Treatment Advocacy Center’s Statement Regarding the Death of George Floyd
The mission of the Treatment Advocacy Center is to overcome barriers to the treatment of severe mental illness. We recognize that for many black and brown Americans living with mental illness, there are additional barriers to treatment that they must overcome.
Minority communities experience gross disparities in their access to mental health care, lack culturally competent treatment resources, face implicit bias in mental health treatment and are overrepresented in the criminal justice system. Each one of these hurdles, individually and collectively, makes treatment more difficult and preventable tragedies more likely to occur.
Every day, we receive calls from families who are being failed by the mental health care system --- families who are told their loved ones must present an imminent danger to themselves or others before they can be helped. All too frequently, their only option is to call law enforcement. However, recent events remind us that for many African Americans, that call is made more difficult by their experiences with structural racism.
The Treatment Advocacy Center works with law enforcement agencies to assist them in building relationships with their communities and preventing the criminalization of mental illness. That work can only succeed when there is mutual understanding and respect between the officers and their community.
By now, we have all seen the devastating and damning video of the death of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis. The video clearly shows egregious conduct by law enforcement officers that cannot be tolerated. As we have long said, racism and police brutality have no place in a civilized society.
We extend our deepest sympathies to the family of George Floyd and join with advocates across the country to call for justice and necessary reforms.