Thread by @mountain_goats

I cannot watch this but I am compelled to bear witness. The combination of systemic racism & contempt for the mentally ill here has extra personal resonance for me because of the time I spent working in hospitals

my unit was both chronic & admissions because it was the Spanish unit, if a patient spoke primarily Spanish they came to us

we'd get guys who'd gotten into all sorts of trouble in public because they were actively hallucinating, in a big manic episode, etc. it can be scary to deal with somebody in that state no doubt which is why we went to school before working with this population --

in nursing school we learn that what looks like aggression, even if it is behaviorally absolutely aggressive, is often an expression of fear or panic or confusion. de-escalate! that's mission number one with a patient who's in the grip of a psychotic episode

not "put a bag over his head and hold him down"

how fucking stupid do you and every last one of your fellow officers have to be to think "put a bag over his head and hold him down" is good protocol for a person whose brother has called you because he needed help

this is reality for people with severe mental illness across the country -- the possibility of being beaten or killed if someone calls the police for "help." And of course that's the daily reality for Black people nationwide as well. Black and mentally ill?

That's an "avoid American police at all costs" situation. It is a national disgrace. I don't have any comforting words about it. It's a God damned dirty shame

and God knows about it, and will repay everybody involved, as well as those of us who stand silently on the sidelines. /fin