Harboring Compassion and Holding People Accountable Are the Best Ways to Help the NYPD and NYC’s Mentally Ill

 

By Bisi Ideraabdullah

Anytime I see someone on the street, I don’t make eye contact. Still, my heart breaks. Most are Black males and some are quite young. I’m not sure how this could have been avoided, but I do believe implementing measures to properly care for New York City’s mentally ill and prevent homelessness is crucial.

In my experience with educational institutions, I have learned that Black children are not getting the amount of attention needed to excel. If the majority of students are Black and Latino, the teachers tend to be substandard and overwhelmed by bureaucracy. In fact,  I am struggling with third-graders who cannot read and are not getting any extra help. As a result, I am adding a tutoring program to my after-school project. Simply put, I am doing what I can to try and implement measures to prevent children, teens and adults of color from becoming homeless.

Mayor Eric Adams has announced that he will involuntarily hospitalize the mentally ill and force will be used only when necessary. Truth be told, I sympathize with the police in this case. I believe most will have no intention of hurting the person they come into contact with, but they, police officers and the mentally ill, are at risk of getting hurt. Those diagnosed as mentally ill can be offensive and antagonizing. Just ask anyone who has a family member with Alzheimer’s disease.

Additionally, hospitals cannot hold mentally ill patients that have no other illnesses. They do what they can and direct them to rehabilitation facilities or the patient’s place of residence. Sadly, there have been far too many reports of mentally ill patients being discharged without rehab, any level of continuing care, or any place to send them. They simply end up on the streets with no one to advocate on their behalf.

Creedmore was a facility where mentally ill patients were grossly mistreated. It was shut down, as opposed to holding administrators accountable, making smaller units for those with similar mental issues, or trying to rehab those considered “not too far gone.” They way I see it, the mentally ill in New York City have been and continue to be forced to choose between the streets and a healthcare system that is limited in its capacity to help.

I used to think I could help, but I am not equipped. I helped a homeless man some time ago. I got him medicare, glasses, promised to take him to dinner, and helped him get some new clothing and a bath so we could sit together. I was delighted. ”Look at me! I’m helping! This isn’t so hard,” I said to myself. Unfortunately, that man came to my office when I was alone and began throwing things in my direction. Only then did I realize that mental illness is real and kindness is not a cure. I also realized it may have been a case of too little too late.

When I left Liberia and returned to New York a number of years ago, I reached out to friends and asked if they would help me get into the Brooklyn Armory on Bedford Avenue. I told them we could get funding to bring in mental health professionals, employment counselors, and others. No one was interested. I ended up opening a food pantry, adult literacy and English classes, and special programs for children. The fact that I did it on my own is extremely sad. However, I did so because of what I learned in Black liberation classes in college during a very conscious era; “If not now, when? If not me, who?”….. or something like that. New York City officials must adopt the same approach in order to effectively assist its mentally ill and the NYPD.

 

Bisi Ideraabdullah is the executive director of Imani House, Inc. and the Women of Color (WOC) Writers Group. She was the subject of several From The G-Man special reports and was named one of New York State’s Women of Distinction in 2022.