Nevada Press Association The best in Nevada journalism since 1924
Related Articles
No Stigma Nevada:
The ‘Talk’ Everybody Needs To Have
–By Kim Palchikoff-
Watching the horrific May 25 police murder of African-American George Floyd replayed again and again on video and the weeks-long protests and riots in Nevada and across the world reminds me of “the talk” my father gave me when I got my first car.
By the end of it, he had me petrified and, apparently, rightfully so, even if I was white.
Police carry lethal weapons, he said, and they like them. They are trained to shoot to kill. If I were stopped by the police, he said, I was to keep my hands visible at all times, on the steering wheel.
I was to move slowly, no erratic movements and only answer questions, not ask them, using, “Yes, Ma’am,” and “No Sir.” If they wanted to arrest me, even for no reason, let them do it. Even though their job is to protect community members, he explained, they are often the enemy.
My father was right in one way. Police violence can lead to fatalities, and too often when it comes to Blacks. Though Floyd wasn’t driving, he did everything right. He didn’t resist arrest. Didn’t threaten anyone. Didn’t carry a weapon.
And he still died, after an officer pinned his knee in Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes. That’s a lynching, and so are the others such as Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor.
Some 40 years later after our “talk” I’ve been glued to the TV, inspired by protests in Nevada and around the world against this latest heinous crime. If it weren’t for the coronavirus, I’d be out protesting myself and not just for police brutality against Blacks but for their frequent killing of another demographic as well.
As many know, I live with bipolar disorder, a very difficult mental illness to deal with. In the circles I run in, there’s a lot of brutal and often fatal police violence against those with severe mental health issues.
Here’s some stats: Treatment Advocacy Center and National Sheriffs’ Association estimates that 50 percent of people shot and killed by police in the U.S. “have mental health problems.”
Sometimes police kill someone who is incoherent, wandering around erratically, shouting at invisible people, who ignores their orders to “drop your weapon,” because that person is on another planet.
Sometimes those “weapons” are plastic tomatoes they got from the Dollar Store, a carrot from a refrigerator or a stick they happened to pick up and wave in the air. Too often, their lives end on the street like Floyd.
Many families who have a loved one experiencing a severe mental health crisis in the house hesitate before calling the cops. On one hand, police can be necessary if the loved one in crisis is becoming violent or refuses to go voluntarily to a mental hospital.
It’s not that they’re bad people. Many in these situations are experiencing hallucinations and psychotic breakdowns, believing that their family — and the police — are out to get them. A police officer can forcefully take them to a hospital. But too often the officers are untrained, and end up using a taser gun or worse instead of trying to calm them down.
Members of the Black community with mental illness often face even more desperate situations. Take this June 5 headline from the Arizona Mirror :
“A Black mother called 911 for her son’s mental health crisis. Tempe Police Department brought rifles, a riot shield and a K-9.”
Or this from The Intercept: “If You Are Black and in a Mental Health Crisis, 911 Can Be a Death Sentence.”
To address the issue of police brutality against those with a mental illness of any race, many police academies across America require their cadets to complete a Crisis Intervention Team instruction as part of their training. CIT aims to teach mental-health de-escalation techniques when encountering a person in crisis.
But that’s life in a perfect world. Too many police departments don’t require this training, making it voluntary, and too often the end result is fatal.
I’m happy to see that the longstanding police brutality issue has garnered world attention, especially that of Congress, which aims to pass the Justice in Policing Act of 2020. Many communities are looking for concrete ways to improve their local law enforcement.
At the dinner table my parents discussed issues such as racism, poverty, equality and, yes, police brutality.
That’s a “talk” every family should be having.
Kim Palchikoff is a social worker and mental health writer. Have comments? She can be reached at palchikoff@gmail.com.