Interviews with the average (Black American) Joe is a presentation series of questions and answers put to and answered through a characterization of an average American black man in today’s society.

Joe may not be real but the feelings and thoughts of the character express the reality of most black American men striving towards making a better way of life for themselves and their families.

These questions were presented in relation to social, political and personal viewpoints from Joe.

Interviewer:  In continuing our interview with the Average Black American Joe

We pick up with a discussion around the topic of depression.

Interviewer: Joe I recently read an article from a website Ms. Nix in the Mix on dealing with depression.

It was titled Depression: Live Another Day http://msnixinthemix.com/depression-live-another-day.html

It got me to thinking that there has been this stigma about black men not admitting that at times they have feelings of being depressed.

so Joe let me ask you do black men get depressed and how do they deal with it?

 Joe: Hell yeah we get depressed I mean that's like peanut butter and jelly, they go together. Hell you would be hard pressed to find a black man that has not been depressed at some point and time in their life.  We may not cop to it but we do.

 Interviewer: But why Joe?

 Joe: Well it's always been surmised that it's a sign of weakness and no man especially black men want to be viewed as being weak.

So we deal with shit with silence and go about our day of business trying to come up with a plan to move forward.

 Interviewer: How do you do that?

 Joe: to break it down for you as simple as I can, Did you see the movie finding Nemo? If you got kids then you saw it. Well it's like that scene when they were trapped in the net and Nemo's dad  told all the fish to swim downward and the Ellen fish Cora kept singing "keep swimming". Well that's what we do, just keep swimming no matter what. Depression is like a brother in the ocean swimming his ass off trying to make it to shore. You say to yo self don't worry about that shark behind you motherf..k.. just keep yo  ass on swimming.

That's how we deal with depression.

Interviewer:  That’s certainly a different way to explain it but I do understand the concept.

Look for more from the series Interview with an Average (Black American) Joe

Thank You,

The Interviewer