When I heard the verdict for the Kelly Thomas trial, I grew sick. What happened to Thomas is the fear that every family member has for a loved one who lives on the streets. We usually think that it will be another homeless person that does them or that they die from illness or disease. Mostly, we don’t think that law enforcement would needlessly take the life of our loved ones; except of course, if you are a person of color.

It was Thomas’s mental illness that placed him in harm’s way of a deadly confrontation that normally does not happen between “most” police officers and middle class white people but is normal for others. Nevertheless, I feel for his family and had my own fears about my mother interacting with the law; particularly, when her diagnosis of schizophrenia was compounded by dementia. When she lived with my cousins, she would call 911 to report that someone was breaking in the house. That someone was a younger cousin. Situations like that could have ended his life and even hers.

My mother lived in South Central Los Angeles for approximately forty years and slept with a hammer and/or knife under her pillow. In the hood, the threat of someone breaking in your house was no illusion-it could get real in a hurry. The problem was she continued this habit and had dementia. My cousins called me and I had to hurry to get to her less she pulled out a pair of scissors or a knife on an officer.

I will blog on this later on but wanted to touch on it because of the recent verdict and to say that this could  happen to anyone whether we have or have not been diagnosed with a mental illness.