Far too often we ignore profound messages because of their source. I have consciously attempted to avoid this trap and be receptive to poignant communications that possess the potential to illuminate my constantly evolving understanding of life. It has served me well.

While reading about the heartbreaking suicide of Georgia Tech football recruit Bryce Gowdy, 17, the words of hip-hop emcee Big K.R.I.T. came to mind. The famed rapper’s admonishment that “being Black and poor comes at a cost” unfortunately serves as theme music for far too many Blacks struggling against the grip of poverty and the misery it delivers in our minds and souls. Of course, for Black America, the path to poverty is a multi-lane toll road laden expressway with myriad exits and even more potholes.

It is difficult to argue against the assertion that the foremost by-product of the grinding costs of “being Black and poor” is an ever-increasing pressure. Trust me when I say that the alluded to “pressure” causes instability and unpredictably within those that it afflicts. The great poet Langston Hughes asked in his poem Harlem what happens to a Dream Deferred? Does it sag like a heavy load or does it explode? 

Only those who have dealt with the mounting pressure of being “Black and poor” have an inkling of an understanding of why Bryce Gowdy, a young man scheduled to enroll at Georgia Tech on a “full-ride athletic scholarship” this week, committed suicide via a freight train. For Gowdy, Charles Dickens’ words that “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” ring true as this young man whose family was in the throes of homelessness was on the brink of leaving all of that behind.

In retrospect, it appears as if Gowdy was being pursued by the same “hell hounds” that pursued famed Blues guitarist Robert Johnson.

The alluded to “hell hounds” that attach themselves to so many within our community birth “social ills” such as alcoholism, drug abuse, suicide, depression, and promiscuity among those that they doggedly pursue. If nothing else, these addictions and evils provide those desperately seeking a reprieve from a hellish existence brief shelter.

In hindsight, it is obvious that Bryce Gowdy’s “hell hounds” caused a psychological break that birthed a desperate search for meaning in life. Shibbon Mitchell, Bryce’s mother, shared one of her final interactions with her child in the following statement.

A few days ago, Bryce was talking crazy…he kept talking about the signs and symbols he was seeing. He kept saying he could see people for who they really are…He had a lot of questions about spirituality and life. He kept asking if I was going to be okay if his brothers were going to be okay.   

Although most Black males being pursued by “hell hounds” suffer in silence, Gowdy’s circumstances were different as others outside of his family were aware of his struggles. Jevon Glenn, Gowdy’s high school football coach, illuminates this young man’s burdensome situation. According to Glenn,

He had what looked like the opportunity of a lifetime to most kids, but he felt a burden and we talked about it that he’d be going off to Georgia Tech to stability, to free room and board, not worrying about food or money or anything like that. But he’d be leaving his mother and brothers in an unstable situation.

Bryce Gowdy’s situation is not rare. In fact, it is a fairly typical depiction of “the cost of being Black and poor” in America. It is a grind that whittles even the strongest in our midst down to pitiful caricatures of their former selves.

In the wake of this young man’s untimely demise, questions regarding why no one intervened on his behalf are natural. Anyone who has ever had “hell hounds on their trail” will tell you that questions prove how little some people know about this situation. They certainly do not understand that this problem of all-consuming grinding poverty does not cease until a seemingly inevitable psychological break occurs.

Unfortunately for Black America, Bryce Gowdy was not the first young African-American male to find the price of being “Black and poor” too much to bear and he will definitely not be the last. All that any of us can hope for right now is that he has found the peace that eluded him during his earthly existence.

Dr. James Thomas Jones III 

© Manhood, Race, and Culture, 2020.