Black youth need help, not jail

When we talk about #BlackLivesMatter, we cannot forget about black youth’s mental health. The injustices and oppression faced daily by black people, causes psychological damage which leads to a chain of events. It’s important to acknowledge that. 

‘The use of deadly force by police against an unarmed black American “carries with it the weight of historical injustices and current disparities in the use of state violence against black Americans,”’ - Published in a September 2018 article with USA Today

Side note: Studies suggests that the police killings could result in 1.7 additional poor mental health days per person every year, or 55 million more poor mental health days every year among black Americans in the United States. 

Black children made 37% and 49% fewer visits to psychiatrists and 47% and 58% fewer visits to any mental health professional, than white children. Studies show that nearly one-fourth of Blacks are uninsured.

Black people  receive poorer treatment/care and lack access to culturally competent care. Suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death for black people ages 15-24. Black youth's mental health is often ignored. Instead, they are suspended, expelled, kicked out of school, or placed in alternative schools. Which makes dropout rates higher, results in lower paying jobs, and they're more likely to end up in the criminal system.

What needs to happen is that mental health care treatment should be intersectional and all inclusive in schools, black youth should:

• receive mental health treatment from culturally competent professionals.
  not be treated as a criminal every time something happens but instead, be treated as any other child who needs mental health care
  be provided with the same equal care our white counterparts receive when being treated for mental illness
• have an opportunity to go through evidence based screening for unmet needs before resorting to harsh punishment
• be able to see a comprehensively trained counselor when needed for mental health treatment

As a black young girl, when I'd "act out" in school, while in actuality I was struggling at home and expected to go to school to get an education, it would be taken as defiance or malice when it really was a misunderstanding on culturally incompetent teacher's part. I don't blame them though. The corrupt system which has failed black youth time and time again is to blame. Teachers, especially white teachers, should be mandated to go through intensive training when approaching black youth with mental illnesses.

Ultimately, if black youth had more resources, worked with more culturally competent professionals, and had the same opportunity as non-black people do, there will not mass incarceration where they locked away when they should instead be receiving adequate, comprehensive care. 

I am asking you to sign this petition in addition to writing letters, putting pressure on your state legislatures to ACT NOW or else they are complicit in sitting around silently watching black youth suffer.