Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

“The [Mental] Struggle is Real : A Reflection on School Shootings and their Connection to Mental Health Everyday, somebody in America is losing their mind. Mention the words Aurora, Columbine, or Sandy Hook, and everyone thinks of the mass murders that transpired in those places. But how many of us turn a blind eye towards our fellow Spelmanite or Atlanta University Center neighbors when they say, “I can’t take this anymore”, only to look on in shock when they hear about another school shooting or act of senseless gun violence? When was the last time you really listened to your friends when they were stressed out? No, not everyone is at risk for being the next mass murderer, but it shouldn’t take an act of violence to take notice. Mental illness is running rampant in our country, and many people are not seeing the signs such as depression and suicidal notions. According to Curiosity.com, a website sponsored by Discovery Communications, depression of some form affects an estimated “121 million people worldwide, but less than 25 percent have access to effective treatment.” Women also have a higher likelihood of depression than men. World of Psychology also reports that “one out of every five young people and one out of every four college students or adults [suffer] from some form of diagnosable mental illness”. If someone were to only follow the televised coverage of the recent years’ shootings, they would guess that the most dangerous or deadliest perpetrators are young, Caucasian By: Jamyla Blackmon C2015 males seeking revenge, releasing terror and anger, and/or expecting infamy. While CNN, FOX, and CBS cover acts of senseless violence, they only seem to capture certain types of killers, leaving America to feed upon the stereotype of the white male with mental issues. No one would think about a black female doing anything like that. This is wrong: it could be anyone. Men and women, black, Latino, Asian, commit these crimes, but when it comes to national news, death toll and the damage done weigh in more, and those that have lost one compared to the 20 first graders that died at Sandy Hook can only get so much coverage. In a Psychology Today article, Dr. Peter Langman, author of Why Kids Kill: Inside the Minds of School Shooters recounts female perpetrators like Brenda Spencer, age 16, who committed a sniper attack at Cleveland Elementary School in San Diego, as well as 23-year-old Latina Williams, an African-American woman who killed two female students in their college classroom in Louisiana before she committed suicide. The victims of these crimes did not get national coverage for long. Perhaps because according to the FBI, their shock value is to low. According to the FBI, these aforementioned shootings are not mass murder-they’re two people short. Four or more people, not including the shooter, must die in a single incident for it to be classified as a mass murder. There is currently no active FBI definition for a mass shooting. With the many mass shootings that appear (or not) on the radar, regardless of race or gender, the definite question on everyone’s mind is, “why?” As of right now, no one knows for sure. Research has focused on the neuroscience behind it, while society continues to blindside what’s really happening to our country, particularly our youth. Neil S. Kaye, an assistant professor of psychiatry and human behavior at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, says “mass killers do this for multiple reasons, and even when you develop a profile of people at risk, 99 percent of them never go out and do anything bad.” Blame chemical imbalances in the brain, bullying, and bad break-ups for the mass shootings, but there has to be more to it all. It could be as simple as lack of someone to talk to, or the inability for someone to handle his or her emotions. More than ever, love, compassion, and respect for other people matters in the world. So the next time you see on the television screen yet another coverage on school shootings, don’t jump to conclusions. Don’t believe the stereotype of mass murderers always being young white men. When you hear something in you and your friend’s conversation, don’t ignore them: truly listen to them. As we all say, “The struggle is real.” Let’s not let it evolve into the loss of life. The BluePrint SpelmanPaper@gmail.com Feb/March 2014 25