Bounce Back. – Vintage Blue Originals 002
Psalms White is a junior at UNC-Chapel Hill from Charlotte, North Carolina, and is pursuing a major in Communications with a concentration in Rhetoric.
Psalms White began her high school experience at Harding University high school, one of the first schools to desegregate in Charlotte. Though it was once a renowned secondary school, Harding grew run-down over the years because it lacked adequate funding. After her first year, Psalm’s parents insisted that she transfer to Myers Park. This was a difficult decision for her as she had grown to love this school and its community.
“I was initially quite unhappy at Myers Park, and couldn’t help but feel excluded because of the lack of diversity within the school. I realized that there was even more of an incredible racial disparity between the IB program and traditional classes,” said White.
Though she found it difficult to identify with many of her peers, if Myers Park gave Psalms one thing, it was the ability and willingness to step out of her shell. She had always been interested in pursuing performance, and at Myers Park she discovered a new outlet – debate.
Her participation in this extracurricular reinvigorated her, which gave her parents the confidence to allow her to transfer back to Harding. As soon as she started the second-quarter of her junior year, Psalms got very involved with extracurricular activities like varsity cheer and student government, and became more active in the community. Psalms believes that it was this commitment to service that ultimately allowed her to follow her mother’s footsteps and attend UNC.
The summer before starting at UNC, Psalms was diagnosed with anxiety. In the latter portion of her first-year, she fell into an emotionally abusive relationship. As the situation progressed, many tried to distort and dismiss her struggle.
“I felt like I didn’t have support from my community because he was very looked up to in the black community on campus,” said White.
As a result of these mounting pressures, she decided to take the second semester of her sophomore year off. In spring of 2017, Psalms went back home to Charlotte to heal, grow stronger, and redirect her perspective.
“When I came home and felt in a safe enough space, I started speaking out about the things that were happening. I urged those around me to check their community members, and understand that some were allowing this [abuse] to continue. Through that advocacy, many women started reaching out to me and asking me to help them through emotionally and physically abusive situations. I began realizing that this wasn’t just a personal issue. The personal is political, this wasn’t just a terrible thing happening to me, but really a systemic issue of men taking advantage and women being victim-blamed. Because of this experience, I decided that I wanted to create a place in my community where people who have had these struggles could come and know that they are supported,” said White.
To ensure that other students of color wouldn’t have to endure similar struggles without feeling supported, Psalms founded Beta Nu Theta. This coed Black fraternity combined her passions of mental health awareness and activism, and as a result, gave Psalms the support and love she needed. Ultimately, she created this organization so that others would never feel that they didn’t have an outlet to share their struggles. For this reason and many others, Psalms sees Beta Nu Theta as her biggest accomplishment.
As a minority, this experience was even more difficult for White. As a part of certain cultural norms, Psalms felt that she was conditioned to endure more and hide signs of weakness. This level of stress and dissociation, has lead to dramatic increases in mental health concerns for young minority students in the United States.
“Mental illness is just like any other type of illness. You get sick because of some sort of outside or internal factor, you go to the doctor and get prescribed medication or maybe something else and then you just have to heal. It’s not something that’s forever,” she said.
Psalms’ healing process drove her to appreciate the positive communities in her life, especially those she found in Carolina. Between Carolina Kickoff, UNC Cheer, and Beta Nu Theta, she has found collaborative and validating spaces.
Apart from her involvement in these communities, Psalms’ faith has been incredibly formative in this time. Speaking to God during her semester off put her “back on track.” This commitment to giving back, has fostered her large capacity to be empathetic. This nature, coupled with her faith in God, is essential to her identity and her willingness to do good in the UNC community.
“I just want to do God’s will... I want to help people love themselves,” said White.
Written and edited by: Kenny Barone and Rodrigo Bustamante