In Fight Against Substance Use Disorder, Calif. Health Advocates Focus on Mental Health, Education

McKenzie Jackson | California Black Media

psychostimulants, like crystal meth, are soaring, and 9% of Californians met the criteria for SUD — misuse or overuse of alcohol or other drugs, including illicit drugs that lead to health problems — the previous year. Only 10% of the people with SUD received treatment in 2021, despite SUDs being recognized as an illness.

Black Americans have higher rates of illicit drug use (24.3%) compared to non-Hispanic Whites (22.5%), according to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services’ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Director Connie Chan Robinson, who leads the See Her Bloom initiative. She said lack of research on substance issues among Black women enhances the view that there isn’t a problem in that group.

“There is a stereotype that continues to be perpetuated that strong Black girls and young women are impenetrable, they are not influenced by drugs,” Robinson said. “Their lack of engagement with families, the ability to take about issues, and the denial factor with the family contributes to the further isolation.”

At Historic Graduation Ceremony, Gallaudet University Honors 24 Black Deaf Students, Four Black Teachers and Their Descendants From 1950s-era Kendall School Division II for Negroes...continued and injustices or the impact of them, it is an important step to strengthen our continued path of healing."

History and Louise B. Miller: A Trailblazing Hero of Education Justice for Black Deaf Children

Theresa Hunter used drugs growing up in the Sacramento area. The 32-year-old smoked weed, snorted cocaine, and popped pills.

Then, as a young adult, the mother of three found a different high: crystal methamphetamine.

“To deal with the trauma and grief in my life at that time, I turned to using drugs,” Hunter recalled. “I was trying to escape from everything.”

For five years, Hunter smoked around two grams a day of the highly addictive stimulant.

Crystal meth causes intense euphoria and negative effects such has depression, psychosis and paranoia, seizures, and other problems that can be fatal. Hunter’s addiction led her to becoming homeless and leaving her daughters’ care to their father.

Hunter tried to quit crystal meth but became lethargic and slept for days when she didn’t smoke. Rehab centers only accept individuals with alcohol or opioid issues.

In 2021, while four months pregnant with her third daughter Kassiani Rich, Hunter told her prenatal doctor that she was an addict.

“This is my time to get clean and sober,” remembered Hunter.

“I was scared, but I knew I needed to get clean. I didn’t want to have an abortion or give my daughter up.”

Hunter was admitted to a rehab center for 90 days but relapsed twice after release.

Kassiani was born healthy, but Hunter lost custody and underwent further rehab.

Hunter has been clean since June 12, 2021, and now has custody of Kassiani, 2, and her other daughters, Eryneesa Bernard-Wainiwheh, 13, and Jasani Bernard-Wainiwheh, 10. She credits her daughters and programs such as See Her Bloom, an online project that helps Black women with substance abuse disorders by sharing resources and allowing women to tell their stories, for paving her road to recovery.

“Knowing there is a platform to help women overcome their addiction, having a place women can go to is really helpful,”

Hunter said.

See Her Bloom is one of the many organizations and campaigns in the Golden State focused on combatting substance use disorder (SUD). According to a 2022 report by the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF), overdose deaths from opioids and

Data from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released in May, revealed that from December 2021 to December 2022 there were 107,573 drug overdose deaths — a decrease of 2% from the previous 12 months. Elizabeth Keating, Clinical Program Director of CA Bridge, a Public Health Institute focused on expanding addiction medication for treatment in hospital emergency departments, said overdose rates in California increased by around 1% between 2021 and 2022.

“Up is not what we want,” she said. “If not for the COVID pandemic, I would say the opioid crisis is biggest health crisis of our time. Policy matters.” Earlier this month, Gov. Gavin Newsom awarded $5.7 million for opioid and stimulant-use education and outreach in “Two-Spirit/ LGBTQ” Communities as part of a $1 billion state initiative.

“Education and outreach are critical tools in our arsenal — to prevent tragedy, to connect people with treatment, and to fight the life-threatening stigma that stops too many people from getting help,” Newsom said.

There are also a host of bills introduced in the State Assembly and Senate aimed at addressing the state’s drug crisis.

However, more needs to be done, said Center for Collaborative Planning at the Public Health Institute Executive

Dr. Jenifer Zhan, an Implementation Leader with CA Bridge, said numbers from her organization reveal that overdose deaths increased in ZIP codes with majority Black populations by 202% from 2018 to 2022. Zhan said prescriptions for buprenorphine, an FDAapproved drug used to treat substance misuse like opioids, are given at a much lower rate to Black patients.

Zhan noted that historically people of color are more likely to be arrested or incarcerated for substance use and that can lead many Black people with addiction problems to mistrust health care providers.

“We do make a policy stance on decriminalizing substance use and we advocate for treatment instead of incarceration,” she said. “We still advocate for treatment in jail, in hospitals. There is a shortage of Black doctors. Patients of color will seek care from doctors that look like them. We need policy changes in the education realm also to fix inequalities in health care.”

Robinson said more work needs to be done to discover the connection between mental health and drug use. She said the people at See Her Bloom say more peer-to-peer outreach is needed to combat illicit substance use.

“They need a space for them to share their stories,” Robinson said.

At Historic Graduation Ceremony, Gallaudet University Honors 24 Black Deaf Students, Four Black Teachers and Their Descendants From 1950s-era Kendall School Division II for Negroes

Students, families receive high school diplomas; Gallaudet apologizes for past injustices

Howard (Miller), Robert Lee Jones, Richard King Jr., Rial Loftis, Deborah Maton, William Matthews, Donald Mayfield, Robert Milburn, Kenneth Miller, Willie Moore Jr., Clifford Ogburn, Diana Pearson (Hill), Doris Richardson, Julian Richardson, Charles Robinson, Christine Robinson, Norman Robinson, Barbara Shorter, and Dorothy Watkins (Jennings) for the wrong done when they were denied their diplomas."

From 1898 to 1905, Kendall School, a K-12 program on the campus of what is now Gallaudet University, enrolled and educated Black students. In 1905, white parents complained about the integration of races, and Black Deaf students were transferred to the Maryland School for the Colored Blind and DeafMutes in Baltimore or to the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf in Philadelphia. This eliminated altogether the presence of Black students at Kendall School.

Several decades later, Louise B. Miller, a District of Columbia resident and the hearing mother of four children, three of whom were deaf, asked that her oldest son Kenneth be allowed to attend Kendall School. Her request was denied because Kenneth was Black. In 1952, Mrs. Miller, joined by the parents of four other Black Deaf children, filed and won a civil lawsuit against the District of Columbia Board of Education for the right of Black Deaf children like her son Kenneth to attend Kendall School.

The court ruled that Black Deaf students could not be sent outside the state or district to obtain the same education that white students were provided. This led to – rather than the acceptance of Black Deaf students into Kendall School outright – the construction on the Gallaudet campus of the segregated Kendall School Division II for Negroes, an inferior building with fewer resources than those made available to white students. In 1954, the Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka made school segregation illegal across the nation, and Kendall School Division II for Negroes closed. The students began to attend school with their white deaf peers.

To honor Mrs. Miller's story, the 24 Black Deaf students and the four Black teachers, and as part of its ongoing work to confront its role in past wrongs and injustices, Gallaudet University has committed to building The Louise B. Miller Pathways and Gardens: A Legacy to Black Deaf Children. This memorial will provide a space for reflection and healing through remembrance of all who have fought for the equality that Black Deaf children deserve.

Gallaudet University, federally chartered in 1864, is a bilingual, diverse, multicultural institution of higher education that ensures the intellectual and professional advancement of deaf, hard of hearing, and deafblind individuals through American Sign Language and English.

State Superintendent Thurmond Forcibly Removed from CVUSD Board Meeting for Taking Stand to Protect LGBTQ Students from Forced “Outing”

Community/Education News personal details about who they are or who they love, including with their parents and guardians, families, friends, and others at school. LGBTQ+ youth and their parents—not politicians— should decide when to have these conversations.

M. Chism, Under Secretary for Education, Smithsonian Institution; Christopher D. Johnson, President of the District of Columbia National Black Deaf Advocates; and Zachary Parker, District of Columbia Council member.

CHINO—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond was invited by students and traveled to Chino Valley Unified School District (CVUSD) on Thursday, July 20, to speak against a policy before the board that would out an LGBTQ+ student to their parents even if the student is not yet ready to share that information. Students had reached out to the Superintendent to request help due to feeling bullied and mistreated. Thurmond took the mic to oppose the policy as antithetical to how trans students should be supported in our schools. His remarks were abruptly interrupted, and he was berated by the CVUSD Board President and then forcibly escorted out of the meeting by security.

WASHINGTON, July 22, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Gallaudet

University, the world's premier institution for deaf and hard of hearing students, held a historic graduation ceremony today on its campus to honor the 24 Black Deaf students and four Black teachers of the Kendall School Division II for Negroes, which operated on the Gallaudet campus from 1952 to 1954.

The graduation ceremony at Gallaudet University honoring the 24 Black Deaf students, their teachers and families from the Kendall School Division II, 1952-1954 |

University

Credit: Gallaudet

At the ceremony, the 24 students and their descendants received high school diplomas conferred by Gallaudet's Laurent Clerc National Deaf

Education Center. Importantly, the university proclaimed today "Kendall 24 Day" and issued a Board of Trustees proclamation acknowledging and apologizing for its role in the grave injustice committed against the 24 students. Included in the proclamation: "Gallaudet deeply regrets the role it played in perpetuating the historic inequity, systemic marginalization, and the grave injustice committed against the Black Deaf community when Black Deaf students were excluded at Kendall School and in denying the 24 Black Deaf Kendall School students their diplomas. Gallaudet sincerely apologizes to Mary Arnold, Janice Boyd (Ruffin), Irene Brown, Darrell Chatman, Robbie Cheatham, Dorothy

Five of the six living students – Janice Boyd (Ruffin), Kenneth Miller, Clifford Ogburn, Charles Robinson, and Norman Robinson – attended the graduation ceremony with their families. Also honored at this ceremony were the four Black teachers, all now deceased, of Kendall School Division II – Mary Britts, Rubye Frye, Robert Robinson, and Bessie Thornton – who were represented at the event by their family members.

The ceremony, attended by more than 300 people and livestreamed to many more, was hosted by Gallaudet University's Center for Black Deaf Studies, the first center of its kind in the world dedicated to honoring Black Deaf history, Black Deaf contributions and Black Deaf culture.

Several special guests greeted the graduates at the event, including Dr. Monique

Dr. Carolyn D. McCaskill, founding director of the Center for Black Deaf Studies, said, "Today's Kendall School Division II graduation ceremony was one of the most profoundly moving events here at Gallaudet during my 37 years here. It was bittersweet for the graduates and their families. It is my hope that Gallaudet will continue to heal, and that we will arrive at a place of true belonging and equity for all. "

"Today is an important day of recognition and also a celebration long overdue," said Roberta J. Cordano, president of Gallaudet University. "Today is also an important step in the university's ongoing commitment to inclusive excellence, equity and belonging. Acknowledging and owning the university's role in past injustices is a key part of this journey and we must continue to confront our institutional history. The 24 Kendall students, their teachers and their families are central to this. While today's ceremony in no way removes past harms

After the meeting, Thurmond shared with reporters: “The actions of this board are deeply troubling—and I’m not talking about being thrown out of a public meeting—I am talking about the blatant disregard for student privacy and safety. Forced outing policies harm everyone—students, parents and guardians, families, and school staff. What CVUSD has done may be in violation of state law. We will be working closely with the State Attorney General’s office to verify and enforce California law."

“Choosing when to come out and to whom is a deeply personal decision that every LGBTQ+ young person has the right to make for themselves. This policy is taking away a student’s ability to seek comfort, safety, and security in our schools and from trusted adults and peers. As educators and education leaders, we should always be putting students first and doing all we can so they can learn and thrive.”

Superintendent Thurmond noted that while some parents and guardians are advocates and allies, not all are or ever will be.

Like all young people, LGBTQ+ youth have the right to decide when and how to share their

Thurmond has been at the forefront of fighting for inclusive education for California students. He has fought for budget funding to secure 10,000 new mental clinicians for California schools and has been actively working with the Legislature and Governor Gavin Newsom to pass Assembly Bill 1078 (Jackson), legislation he is sponsoring that would impose fines on any school district that withholds books or instructional materials for discriminatory means. Recently, Thurmond secured commitments from textbook publishers to diversify instructional materials and work with his task force on inclusive education. He sent a joint letter with the Governor and Attorney General to local educational agencies cautioning against book bans and outlining legal mandates they are required to follow to preserve freedom and ensure access to diverse perspectives and curricula. The joint letter follows guidance issued from Thurmond’s department addressing this topic.

On the legislative front this year, Thurmond is also sponsoring Senate Bill 760, AllGender Restrooms (Newman), which requires all K–12 schools in California to provide appropriate and equitable access to all-gender restrooms for students to use during school hours, and Assembly Bill 5, The Safe and Supportive Schools Act (Zbur), which requires all K–12 schools in California to provide training to support LGBTQ+ pupils. Thurmond also hosted a ceremony on June 1, 2023, marking the first time the Progress Pride Flag was raised above the California Department of Education in honor of Pride month.