Columns

Numerous persons who've suffered from severe mental illness, some, people of color, others white, are not unfamiliar with brutal treatment at the hands of cops. And I am one of them. 

Don't get me wrong; I'll call the police when they are needed if there is a life-threatening situation, if there is danger, or if someone is brutal to the point of breaking a law. I'm often the first to call them. I respect police--they carry weapons, and I am not about to go punching any of them in the nose. Most are brave and kind individuals and have entered police forces driven by the desire to serve and having acknowledged they are proficient at dealing with bad guys and/or bad situations. 

However, on a 5150, police ethics and fair treatment are often put to the test. And some have failed miserably. 

While I am white, actually a descendant of Russian Jews (100 percent, in comparison to the 50 percent of the former officer who brutally murdered an innocent man) I can understand what it is like to be on the receiving end of forceful treatment. I would like to speak on behalf of all Russian Jews (even though many may not feel I am qualified to do so) and say that this is uncharacteristic of how we behave toward human beings. Racial origin of the murdering officer is not relevant, and it does not say anything about Jewish people. 

But the main thrust of this week's column is this: How are mentally ill people supposed to deal with all of this? We've been strained by a society that has been trying to fight off a deadly pathogen, for the past several months. Now, we are seeing social unrest, and this unrest is because a first responder heinously abused his position of power. This is not the first time this has happened. The difference is that we have it recorded on video, available for almost anyone on Earth to view. 

Mentally ill people have a lot to deal with. If you are mentally ill and nonwhite, you have a lot on your plate. I think that now, more than at any time, the community needs to step up and assure those of us suffering from mental illness that we will be cared for. We are a vulnerable category of people, just as seniors are vulnerable, just as people with any substantial disability are vulnerable. 

If the reader has ever been on the receiving end of a 5150, this kind of incident can bring up past trauma. Police are trained in use of Judo and other Martial Arts so that they can restrain and subdue people. They have Tasers, they have batons, and they have firearms. This can be frightening. This is a lot of power in the hands of an individual who almost certainly is unfamiliar with the context of what you are facing. Errors will happen, in some instances, deadly errors. However, murder is not an error; racial profiling is not an error; brutality is not an error. These behaviors must be eradicated from members of police forces and sheriffs. 

We will not have a law-abiding society when police themselves are not obeying the law. We must have major reform in how police are trained to behave. We must have reform in the punitive nature of the "criminal justice" system. The concept of punishing people doesn't work. When you lock someone in a cage and tell them daily that they are worthless, how is that supposed to make them a better person? 

We need another system. As a man in his thirties who was a coworker in an early job I held, told me (he was in school and hoped to become a Presbyterian Minister) "There's got to be a better way." The comment was about something at the job, but I am nabbing it for this essay. 

My friends, there has got to be a better way.