We’re going to be talking about the medical and treatment systems’ neglect of BIPOC communities, and how this neglect drives criminalization of mental illness in black and brown people – especially young black and brown men.

Did your mother play Saturday morning clean up music? My mother had a heavy rotation of James Brown, Gil Scott and Bob Marley. When it came to Bob Marley, Get up Stand up and I shot the Sheriff, were her favorites. Years later, in a lesson about messenger credibility, I was introduced to the Eric Clapton version of I shot the Sheriff by a college professor. For obvious reasons, Bob Marely is a credible messenger for a song about racial persecution by law enforcement and the desire for true justice.

This made the song dangerous and controversial. Eric Clapton, on the other hand, isn’t a credible messenger for the same message even singing the same lyrics. It took the controversy out of the song, and became just a catchy hit, an introduction to laid back rock.

My takeaway from reflecting on this is that the message we take away from something is shaped a lot by whether the messenger is creditable or not. This comes up a lot in the SMI world, which is where the phrase “lived experience” comes from. Does the messenger know what they’re talking about? Police engagement with people who have severe mental illness is constantly under scrutiny. Severe mental illness advocates generally acknowledge that in some cases, police might need to be involved if there’s a risk of violence. Advocates focused on justice reform often call to defund the police entirely.
Sometimes the argument is divided along racial lines. Sometimes it’s Safety. But I have a hunch that the biggest division, and the reason that the different perspectives can’t come together, comes from distrust of the messenger. Neither side of this debate believes the other knows what they’re talking about.

"Make Them Hear You" is an original podcast from Treatment Advocacy Center - the oldest national non-profit dedicated to eliminating the barriers to treatment for severe mental illness. In this podcast series, Treatment Advocacy Center's Senior Legislative and Policy Counsel, Sabah Muhammad, is the host and leads listeners through courageous conversations which uplift the voices of some of our most vulnerable members of society: individuals of color with a diagnosis of severe mental illness.

Visit Treatment Advocacy Center's website to learn more: treatmentadvocacycenter.org

Direct media inquiries to [email protected]

"Make Them Hear You" is hosted by Sabah Muhammad.

Produced by Bill Retherford, Sabah Muhammad, and Shannon Zogran.

Written and edited by Sabah Muhammad, Shannon Zogran, Lisa Dailey, and Michael Gray.