In a classic blaming-the-victim statement Ronald Reagan said that “people who are sleeping on the grates…the homeless…are homeless, you might say, by choice.”
Reagan made this statement in an attempt to defended himself against charges of callousness toward the poor and mentally ill. Yet the facts remained Reagan defunded the Mental Health Systems Act and turned many onto the streets. Within a month, the Office of Management Budget announced it would curtail the budget of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), phase out training of clinicians, interrupt research, and eliminate services. Cutbacks to staff followed; chaos ensued. Experienced people left, others remained in government service but were forced into menial jobs. Trained professionals were reassigned to labs to dissect dead rats; science writers were reassigned to typing pools. The Mental Health Systems Act would be disappear. Instead, the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (1982) would merge money for mental health programs into block grants, and with fewer dollars going to the states.
Erika Menendez was charged in the death of Sunando Sen, who was crushed by a 7 train in Queens on Thursday night, the second time this month a commuter has died in such a nightmarish fashion. “I pushed a Muslim off the train tracks because I hate Hindus and Muslims ever since 2001 when they put down the twin towers I’ve been beating them up,” Menendez told police, according to the district attorney’s office.
This year saw a number of random mass killings from Aurora Colorado, a Portland area shopping mall, Sandy Hook Elementary and Webster N.Y. All of these seemingly random events have one thing in common, they were the acts of a mentally ill person against innocent victims. These were not revenge murders as the shooters fired indiscriminantly at their victims.
Yet the conversation to date has been to blame the gun. A loaded gun left undisturbed will never, ever go on a shooting rampage. These acts were committed by people with mental illness, it can be described no other way and one need to look no farther than another Ronald Reagan gift that keeps on giving.
Isnt it time to address the real cause of these horrible acts instead of continuing to write laws that restrict more rights of US citizens. Instead of legislating for crazy why dont we finally get help for crazy?
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[updated] NEW YORK (AP) — The family of a woman accused of shoving a man to his death in front of a subway train called police several times in the past five years because she had not been taking prescribed medication and was difficult to deal with, authorities said Monday.
They had never met before she suddenly shoved him off the subway platform because she "thought it would be cool," prosecutors said.
It wasn't clear whether Menendez had a diagnosed mental condition. But her previous arrests and legal troubles paint a portrait of a troubled woman.