The image of Philando Castile dying after being shot in front of his partner, a 4-year-old child and the rest of the country was horrific, but the police officer in panic continuing to hold up his gun was symbolic. It is the reflection of a nation that, in the face of the horror of daily carnage, has continued to hold on to its guns.
People who saw the video may think Mr. Castile was the only victim. The sad truth is that many of us who see what happens after the public eye leaves the scene, know too well that everyone was a victim:
• His partner, who fighting for justice held up the phone and recorded, and who may never again trust authorities or mainstream institutions;
• Her shocked little girl, who saw an innocent man being killed and her mother being handcuffed, and for whom the world has become impossible to understand;
•And the police officer, whose intentions we don't know, but who we can guess was afraid to lose his life.
And as we move on to a world in which actions like these are no longer kept secret and where information is streamed live on the Internet, everyone becomes a victim, increasingly traumatized in an increasingly dehumanized society.
Gun deaths are happening in the thousands in our streets, homes, workplaces, movie theaters, schools and universities, and we insist on trying to find any type of explanation in order to protect a morally obsolete constitutional right.
We focus on mental health when we know that people with mental health diagnoses tend to be victims more than perpetrators and that the incidence of gun deaths in the U.S. surpasses that of any other developed country, despite a similar prevalence of severe mental health disorders across the globe.
We focus on racism when we know it is not exclusive to this country. Sadly, there is a history of oppression of minorities, but there is also a history of inclusion and efforts to restore equality.
We focus on police brutality, but we are asking officers to police a society infested with guns. There is no harder job than the one that puts you in a position of trying to help under a constant threat of death.
We focus on criminal histories for background checks, when we know that feelings and impulses can be hot and volatile, and it is not possible to predict who will lose control and when if they happen to be provoked.
In psychiatry, after years of experience dealing with people who struggle with thoughts to end their lives or those of others, we have learned that we are quite powerless in predicting who is going to turn their violent thoughts into actions. The one thing we can control is means restriction. We make sure that those who want to hurt themselves do not have access to readily available weapons that could make their nihilistic goals very easy to attain.
Those of us who provide medical services have seen too much destruction through the eyes and the bodies of others. We would naturally research and cure this societal disease, but we are limited by a Centers for Disease Control gun research ban, background check loopholes and little support in the face of war machines. We would naturally provide for those who have to return to communities in fear after a visit to the hospital, but the task is overwhelming for a single individual in the midst of a lawless environment.
Over the centuries, societies have become civilizations by striking a balance between individual rights and the common good. In the 20th century alone, we created vaccines to control the spread of infection, implemented the fluoridation of drinking water to prevent tooth decay, screened and treated hypertension and high cholesterol to prevent stroke, took measures to prevent motor vehicle deaths, and informed the public appropriately about the effects of cigarette smoking, among many other things. We have done so to improve health, for the common good, which we have at times favored over individual rights. Gun violence is a public health crisis. There should be no more delay or political discussion. It is an emergency. We need to treat it.
We need to preserve the human right to life, liberty and security of person, and be able to let children in Baltimore grow up to think there is space for them as adults in this society, and that their lives are not going to be cut short, because they are valuable.
Dr. Carol Vidal is an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the John Hopkins University School of Medicine; her email is carolvidal22@gmail.com.