Newsmakers meet New Yorkers as host Brian Lehrer and his guests take on the issues dominating conversation in New York and around the world. This daily program from WNYC Studios cuts through the usual talk radio punditry and brings a smart, humane approach to the day's events and what matters most in local and national politics, our own communities and our lives. WNYC Studios is a listener-supported producer of other leading podcasts including Radiolab, On the Media, Death, Sex & Money, Nancy, and many others.
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Interacting With Police While Black and Autistic
A cell phone video was released Friday recorded by Rakeyia Scott, the wife of Keith Lamont Scott, who was fatally shot by Charlotte police. In the video you can hear her screaming, "He has a TBI," or traumatic brain injury. Though the case is still open, some are speculating that Scott’s traumatic brain injury could mean he did not understand the commands police were giving him moments before they shot him dead. Mental health issues are a factor in about 25 percent of fatal police shootings, according to a Washington Post database tracking such incidents nationwide.
Diane Morris is the mother of two autistic black teenage sons, and she thinks about what would happen if her sons interacted with the police. As a guest host on Death, Sex & Money, Diane talked about her worry that officers might make incorrect assumptions about her sons because they're black. "In the media most of the people that we see with autism are white. I don't think a lot of people are aware that there's a really large population of minority children and adults with autism," Diane said. "My fear is always that an officer sees a black man and they will immediately go to the idea of this being a person on drugs versus this being a person with disability."
Diane talked to Brian about her sons, Kenny and Theo, and what might make a police interaction particularly upsetting. "They can't listen to people they don't know," she said, "And they can't handle if someone is angry at them." She also talked about how with the right training police could prepare themselves for interactions with people on the spectrum.