Black Lives. Black Men.

For Black men, graduating college is already an achievement in itself. Especially when you’re a first-generation student like current Stony Brook University senior and chemistry major James Breton, 20. He is proud that he is earning his undergraduate degree in only three years, rather than the typical four to six.

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During the summer of 2018, Aaron Jackson, 24, lost both a close aunt and his best friend, his grandfather. As an athletic training major, he considers maintaining a grade point average of around a 3.75, one of his greatest college triumphs.

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Matthew Nation, 21, loved that college offered him a chance to try on many hats both within and outside of his discipline. The financial information systems major expanded his STEM interests when he codevelop a weekend technology workshop for high schoolers, dipped into politics by becoming the Undergraduate Student Government Senator of the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences and turned his dreams of making music into a reality.

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Psychology and sociology major and writing minor, Jaeson Williams, 22, remembers letting off steam with his friends at a bonfire spot behind the campus’ apartments in June 2018. What makes this experience memorable is that when university police were called on them, he went home that night unscathed.

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“It was a scary time,” he remembered. “But it was my favorite memory because getting out of that just meant a lot.”

That’s because the 2010s have been marred by the deaths of Black individuals, especially men, such as Trayvon Martin in 2012, Eric Garner and Michael Brown in 2014 and Sandra Bland in 2015. All of these killings were a result of police brutality.

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“I would say that my biggest fear is being shot in cold blood somewhere, by somebody, for something that has nothing to do with my life,” Aaron said. “Our lives are important to us, not to other people. And I worry about that every day when I wake up like, ‘will this be it?’”

Black men have always been disproportionately targeted by the justice system. The United States contains only five percent of the world’s total population, but a staggering 21 percent of the world’s prison population. And even though the Pew Research Center’s Fact Tank has analyzed that the racial gap between Blacks and Whites incarcerated in the United States is shrinking, an NAACP fact sheet shows that Black people are still incarcerated at five times the rate of Whites.

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According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, men constitute 93 percent of the country’s inmates. Meanwhile, 37.7 percent of the country’s inmate population is Black even though the census’ July 2018 estimates indicate that Black people make up only 13.4 percent of the country’s total population.

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Because of numbers like these, there are many ways that Black men work to try and avoid becoming a statistic.

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“Growing up as a Black man, my dad always tried to teach me about obedience,” Jaeson explained. “So any big lesson he’s ever taught me has always been about following the rules and making sure I’m not doing too much but I’m doing just enough to make sure I’m following authority and stuff like that to keep me out of trouble, you know?”

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Unfortunately, not all Black children grow up with a father figure to teach and guide them through life as Aaron did not. A factcheck by PolitiFact of CNN’s Don Lemon’s claim that at least 72 percent of Black children are born out of wedlock proved that it’s actually 73 percent of Black children.

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“It was hard for me to form relationships with men, of substance for me, that lasted a while, Aaron admitted. “Because I always thought everybody was like my dad where they would enter my life for a little bit and then they would just leave. It was hard for a while, the only male in my life I trusted was my grandfather because him and my mom raised me.”

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Aaron was not able to really trust or form substantial relationships with men until he decided to seek help himself through counseling and got to college where he found trustworthy Black mentors.

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“The point of growth really happened when I decided to, you know, set myself free and say, Yo, this is what I'm going through, and I need help. Like, that's one of the things a lot of black men don't do or we don't do very well, we don't ask for help.”

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Both Aaron and James mentioned being taught to always seem strong and never show emotion. Men doing those things are considered weak, especially by the older Black community.

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“So, I decided to go to counseling, really decided I didn’t go to formal counseling,” Aaron continued. “So, I used to go to my one of my mentors a lot. We spoke about just, ‘how do I become better as a person?’”

This stigma about getting help and therapy can often be detrimental. For example, Spring 2017, Aaron experienced insomnia. To cope, he started taking NyQuil, which he became addicted to for about five months. He considers this one of his lowest points.

“Something that's not talked about a lot more prominently in the black community is being addicted to certain things, especially like if it is marijuana or alcohol or even like so for me, it was my quote, those type of things that we don't talk about a lot,” Aaron explained. “What does addiction look like in today's day and age?”

If he felt that it was acceptable to ask the right questions and get the proper help that he needed, that situation may have never happened.

The U.S. National Library of Medicine did a study regarding attitudes towards mental illness in the Black community. This is what they found:

“Depression was the most common mental illness and there were no gender differences in prevalence. Both men and women believed they knew some of the symptoms and causal factors of mental illness. Their attitudes suggested they are not very open to acknowledging psychological problems, are very concerned about stigma associated with mental illness, and are somewhat open to seeking mental health services, but they prefer religious coping.”

Aaron actually joined the Stony Brook Gospel Choir his first year at Stony Brook and was its president during the 2017 to 2018 academic year.

“I grew up in the church. Singing and being around people—I love music as well—being around that really is another hobby of mine. I love music, I love listening to music, listening to different kinds of music. For me, gospel choir was kind of like a peace. It gave me an escape away; anytime I was really going through something, I knew that I could depend on going to choir to kind of just zone out and focus in on me at the moment”

Besides seeking help, a sometimes difficult, but usually worthwhile road to success is obtaining a college degree.

It can be hard to feel affirmed in a big university like Stony Brook where between its undergraduate and graduate programs, Black students made up about nine percent of the school’s 26,256 students in 2018.

This year, a big wig on campus, Jarvis Watson, moved on up from the student activity center’s Dean of Students office, to the Office of the President in the school’s administration building. Having formerly served as the Assistant Dean of Multicultural Affairs, Dr. Watson now has three goals as the new Interim Chief Diversity Officer, to make Stony Brook’s campus more diverse and inclusive:

“To really engage the campus the meet people where they are, to educate other individuals about the living experiences of others on this campus and the last one is to empower each other to actually build what we want to define or create as diversity, inclusion and equity here at Stony Brook University,” said Mr. Watson.

A Stony Brook graduate himself, Jarvis Watson obtained his Bachelors in English Literature in 1988.

“Shout out to all my English majors!”

Having been a Seawolf himself, Dr. Watson believes that Stony Brook’s campus has always been diverse, but not inclusive. At least, not as inclusive as it is now. He remembers there always being conversations dealing with issues like social justice and human inequity to make sure that people feel like they are a part of the university.

“Being part of that era is part of what I bring to my leadership now,” Mr. Watson explained.

He aims to recognize the university’s structural diversity and create a more inclusive environment by making sure that people can authentically utilize their voices and make sure that those voices and conversations don’t happen in silence. He believes that Stony Brook has progressed much regarding inclusion since he graduated.

“It’s part of the reason I came back,” Watson said. “Because I don’t think there’s any other university on the planet like Stony Brook University.”

One way that Dr. Watson helps students that I identify as Black men feel more included, is by being a mentor for the school’s Student African American Brotherhood (SAAB). It is actually because of Dr. Watson that SAAB’s current president, Aaron Jackson, joined.

Prior to attending Stony Brook, Aaron attended Utica College where he was a part of an organization known as the Brothers on a New Direction (BOND) through which him and its members tried to not only elevate themselves, but other Black me in the community as well.

“So, when I transferred here, I was like, ‘yo, I have to be part of something similar to that,’ Mr. Jackson explained. “And then Spring [20]17, I found SAAB. I talked to Dr. Watson for maybe like a half hour at the involvement fair that semester and then it was just kind of on and popping from there.”

According to their website, SAAB’s focus is to increase the number of men of color that graduate from college by creating a positive peer community. SAAB operates through student run chapters with professional advising and mentorship to assist young men to excel academically, socially, culturally, spiritually and in the community. The goal is for all men at affiliated institutions to take full advantage of their academic years and to better understand and practice their full responsibilities, rights and privileges as citizens of this country.

What makes Stony Brook’s chapter special is that it is the only chapter located in the northeast. And James, Matthew and Jaeson are also members of SAAB.

James ethnically identifies as Dominican. But it wasn’t until he came to Stony Brook and traveled outside of New York City that he realized that he is racially Black.

“I remember one time I was headed to the Dunkin Donuts near the [Long Island Railroad] and it felt really weird for the first time, but there was a pickup truck that zoomed by and I was with a couple of friends and they yelled the ‘N’ word out loud. And I’m like, ‘Oh, ok. So, this happens here. This isn’t just something you see on TV.’ And that experience was a little eye opening for me because it showed me how my ethnicity wasn’t just all I was.”

During the summer of 2018, James was awarded the opportunity to attend a 10-week summer research program in Kansas. He was surprised that the program itself was a bit diverse and was also surprised to realize not that the town wasn’t diverse, but that there was a racial stigma in the air.

“I remember there was this one time I was trying to go back to my dorm and there was this old White custodial lady and she would always refuse to get on the elevator with me,” he laughed. “But I realized, ‘oh that’s just because that’s normal here and me saying something to her isn’t going to change her when I leave.’”

One of his fears is hoping that he can deal with being one of the few people of color in his field.

“I have faced the adversity of trying to communicate with my peers because most of the people in my program are White and are just not of the same cultural background. And so, it takes a while to get to know these people and see how I can communicate with them where I don’t have to be ashamed of being Black or being Hispanic.”

SAAB has immensely helped James navigate this new territory of being Black over his three years of college.

“I was looking for a cultural slash supportive group on campus [because] when I got to college I realized, ‘oh shoot, I’m actually Black. Or I’m being called Black and I should be able to recognize that.’ And so, when I got to campus and I met the leadership of SAAB at the time, they were really good at making me feel comfortable there. And it was one of the few groups that I saw could do that.

Matthew joined SAAB because he was drawn to their core values and purposes such as being accountable for themselves, having a personal development plan and having important conversations that you might not be able to have elsewhere on campus.

“If you know Dean Watson, he’s definitely a person you would want to know on campus,” Matthew said. “Not just because he’s a cool guy, but just because you’ll see yourself elevating through contact with certain members of SAAB such as him. But I would definitely say that joining SAAB was one of the best decisions I’ve made while on campus, and I’ll recommend it to anyone.”

Whether they knew their identity coming into college, or learned about it while at college, these men will soon be college graduates. They have big plans and ambitious goals in the works. So, look out world, here they come. The men in Black (skin).