UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — March 20 will mark the fifth anniversary of the death of Osaze Osagie, a former Penn State student shot by local police during a mental health event. While mental health challenges occur among Black or African American people at about the same or less frequency than their white counterparts, racial disparities in health care and treatment, and encounters with law enforcement, affect the former far more severely. This state of affairs demands "people-first" policy solutions.
In honor of Osagie's memory, and building on the accomplishments of Penn State's African Studies Global Virtual Forum, the Africana Research Center and the College of the Liberal Arts are launching a "Global Black Communities and Mental Health" series aimed at elevating attention to issues of mental health among Black communities across the African Diaspora, fostering meaningful connections between scholarly research in the social and behavioral sciences and the humanities, and advancing everyday applications of this research for families, service providers, advocates and allies working to improve the quality of life in Black communities.
The highlight of this series will be the inaugural Osaze Osagie Memorial Lecture taking place at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 26, at the Hintz Family Alumni Center on the University Park campus. The lecture will feature a conversation with Sybrina Fulton, racial justice activist and mother of Trayvon Martin, a Black youth whose 2012 death in Sanford, Florida, helped spark the early #BlackLivesMatter movement. Savita Iyer-Ahrestani, senior editor of The Penn Stater magazine, will conduct this dialogue with Fulton.
Both the lecture and the reception that follows are free and open to the public; however, because of limited seating, advance registration is required.
Osaze's father, Sylvester Osagie, stated that the family was pleased with the thrust of the lecture dedicated to his son's memory.
“This event promotes intellectual explorations of social and emotional crises in Black communities,” said Osagie, who coordinates the Fulbright Scholars Program for Penn State Global. “That policymakers and service providers, researchers and practitioners can come together to examine and frame programs to help families and individuals with mental health challenges to bring actual intervention and pragmatic solutions to society, will go a long way towards ameliorating the burdens so many families face.”
Penn State co-sponsors for the lecture include the Paul Robeson Cultural Center; Center for Social Change and Belonging; Division of Undergraduate Studies; College of Arts and Architecture; College of Agricultural Sciences; Smeal College of Business; Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications; College of Earth and Mineral Sciences; College of Education; College of Engineering; College of Health and Human Development; College of Information Sciences and Technology; College of Medicine; Ross and Carol Nese College of Nursing; Eberly College of Science; Schreyer Honors College; Penn State Dickinson Law and the Penn State Dickinson Law Antiracist Development Institute; Penn State Law and the School of International Affairs; The Graduate School; University Libraries; the Office of the Vice Provost for Educational Equity; and the Office of the Vice President for Commonwealth Campuses.