Social Justice in Policing A roundtable conversation on challenges and strategies to address structural racism.
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TEMPLE PUBLIC HE ALTH
On October 26, 2020, Philadelphia police fatally shot Walter Wallace Jr., a 27-year-old Black man, after his family had called for an ambulance because he was having a mental health crisis. Wallace, who had a history of such episodes, held a knife. The killing set off angry protests in the city. It also spurred conversations about the intersection between structural racism in policing and the often inadequate way that cities handle emergency response to mental health situations. In January, a panel of Temple faculty and guest experts discussed these issues in a video webinar kicking off the College of Public Health Alumni Association Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee’s new speaker series addressing health equity and social justice. The “Cultural Competency to Structural Competency: Actions to Address Structural Racism” panel was moderated by Mark Salzer, director of the Temple University Collaborative on Community Inclusion of Individuals with Psychiatric Disabilities. He was joined by Temple graduate Keris Jän Myrick, co-director of the Mental Health Strategic Impact Initiative, a mental health policy think tank, and Evan Figueroa-Vargas, a program analyst at the Philadelphia Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services. The following are excerpts from the conversation, edited for length.
