What Drove Lecrae Into Depression

Rapper Lecrae lent his voice to the Black Lives Matter movement in a recent editorial where he revealed that the lack of compassion from the church drove him to depression. 

“I was once told you shouldn’t waste time explaining yourself to people bent on misunderstanding you,” the vocal follower of Jesus wrote on the Huffington Post. “So I won’t anymore. I can’t anymore. I’m a mess. I’ve been grieving the loss of black lives since 2014 … without consultation. Been fighting critics and scrutiny since 2012. I can’t even read comments on social media anymore. All the slander is too much for any one person to digest.” 

Many in American Christianity rushed to replace “black” with “all” as black men were slayed on the streets across the country.  

Lecrae was condemned by many fellow Christians for calling attention to the racial injustice rising in the United States.  

He writes: 

I hit a serious low on tour at one point; I was done with American Christian culture. No voice of my own. No authenticity. I was a puppet. I’d seen so much fakeness from those who claimed to be my brothers and sisters that I didn’t even know how to talk to my Heavenly Father.

And then there was Mike Brown.

Then Eric Garner.

And then #______ and #________ and #_______.

People kept killing us.

As I shared my heart, my supporters turned on me even more—fans and friends. There was no empathy. Though some comments were just evil and hurtful, others were steeped in ignorance and lack of perspective. 

They didn’t get it.

Lecrae says there is a very specific difference between the sentiment of Black Lives Matter and the organization with the same title.  

On the “Guiding Principles” page of its website, the Black Lives Matter movement makes the stunning statement that it stands in opposition to the traditional—biblical—”nuclear family.” 

And according to cultural commentator Dr. Michael Brown, if you support the Black Lives Matter movement—as in the official blacklivesmatter.com website—you are not only standing with black Americans but also standing with a radical social agenda, including queer and transgender activism along with the disrupting of the nuclear family.

But Lecrae is not discussing the organization; rather, he is attempting to shed light on the systematic racism that subtly invades American culture in every twist and turn.  

“Some people still think we are just ‘whining about the past,'” Lecrae says. “But we’re not. We are trying to expose how the past has affected the present and threatens the future. Can people not see it?” 

He continues:

If you enslave and torture a people for 400 years, tell them they are free but torture them another 100 years, and then kind of give them rights begrudgingly 50 years ago, how can you expect zero systemic effects?

You can’t wipe away a 500-year trauma in 50 years.

But just as I don’t hate cops, I’m not mad at white people. But I am disturbed at the supremacy and disparities that still exist. And what’s ironic is that I’m so bothered because Jesus actually challenges me to not only care for the souls of all humanity, but to feed the hungry, aid the sick, regard the stranger, visit the prisoner and love my neighbor in tangible ways.

The trauma of the church’s intentional blindness to the injustice combined with the death of his cousin and a friend’s betrayal led him into a depression.  

But God intervened.  

“I’m working on me. Well, God is. And as He is, I hope for grace and mercy and prayers from all those who really care,” he says.