BLACK MEN AND MENTAL HEALTH STRUGGLES: The community’s unique challenges and how to move forward Talking about mental health isn’t encouraged in the black community.  Men are expected to be tough, to internalize, to always model strength in the face of adversity.  But there’s a cost for this type of social posturing.  The black community faces the same rate of mental illness as other sects of the American population but is disproportionately blocked from resources.