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Nearly half of the people incarcerated by the U.S. have a history of mental illness. I suppose those are the lucky ones.
Molokai's Nathaniel Naki deserved to be met with compassion instead of aggression. He needed a hug, not a death sentence.
Like one out of five adults, Nathaniel lived with mental health issues. He deserved kindness but he was never going to get it. He was a 40-year-old brown man who had long ago been dehumanized in the eyes of Uncle Sam.
On an island where children are viewed as criminals, Nathaniel never stood a chance. Seventy children on Molokai were arrested last year alone, according to Captain Winfrey of Maui Police Department. That's roughly 1 percent of Molokai's population.
Criminalizing non-white youth is par for the course in American policing. How many of these children will have records now? How many were traumatized from these interactions and will face mental health issues?
How many of the 70 children arrested on Molokai last year will not get an opportunity to pursue higher education?
I call on Maui County to stop arresting children and to redirect funding from MPD so Molokai can create a community-run, unarmed crisis response team capable of compassionately caring for our neighbors living with mental illness in their time of need.
Jayson Mizula
Kaunakakai