Two black men died untimely deaths in the last two weeks. One, Michael Clarke Duncan, was a major movie star known to millions as John Coffey in “The Green Mile,” the other, music manager Darrell “Baby Chris” Lighty, was well known to the music industry but not as much of a public figure. The two died on separate coasts, and were exactly 10 years apart in age, but their success and untimely deaths united them. Duncan died at age 54 of a heart attack, leaving behind a grieving fiancée in reality star Omarosa Manigualt. Lighty died at age 44 by his own hand, shooting himself outside his Bronx, N.Y. apartment after an argument with his wife Veronica. He leaves behind six children.
While we don’t yet know what caused Duncan’s heart attack, his death came as a surprise. The 6’5 inch star was known for his fitness and had recently embraced a vegetarian, organic diet, which he tweeted about enthusiastically before his death. Lighty, who managed Mariah Carey, 50 Cent, Diddy, Diggy Simmons and Ja Rule among others, helped hip-hop stars close unprecedented product endorsement deals through his Violator Management. Those deals, like the multimillion dollar one signed between 50 Cent and Vitamin Water, helped hip hop stars gain alternate streams of revenue aside from their musical output, something that became increasingly important as music sales diminished.
Lightly left no note and his estranged wife says that although she had filed for divorce, she’d withdrawn the filing and that neither their marriage or the IRS problems Lighty was facing were the reasons for his despair. In an interview with The New York Daily News, Veronica Lighty said her husband was dealing with unspecified stresses and that he had “a lot of weight on his shoulders.”
Black men, no matter how successful, often do have stress. No matter how enviable their lives look from the outside looking in, even wealthy and famous black men deal with demons and the everyday racism that infects their lives. Take President Obama, for example. There is documented evidence that his historic presidency has been overshadowed by negative spin by the opposing party and the news media in ways that other (White) presidents haven’t faced. While Obama seems to handle the slights with ease and humor, behind closed doors the nastiness and racism he’s dealt with must be difficult to absorb.
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article courtesy of BlackAmericaWeb.com
