The day Taun Hall’s son Miles was shot and killed by the Walnut Creek Police, she stepped into her life’s work: creating change to protect families from a system that failed her son. On June 2nd, 2019, Miles Hall was having a mental health crisis because of his schizoaffective disorder. Because our mental health system is deeply flawed and doesn’t support families whose adult children have a mental illness, she had no option but to turn to the police to get Miles help. She did everything right- sought guidance on how to maneuver through the mental health system, was strategic and deliberate in her efforts to protect and support Miles by letting her mostly White neighbors know her Black son was harmless and non-violent but that his schizoaffective disorder made him hallucinate and believe he was Jesus.
After working with the police for two years to protect Miles during his mental health episodes, the police responded to her call for help with lethal force. On a sunny afternoon in their quiet neighborhood, the Walnut Creek Police shot and killed Miles within a block from their home before making any efforts to de-escalate the situation. Miles was not a criminal. He was ill. He had mental illness. Miles should be alive today.
Since Miles’s death, Taun and her husband, Scott and their daughter, Alexis have been fighting to create change and protect families from a loss like theirs- creating The Miles Hall Foundation to continue and expand their work. They recognize how black and brown communities are disproportionately affected by police violence and want to change police responses to mental health crisis calls, restrict use of force by police, and adopt anti-bias and de-escalation training. They are also sponsoring the AB988 Bill, The Miles Hall Lifeline Act to create a new three-digit phone line, 988 for suicide prevention and immediate, localized emergency response for individuals in mental health crisis by trained mental health professionals.
Taun’s message is mental health conditions should not be criminalized, Black lives matter, Black minds matter, her son Miles matters, and change is possible and inevitable. We are all connected to someone who is suffering from mental illness and we all have the power to create change to protect and support them.
SHOW NOTE LINKS:
Justice for Miles Hall- Website
Help Pass AB-988- The Miles Hall Lifeline Act
Justice for Miles Hall- Facebook
Justice for Miles Hall- Instagram
Justice for Miles Hall- Twitter
Suicide Prevention Hotline- Website
Suicide Prevention Toll-Free Phone Number- 1-800-273-8255
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