When I used to be a marriage and family practitioner, I stunned bickering couples by suggesting that each of them “owned” 50% of their marriage difficulties. This figure did not sit well with them; as most folks wanted to claim only 40%, or 30% or 20% of the blame, and the “other” — to shoulder the majority of the blame (as a consequence – I lost some business through my refusal to tolerate anything besides the 50/50 model). And if I read Ron Thomas (father of Kelly Thomas who was beaten to death by Fullerton police) correctly, he wants the Fullerton police to shoulder 100% of-the-blame for his son’s death…
I’m sorry to inform you, Mr. Ron Thomas, but when you turned your schizophrenic-labeled son over-to-the-streets – and allowed him the label of homeless schizophrenic – you already passed a death sentence on him: because if you know anything about the streets, they show no mercy to anyone.
I know that you are finally fathering your son in death, like you were apparently unable to do in life – so it will do no good to shoulder the responsibility you bear in his death at-this-juncture (because that would be counter-productive) – but get ready to answer questions in court about why you gave your son up-to-the-streets – and looked to the street monitors (the police in-this-case) to care for your son. I don’t know about you, Ron, but we all already know that the police (and other denizens of the streets) are not trained to handle people labeled “schizophrenic.” I can personally attest to the fact that schizophrenics can be rather frightening when they have an “episode.”
Yes, yes – I am sure that you, Ron, like most people these days – want to believe that any condition that causes individuals to depart from a perceived normal to be viewed as a “disease.” And the beauty of a disease is that it is brought on by no fault of the victim/patient or anyone else around them for-that-matter.
But let me enlighten you on another theory that has bearing on disorders and conditions: family systems theory. Having had my own clinical training in family-systems theory/therapy – I tend to side with this school of theorists who suggest that schizophrenia is a disorder of communication: where the patient is essentially caught in a “double bind”; in which they are always “damned if they do AND damned if they don’t.” A-giant-in-our-field, Murray Bowen, suggested that it took a family five generations to produce a schizophrenic. He later abridged this figure by suggesting that it probably took 3 generations of dysfunctional family communication to create a schizophrenic member. And drugs never help. I know that Kelly’s autopsy revealed that no drugs were in his system – but I’m wondering if he ever partook during his 37-years-on-the-planet?
And good defense attorney are going to ask these questions of you, Ron: “How long did it take you to abandon Kelly to the streets?” “What was your relationship like with Kelly’s mother?” “What was Kelly’s relationship like with his mother?” “Was Kelly every violent with members of the family or the community?” And the most fascinating of all of the questions: “Why did Kelly call out for your help when he was being beaten to death?” What about that violent beating that triggered memories of you, Ron? Why was Kelly begging for his father’s help in-a-moment of violent abuse?
So-many-of-us find our call-to-duty when we realize that we have lost something we can never get back…it’s too bad that we can’t figure this dynamic out during the living years…