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The sad story of Bryce Gowdy should serve as a cautionary tale of what happens when we fail to recognize the warning signs of mental illness. Furthermore, it should also stand as warning of the consequences of ignoring the cries for help from Black mothers who have become overwhelmed and have nowhere to turn.
Just hours after discovering that her son had committed suicide in the most horrific of ways, Bryce's mother, Shibbon Winelle, took to Facebook Live to attempt to expain Bryce's state of mind right before he stepped in front of a freight train. What she described was a young Black male on the edge of a psychotic break on no one who could provide with the support and help he needed.
While being destitute is traumatic for all children, young adolescent males will interpret it and process it different than girls or younger children. What she shared also revealed that Bryce had become disillusioned with the world and was beginning to see it different. Please don't mistake his become disillusioned for a part of his break. While it may have contributed to the break, the way he was seeing the world was more closer to how it really is and less like it is presented to the masses.
He was likely grappling with how a good God would allow his family to suffer with his mother trying so hard.
Here is what I can tell you, the Black community, it multitudinous ways, failed Bryce and his family. While I am proud that we have responded with over $92,000 in donations, it would have been so much better to have to come to their aid before this young Black male reached a point where he saw no alternative but to check out of the fight. We owed him more than that. ~ Rick Wallace, Ph.D., Psy.D.
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