Thursday, March 20, 2014

Cards Stacked Against Black Boys, Especially If Mentally Challenged


The American Psychological Association (APA) conducted a study indicating that black boys are perceived as being older and less innocent than their white peers by Caucasian police officers and college women. The APA study was discussed during two Blogtalkradio shows: "Human Rights for Prisoners March" on March 17 and "Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill (AIMI)" broadcast on March 19. Links to both shows are below in this article. Discussions will continue Sunday, March 23 on "Human Rights Demand" channel at Blogtalkradio. 

The APA study exposed that Caucasian police officers who dehumanize blacks are more likely to use force on black boys like those featured in five photographs in this article. Juries comprised of whites (like the white college students in the APA study) seem predisposed to attribute guilt to black boys. The white research participants generally believed black boys, even 10-year-olds, to be 4.5 years older than they actually were and therefore more responsible. The research also indicates that black boys accused of crimes were likely to be presumed guilty by the white study participants. This explains why prosecutors seldom charge, and Caucasians on grand juries seldom indict, police officers who brutalize or kill black boys.

“Children in most societies are considered to be in a distinct group with characteristics such as innocence and the need for protection. Our research found that black boys can be seen as responsible for their actions at an age when white boys still benefit from the assumption that children are essentially innocent,” said author Phillip Atiba Goff, PhD, of the University of California, Los Angeles. 

Discipline for Black Boys with Mental Disabilities Compared with White Peers

According to another report released in March, “African-American students and students with disabilities are suspended at hugely disproportionate rates compared to white students.” This report was provided by the Discipline Disparities Research-to-Practice Collaborative. Its results were published in the Washington Post (link below). An excerpt:

"'In the 1972-73 school year, suspension rates were 6 percent for whites and 12 percent for African Americans at the secondary school level. [Racism is getting worse.] The most recent federal figures, for 2009-10, show rates of 7 percent for whites and 24 percent for African Americans in those grades,' said researcher Daniel J. Losen, director of the Center for Civil Rights Remedies, at University of California, Los Angeles.

"For some student groups, the rates are markedly higher. For example, among middle and high school students, 36 percent of black males with disabilities were suspended at least once in 2009-10,' Losen said." 


Mentally challenged black boys are extremely likely to experience out-of-school suspensions - not wholly because of their behavior but also because of systemic prejudice against them and the dehumanization of black boys, especially those with mental disparities. "Out-of-school suspensions are linked to academic disengagement, lower achievement and greater risks of school dropout and contact with the juvenile justice system," researchers said.

Disparity of Treatment for Black Mentally Ill Men in the Prison System

Mentally ill inmates generally receive harsher prison sentences regardless of their race, possibly because they are less able to participate in their own defense. Once incarcerated, people with serious mental illness are unlikely to have their sentences shortened by doing prison labor or being "model prisoners." In fact, prison sentences of mentally challenged inmates are often lengthened due to their lack of understanding or ability to follow CO's instructions and prison rules. One might assume from the two research studies referenced herein that mentally challenged black men are also more harshly punished in correctional institutions, like they were in school. 

Intolerance of black boys and men, especially if they have mental illness, is reflected in our prison rates. According to the United States Department of Justice, blacks comprised 12 percent to 13 percent of the nation's population but over 40 percent of the prisoners. Solitary confinement is one of the punitive methods used in corrections, and more than 80 percent of the inmates enduring solitary confinement torture in the United States are black people. 

Referenced radio show and research reports:

"Human Rights for Prisoners March" Radio Show, March 17, 2014 http://www.blogtalkradio.com/nnia1/2014/03/18/human-rights-for-prisoners-march
Mary Neal, host; former school teacher Wendy Benedetti, guest


"Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill" Radio Show, March 19, 2014 
Mary Neal, host; organizational psychologist Dr. Jean Kennedy, guest 


(Line breaks were placed before each of the four links above to help assure your access.)

At Baldwin South Intermediate School in Quincy, Illinois, a 9-year-old Autistic child was taken from his special needs classroom with bruises all over his face and incarcerated after he was beat up by police. See a report by CopBlock.org http://www.copblock.org/21538/officer-assaults-and-arrests-9-year-old-boy-with-autism-in-public-school-classroom/

Marissa Sargeant, mother of a 14-year-old boy, claims officers brutally beat her son after he was arrested for shoplifting from a Wal Mart store in Tullytown, PA, reports The Grio. He was Tasered repeatedly in his face, which some consider torture. 

A brain-damaged youth in Illinois was subjected to deadly face-down take-down over his shirt tail being out of his pants. Mentally challenged people are under attack. The special needs student was stalked by the school police who insulted him, then attacked and beat him. The face-down choke hold the police officer used on the student has caused deaths. See comments about the child abuse against that disabled youngster by Care2 members at this link, if they let you: http://www.care2.com/news/member/513396753/1272815

"If it seems to you that the police are becoming more violent, you may be right. In 2011, Los Angeles County police shot to death 54 people, some 70 percent more than in 2010. Between 2008 and 2013, the number of people shot by Massachusetts police increased every year. In 2012, police in New York City shot and killed 16 people, nine more the previous year and the most in 12 years. In 2012, Philadelphia police shot 52 people the highest number in 10 years." The victims of police violence are overwhelmingly black boys and men, including mentally challenged people who were killed when officers responded to families' calls for assistance. See "How Many People are Police Killing?" 
http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/287-124/21754-how-many-people-are-american-police-killing


Watch a police officer deliberately break a black school boy's arm on video:
http://youtu.be/3CMT_qeHOnE Oops! Videos I use are often removed from YouTube. Try this video link. It was uploaded by a Caucasian http://youtu.be/XHU7nV4XrBk
If they remove that one, try this video of the incident (also uploaded by a Caucasian)
http://youtu.be/L5TECZwysqQ Some whites still have freedom of press in USA.



AIMI members support Rep. Tim Murphy's congressional bill, "H.R.3717 - Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act," which was introduced in December 2013 and now has over 40 co-sponsors. One provision of H.R.3717 is training for police officers and correctional officers regarding the apprehension and containment of people with mental illness without causing injuries and deaths. Please read about the bill in articles within this blog, and hear H.R.3717 discussed during "Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill" radio broadcasts on Blogtalkradio (February 12 and 19, 2014). Few members from the Congressional Black Caucus have co-sponsored H.R.3717 thus far, although research proves that black people are overly represented among families experiencing mental health crisis and most likely to suffer serious injuries and fatalities because of it.

Racism, police brutality, wrongful deaths, prisoner torture, child abuse by police officers, prison profiteering, and hate crimes against the mentally disabled, particularly non-whites, are widespread problems that will not be addressed with corrective measures unless they are first exposed to the general public as well as to our elected and appointed officials. Unfortunately, advocacy for human rights in America is censored.

Internet companies are overwhelmingly owned and operated by Caucasians, and data exposing prejudice against blacks is censored. Mary Neal was not allowed to place links to this article and to the study by the American Psychological Association at the Facebook "Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill" group. CoIntelPro/NSA assumed control of our AIMI group at Care2 years ago, which is why the "Dog Justice for Mentally Ill" blog was started at Blogger. As AIMI's membership enrollment grew, our members at Care2 began experiencing frequent DoS attacks, surreptitious removal of site content, and denial of the opportunity to use many of the features that Care2 makes available for animal rights advocates. AIMI members feel that America's mentally ill people of all races deserve at least Dog Justice. See the result of my attempt to open the link at Care2 regarding the black boy who was attacked by his school police officer:
"Care2 is Down for Maintenance"

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7OOCl9xjk33ek9ReklXNEdLalE/edit?usp=sharing

Through online media, human rights advocates expose crimes against humanity. Oppressing black school boys and criminalizing mental illness are tragic circumstances that deserve exposure. The recent studies published by the American Psychological Association and by the Discipline Disparities Research-to-Practice Collaborative identified extreme prejudice against black boys and men, especially the mentally disabled, which account for police violence against that population and the denial of due process by whites in positions of authority over the justice system after such offenses occur. But it is difficult to share the studies and challenge officials and the general populace to change because of racial prejudice in Internet media companies and the NSA, which not only monitors but also censors Internet content by and about African Americans.

Sometimes people harbor racist viewpoints without being aware of them. For example, a recent study by Kelly M. Hoffman and Adam Waytz shows that people, including medical personnel, assume black people feel less pain than white people. The researchers asked participants to rate how much pain they would feel in 18 common scenarios. The participants rated experiences such as stubbing a toe or getting shampoo in their eyes on a four-point scale (where 1 is “not painful” and 4 is “extremely painful”). Then they rated how another person (a randomly assigned photo of an experimental “target”) would feel in the same situations. Sometimes the target was white, sometimes black. In each experiment, the researchers found that white participants, black participants, and nurses and nursing students assumed that blacks felt less pain than whites. See "Racial Perceptions of Others' Pain" 
http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0048546

Your opinions are invited in the comment field below, where this writer will also publish a copy of this article to discourage cyber bullies from tampering with the article. The public is invited to share mental health news and opinions in the comment field and during AIMI's Blogtalkradio broadcasts Wednesdays at 9pm Pacific by calling (818)572.2947.

Mary Neal, director

Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill (AIMI)
MaryLovesJustice@gmail.com
Website: Wrongful Death of Larry Neal
http://WrongfulDeathOfLarryNeal.com
Dog Justice for Mentally Ill
http://DogJusticeforMentallyIll.blogspot.com


It would be illegal to keep a dog in a tight space 23 hours a day and gas or Taser him for barking. It would be illegal to put a dog into a deadly restraint chair for control. But this happens to mentally ill Americans routinely in the nation's jails and prisons. What happened to Larry Neal?

Mentally Ill Americans Need Dog Justice. Treat mental illness medically, not legally.

1 comment:

MaryLovesJustice Neal said...

Will repeat the article "Cards Stacked Against Black Boys, Especially If Mentally Challenged" in comments. Give me a minute. Thanks.