Two devastating losses to suicide in the Black community marked the beginning of 2022: the deaths of attorney, former Miss USA, activist, and entertainment news correspondent Chelsie Kryst, and of up-and-coming DJ and songwriter Ian King Jr., who was also the son of Academy Award–winning actress Regina King.
The deaths of Kryst and King sent shock waves through the Black community and among fans at large. Both were young: Kryst was 30, and King had turned 26 just days before taking his life. Both were successful and appeared to have the world at their fingertips.
Sadly, Kryst and King are not alone. Their deaths have shed light on an ongoing and alarming issue: increasing rates of suicide among Black Americans. Between 2014 and 2019, rates of suicide among Black people in the United States increased by 30 percent, according to data published in May 2021 in HAMA Network Open.
A report published in November 2021 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that although the overall rate of suicide in the United States decreased by 3 percent in 2020, the rate of suicide actually increased among many men of color, including Black men, during this time. Between 2011 and 2020, the suicide rate among Black men was 3 times that of Black women, the Suicide Prevention Resource Center reports.
