The Boston Globe: Emy Takinami (SSW’20) Advocates for Community-Based Mental Health Crisis Response in Boston City Budget
In a Boston Globe op-ed, Emy Takinami (SSW’20), BU School of Social Work alum and Liberation Health steering committee member, and Husain Rizvi from the City School support a budget plan investing in a non police, community-based mental health crisis response. They call for the Boston City Council to override Mayor Michelle Wu’s veto of the budget, which will require a two-thirds majority vote.
Excerpt from “Boston Needs a Non Police Community-Based Mental Health Crisis Response” by Emy Takinami and Husain Rizvi:
Following the murder of George Floyd and the killing of Breonna Taylor by police in 2020, communities across the country brought the mass movement of abolitionist, non-carceral approaches to public safety to the forefront of local and national politics. Three years later, the need for such a movement and the movement itself persist, as evidenced by the three police killings in the Boston area this year and the powerful movement to stop “Cop City,” a police and fire department training center, in Atlanta.
Community organizers have turned their attention to non police responses to mental health crises as one area of community-driven public safety. Since 2015, more than 6,000 people have been fatally shot by police, and of that number, 23 percent were experiencing or perceived to be experiencing a mental health crisis.
Non police crisis response models are being implemented in cities across the country, including Oakland, Denver, and New York. It is time for Boston to move toward genuine public health and safety through investing in this approach.”