The importance of highlighting Black mental health in law school
In 2017, I was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), moderate depression, and general anxiety disorder. I was at the beginning of my second year of my undergraduate studies, and I felt like a failure in my life. The people closest to me thought I was exaggerating; “How could I get PTSD when I had not been to war?”
To honour Black History Month, I wanted to talk about Black mental health, especially in law school. For example, the statistics of Black people in Canadian prisons have been ingrained in my head, with Black people representing two per cent of the general population but eight per cent of the prison population. Law school is generally taxing for everyone. We are in a new (and quite competitive) environment, basically learning a new language and having to deal with schoolwork, extracurriculars, volunteer activities, several expenses such as tuition, and just trying to survive here. However, as a Black woman, I and others like me have to deal with and confront systematic racism and sexism that the legal system seems to love to bathe in. When asked by law professors about their favourite cases, students usually name one with a funny fact pattern, one that seemed easy to understand, or something with Lord Denning. However, my favourite case has none of those elements. It is Baker v Canada (1999), the case that we learned in Public and Constitutional Law about procedural fairness. However, it is the context of the case that still somewhat haunts me. An immigrant Black woman was deemed a “welfare queen” and perceived as a parasite to Canadian society because she has eight kids and (surprised here) had a mental illness. Coming from Jamaica myself, this personally upset me. This case was resolved during my lifetime. The decision that allowed people like me to be viewed as human in administrative law was made during my lifetime. I am in my mid-twenties, and therefore, it was more recent than it should have been.
Due to the way Black people have been treated by Canadian law, there has been tons of case law featuring covert and overt racism and discrimination against Black people. That in itself is really draining. I know other people of colour can relate to this, as we are learning how to uphold a system that has historically perpetuated these types of views. It can be and does get disheartening to hear. What makes it worse is not being able to see other Black people in the legal field. In most networking events or moots I have participated in, I have seen around three.
Some may take this as me complaining or have probably reached the conclusion that law may not be for me if I am this concerned about the mental strains involved. However, I believe that this is precisely why law is for me. I have noticed that a lot of lawyers are very logical and analytical, leaving little room for emotions. When I ask lawyers for advice on how to manage stress during their work, most of their responses allude to “pushing it aside because we all have to deal with it.” While in some ways that can be good, this can lead to ignoring signs of mental traumas, especially for those in public law. However, ignoring mental stresses especially in the Black experience can lead to both burnout and imbalances in the legal field. Moreover, the mental resources available to Osgoode students are great, yet have a “colour-blind” feel to them. Acknowledgement of mental stresses due to race is great but having that space to talk about them, relate to them, cry about them, and most importantly to grow from them is well needed and deserved. Although Osgoode has great peer supporters who are Black and the Osgoode Black Law Student Association does host a wellness retreat in November, these are not enough. We need a space for our peers, who are going through similar things to us, to acknowledge us. This way, unlike how I felt in 2017, we might not feel alone or like we failed.We should be able to work on our mental health and emotions without “pushing it aside,” because mental health is health and Black mental health is important in the legal field. Black law students and lawyers need to fight small and large battles every day, and for that, we need a space to maintain our mental health. That is why I think it is important to actively talk about it and validate it. There will be more Baker v Canada’s to deal with, and we have to be strong enough to take it.