The Next 72 Hours

In most states, a person may be held for up to 72 hours for treatment and evaluation of a suspected mental illness. Sometimes, 72 hours can't tell the whole story.The Next 72 Hours brings you the lived realities of Black people navigating the American mental health system. In each episode, psychiatrists Dr. Dani Hairston and Dr. Nwayieze Ndukwe break down and delve into stories of people seeking (or not seeking) mental health help and the repercussions that come with either decision. Through current events and historical happenings, the hosts and their guests explore provocative questions about medicine, society, racism, and mental health. Every hold has a story. Every story has a history.

All Episodes

The Next 72 Hours

5 - Policing Mental Health

September 21, 2021 • The Next 72 Hours • Season 1 • Episode 4

The Next 72 Hours takes a look at how different institutions mistreat and abuse Black people and this is most evident when it comes to law enforcement. There is a long standing history of unjust policing of Black people and communities that goes all the way back to Samuel Cartwright’s “drapetomania”. Isn’t it perplexing how many times American police routinely find a way to peacefully arrest heavily armed and dangerous white mass shooters, yet fear for their lives when they encounter Black men and women who exhibit signs of mental illness?

In this episode, Dani and Nwayieze talk to Andrew M. Stroth, attorney and Managing Partner of Action Injury Law Group, about the murder of Isaiah Lewis and why he believes we need to “invest in police”. They are also joined, once again, by Dr. Ayana Jordan to discuss how Black communities could be saved from senseless deaths by finding/funding a way to introduce community intervention in the place of policing as we have known it.

MUSIC

“Faster Bassier” (theme song) by DJ Fatha Julz

“Dreary Boots” (outro) by DJ Fatha Julz