As mental health professionals, we are all too aware that the current situation is a manifestation of generational trauma and systemic oppression. The existential threat of state-sanctioned violence against black and brown bodies is inexcusable. As protests continue to swell across the country, it is important for all of us to speak up, speak out, and support our team, our community, and our city.
We stand with American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP), the American Psychiatric Association (APA), and American Medical Association in their call to end police brutality and racial inequality in this country.
If you are protesting for the first time, here is a resource for Street Action Tips.
The Ally Resource Guide outlines ways that those who cannot physically join protests but still wish to take action.
“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” – Desmond Tutu
Brooklyn Minds remains committed to using relentless curiosity as a powerful tool to understand the path needed to heal.
Illustrator Angela Kreig on her process for this illustration:
This illustration stands in solidarity with the voices of so many that have been unheard for too long. Hope feels like an air starved candle in a forgotten room right now; I wish not to become haggard, because that leads to apathy.
I first thought I wanted to make a minimalist image represent oppression, and the starkness of the word “solidarity” still holds echoes of that, but I ultimately decided to use detail to represent the intensity and severity of our current times. Each of the three elements that make up the border add layers of meaning. Roses are imbued with symbolism of strong emotions, both hopeful and mournful– they are popular to use during celebrations like weddings, but also solemn commemorations like funerals. The thorny vines represent the hardship and pain the Black community has endured. Lastly are the blue forget-me-nots, representative of the many lost lives to police brutality and prejudice.
