Advocates call for North Carolina budget to support Black MH

Abstract

Advocates representing the group Advance Carolina and a coalition of progressive nonprofits gathered in front of the North Carolina Legislative Building last week to raise awareness about the mental health of North Carolina's Black citizens, NC Newsline reported on June 17. Speakers from a variety of backgrounds targeted the state budget, asking lawmakers to support increased funding for mental health services in schools and communities and to halt the dismantling of mental health resources in public edu-cation. Advocates also called on lawmakers to demand accountability from federal leaders for failing to meet the mental health needs of vulnerable groups. Turquoise LeJeune Parker, the media coordinator at Lakewood Elementary School in Durham, said she came to speak not just as an educator, but also as a mom, an activist, a citizen, a taxpayer, and a witness to what happens without sufficient funding in schools. She emphasized that what's happening to the education system is not an accident. “We're watching arts, music, counseling, and essential support services get cut every year — and those are not just services, but those are real people — while our prisons are fully funded and billionaire tax breaks are handed out like candy, chronic underfunding hits Black and Brown schools and under-resourced districts hardest,” Parker said. This isn't a new challenge, Parker pointed out. Rather, she said, it's the continuation of an “incredibly deep injustice.”