EDITORIAL: Confronting racism and mental illness

July 06--Saturday's gathering in Ashland titled "Unpacking Racism" was a valuable contribution to the community conversation about racial attitudes and what needs to be done to combat racism. We hope last month's incident in which a white man confronted a black woman with hate speech will create not only a heightened awareness of racism but also increased sensitivity toward mental illness and the lack of resources to treat it.

The encounter between an Oregon Shakespeare Festival actor and a man who told her Oregon law would allow him to kill her without consequences was undeniably unexpected and frightening. And the community's response decrying the man's actions was gratifying.

But additional details have emerged about the man and about the Ashland Police Department's decision not to pursue criminal charges. That decision has angered some, but the police are on solid ground.

Police have had repeated encounters with the man, who they say suffers from mental illness and is prone to spout racist epithets.

Does he really believe the nonsense he spouted, or is he just delusional? It's impossible to know. But it's fair to say one disturbed individual doesn't represent a resurgence of racist attitudes in the general population.

The community members who came together in response to this incident plan to continue the effort in subsequent meetings, exploring implicit bias and the notion of white privilege. That's a commendable endeavor, but it won't address what's behind the June 24 encounter: untreated mental illness and society's woefully inadequate response to it.

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