YOU ARE NOT ALONE - A companion online community discussion board for The Mental Illness Happy Hour podcast with Paul Gilmartin

I respectfully disagree with the letter that Paul started off reading. There is zero evidence that the South Carolina shooter didn't have a mental illness. If he grew up in a racist environment, there is a good chance it was undiagnosed, wouldn't you say?

I actually don't believe babies are born mean and hateful either.

The root of the entire mass shooting thing can be solved by addressing mental illness first. Focusing solely on gun control is putting a Band-Aid on the problem.

I don't think we are going to get ANYWHERE in this country by simply writing off people as "hateful, racist, pieces of shit." That is so freakin' lazy. Fighting hate with hate. What on Earth sense does that make? Love, compassion, and understanding is where it's at. Those are the people who need it the most. The SC victims themselves knew that. It wasn't enough to save him... or them. But maybe continued compassion will. He can't take back what he did, but he can still change. It is POSSIBLE. Not likely. I doubt many people will have it inside of them to show him compassion at this point because of what he did.

But if Holocaust victims can forgive Hitler and parents of murder victims have forgiven the killers of their children, it is not impossible.

Rant in 3, 2, 1....

The woman writing the letter explained how many thousands...more like millions of people affected by racism. Racism is so ingrained in all of western society and it deeply affects generations of people. There are countless studies that prove how absolutely detrimental racism is to children of color, it goes well beyond choosing a blonde white doll over a brown skinned dark haired doll, it affects self-worth as a whole.

The woman writing the letter was trying to explain how ignoring the racist views of the killer is only further sweeping this issue under the rug.

Was George Zimmerman "mentally ill?" Are all the policemen in the group that strangled Eric Garner to death "mentally ill?" How about the men that beat 14 year old Emmet Till to death or the men that burned four little girls to death in a church in Birmingham...can we brush that under the rug under the guise that they were just "troubled?"

This is a time to show compassion the the victims of this terrible hate crime. This is a time to show compassion to the innocent children that are consistently told they don't matter because of the color of their skin.

To me, veiling racism with "mental illness" only brings more stigma to mentally ill people. Mental illness doesn't make someone racist nor does it make someone a murderer. I'm so sick of hearing some (always straight white male) mass murderer was a "loner" or "on the autism spectrum", fuck that. There are plenty of people that are loners and socially anxious, that does not make us violent people.

What is a 21 year old white southern male supposed to think when the confederate flag flies freely? Who is telling him that black people are worthy of life at all when the enslavement of their ancestors is celebrated? What fellow racist white male is editing his history books at school to erase people of color from history in its entirety?

To ask anyone to forgive this young man and other violent racists like him is simply disgusting to me. What more can the black community do? MLK, murdered. Malcolm X, murdered. Black Panthers, dismantled and labeled as terrorists. Protesters against police brutality, labeled as criminals and thugs and arrested. The list goes on and on. It's time for white people to open our eyes and stop ignoring our prejudices and start LISTENING. LISTEN to people of color. LISTEN and OPEN YOUR MIND to the possibility that RACISM IS REAL and unless we first acknowledge that, young white men will still feel entitled to end or destroy black lives.

This isn't about white guilt, it's about facing reality. I've been lucky enough, like the white boyfriend of the woman who wrote the letter, to have my white bubble bursted a long time ago. Allies are necessary. We need white people to stand up for black people. We need men to stand up for women. We need straight cis people to stand up for LGBT people. Burst your bubbles.

"We have to constantly critique imperialist white supremacist patriarchal culture because it is normalized by mass media and rendered unproblematic.”

― Bell Hooks, Homegrown: Engaged Cultural Criticism

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/de ... ids-racist
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ ... story.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/06/educa ... .html?_r=0
http://countercurrentnews.com/2015/06/d ... -run-over/

The lady who wrote the letter made a great point - no one wonders if a black person who commits a crime has a mental illness. Actually all points are spot on. We need to listen to POC when they speak about how it is to live their lives.

Lisa is incredibly strong. I would love to have her book in audio form, read by her. I am sure it's helped a lot of people.

OK, I screwed up. I monitor threads that go unanswered, but I don't monitor ongoing threads. The escalation into abuse was not cool, and not what this forum is about. People can disagree passionately, but escalation into abuse is not cool. My apologies.

I am still part way through this episode. My heart goes out to Lisa. She shows such strength by talking honestly and openly about such a tragic event. She is very articulate and her book sounds beautiful. I can really hear and feel the depth of her pain and admire her for being able to talk about it. A really emotional conversation between Paul and Lisa.

I listen to this episode when I feel messed up emotionally to remind me of how deeply so many people in my life would be affected were I to complete suicide. So it probably hit its mark. Thanks so much, Lisa.