Stop putting police officers’ lives at risk. Improve NC’s mental health system.

NC mental health

Why do we ask police to be the ones responding to mental health emergencies, needlessly endangering their lives? Why do we wait for chronic mental health issues to become crises before responding?

In the recent Watauga County case, the N&O reported that the person who shot the officers had never been diagnosed, despite a history of decline for the prior two years.

We need a far more robust public mental health system that works with concerned families and troubled individuals and, when necessary, the police to avoid these situations, and we need to do it in a way that protects civil liberties.

It may be a hard problem to solve, but we won’t solve it until we decide public mental health is a priority and fund it appropriately.

Peter van Dorsten, Raleigh

Colleges, vaccines

Regarding “Require vaccines,” (May 11 Forum):

I believe North Carolina should not mandate the COVID vaccine for public university students.

A mandate is authoritarian, and this is a personal health matter that should be left to the individual. The individual should have the right to decide what they want, or don’t want, to put into their bodies.

It has been shown that people ages 18 to 24 are less likely to be hospitalized because of COVID or to die from it. If people feel comfortable with the vaccine for themselves fine, but they should not try to impose their views on our children’s health.

Jonathan Varnell, Elm City

Teaching of race

Regarding “NC House passes bill to limit how racism is taught,” (May 12):

Almost 10 years ago, the N.C. legislature didn’t like the science of sea level rise, so they tried to ban it. Now, they want to ban teaching the reality of racism. Wouldn’t it be incredible if they outlawed racism instead?

Douglas S. Long, Raleigh

Teaching history

The emerging battle about teaching Critical Race Theory in North Carolina schools ignores two essential facts.

First, the Republican legislature previously reduced the two-year required course in American history in high school to one year to create a required personal finance course.

Second, the 2021 N.C. Social Studies standards for the one-year American history course are not really history standards. They’re social studies themes, not chronological history. No wonder many students don’t know when the American Revolution was fought.

The issue isn’t whether racism and/or sexism should be taught, but that more U.S. history must be taught and debated using primary sources, like the Constitution, Declaration of Independence, Gettysburg address, and Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

David Steven Cohen, Chapel Hill

Burdening teachers

Regarding “State Republican lawmakers want to require schools to post online what they’re teaching,” (May 7):

I have five kids, elementary age to community college. The resources are already there for parents to know what their children are learning. Curricula is posted on school and district websites and assignments and grades are on Powerschool, etc.

Before we put yet another thankless and unremunerated burden on teachers, I suggest two things:

Parents, including lawmakers, should sit down with their child and explore the “data” already there. Honestly ask, “Have the teachers not done their part, or have I — and perhaps my darling child — not done our part?”

All lawmakers behind this “talk” should first model with a ”walk.” They should post online everything they’re doing, hour by hour, to fulfill their role for the public.

Peter Walker, Cary

Pandemic recovery

The pandemic has been disastrous for all communities, especially communities of color.

The impacts will follow us for decades. We need a bold investment to lift working families and our local economy.

Helping moms, women of color, and their families isn’t a handout, but a hand up. The Center for American Progress estimates that mothers leaving the workforce and reducing their hour to assume caretaking responsibilities amounts to $64.5 billion per year in lost wages and economic activity.

We can’t go back to before the pandemic, but we can build back better. We must make sure everyone can recover well and equitably.

Congress must quickly adopt national paid leave for all and raise the minimum wage. Only then will we as a country fully recover.

Dreama Caldwell, Graham

Co-Director, Down Home NC

High risk officers

Regardless of the outcome of the Pasquotank County shooting, the actions of their deputies will almost certainly subject the county to civil lawsuits that are expensive to defend and bankrupting to settle.

This should be a wake up call for voters, and for elected officials in every county and municipality who should already be well aware of that risk.

Voters will not tolerate their tax dollars being used to defend police officers who shouldn’t be on the force, or to defend municipalities that haven’t culled high-risk officers.

George Davis, Fuquay-Varina