Art Imitates Life

By Genoa Barrow | OBSERVER Senior Staff Writer Hollywood is known for creating fantasies and false narratives, but the entertainment industry does keep it real sometimes, particularly in its efforts to help eliminate the stigma of mental illness. Mental health awareness for African Americans has found its way into popular TV programs with creators and showrunners including storylines that see main characters seeking therapy or having characters be mental health providers. Other shows feature therapy in other ways. A men’s group therapy session from a screenshot in an episode of “The Chi.” Filmmaker and show creator Lena Waithe deserves kudos for normalizing therapy by incorporating it into series like “Twenties” and “The Chi.” In a “Twenties” episode titled “Happy Place,” the main character, a queer Black woman named Hattie, played by Jonica “Jojo” T. Gibbs, seeks therapy to understand her father’s absence and its impact on her relationships with men. On “The Chi” after one of the show’s main characters, Kiesha Williams, portrayed by actress Birgundi Baker, is abducted and becomes pregnant from the sexual assault, she is seen in multiple episodes visiting a psychologist.& She also encourages her family to also work on their issues. Kiesha’s mother and her...