click on the video link in the player above. Get more coverage of California’s top stories here | Download our app.
The event on Saturday will specifically address the mental health needs and awareness of Black men.
The “It’s OK Brotha Black Men’s Mental Health & Resource Fair” is scheduled for June 29 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Oak Park Community Center, 3425 Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Sacramento.
According to Sacramento Observer organizers, the event will feature expert panels and discussions and is free to attend.
Observer Media Group President and Publisher Larry Lee spoke to KCRA 3 about the incident Friday morning.
“We talk so often about disparities for African Americans in other health care needs, like high blood pressure and stroke,” Lee explained, “but we rarely talk about mental health needs.”
The Observer is partnering with the University of Southern California’s Annenberg Center for Health Journalism and the Sacramento County Health Department to host the event in honor of Mental Health Awareness Month.
“There’s stigma. There’s generational trauma. There are a lot of reasons why this hasn’t been an ongoing theme as a community,” Lee said while talking about the need for events like the “It’s OK Brotha” resource fair. “We hope that through this, we can start a healing conversation.”
To watch the full KCRA 3 interview, click on the video link in the player above.
See more California top news stories here | Download the app.
