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Shooter was body builder, guard; once wanted to be cop
1 photo
This undated image provided by the Orlando Police Department shows Omar Mateen, the shooting... Read more
Early Sunday, 29-year-old Omar Mateen opened fire at a gay nightclub in Orlando, leaving 50 people dead and 53 wounded, police said.
Mateen was the son of an Afghan immigrant who had a talk show in the United States, the nature of which was not entirely clear: A former Afghan official said the program was pro-Taliban and a former colleague said it was enthusiastically pro-American.
"When he finished prayer he would just leave," Rahman told The Associated Press. "He would not socialize with anybody. He would be quiet. He would be very peaceful."
He was also bipolar, Mateen's ex-wife, Sitora Yusufiy, told reporters in Boulder, Colorado.
"He was mentally unstable and mentally ill," Yusufiy said. Although records show the couple didn't divorce for two years after the marriage, Yusiufiy said she was actually only with Mateen for four months because he was abusive. She said he would not let her speak to her family and that family members had to come and literally pull her out of his arms.
Authorities immediately began investigating whether Sunday's attack was an act of terrorism. A law enforcement official said the gunman made a 911 call from the nightclub professing allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The law enforcement official is familiar with the investigation but was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Yusufiy said she was "devastated, shocked, started shaking and crying" when she heard about the shooting, but she attributed the violence to Mateen's mental illness, not any alliance with terrorist groups.
Rahman agreed.
"My personal opinion is that this has nothing to do with ISIS," he said.
Seddique Mir Mateen, the father of the alleged shooter, is a life insurance salesman who started a group in 2010 called Durand Jirga, Inc., according to Qasim Tarin, a businessman from California who was a Durand Jirga board member. The name refers to the Durand line, the long disputed border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Tarin said Seddique Mir Mateen had a television show on which they discussed issues facing Afghanistan.
"It's shocking," he said about the shooting. "(Omar Mateen's) father loves this country."
Some of Seddique Mir Mateen's shows were taped and later posted on YouTube. During one episode, a sign in the background read: "Long live the U.S.A! Long live Afghanistan. ... Afghans are the best friends to the U.S.A."
But a former Afghan official said the "Durand Jirga Show" appears on Payam-e-Afghan, a California-based channel that supports ethnic solidarity with the Afghan Taliban, which are mostly Pashtun. Viewers from Pashtun communities in the United States regularly call in to the channel to espouse support for Pashtun domination of Afghanistan over the nation's minorities, including Hazaras, Tajiks and Uzbeks, the official said.
The "Durand Jirga Show" expresses support for the Taliban, has an anti-Pakistan slant, complains about foreigners in Afghanistan and criticizes U.S. actions there, the official said. Seddique Mir Mateen lavished praise on current Afghan President Ashraf Ghani when he appeared on the show in January 2014, but he has since denounced the Ghani government, according to the official, who said that on Saturday, Seddique Mateen appeared on the show dressed in military fatigues and used his program to criticize the current Afghan government.
He also announced on that show that he would run in the next Afghan presidential election, said the official, who spoke only on condition of anonymity because he did not want to be linked to coverage of the shooting.
In 2013, Omar Mateen made inflammatory comments to co-workers, and he was interviewed twice, FBI agent Ronald Hopper said. He called those interviews inconclusive. In 2014, Hopper said, officials found that Mateen had ties to an American suicide bomber. He described the contact as minimal, saying it did not constitute a threat at the time.
Mateen purchased at least two firearms legally within the last week or so, according to Trevor Velinor of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms
Mateen had no criminal record. Yusufiy said he wanted to be a police officer and had applied to the police academy. Mateen was a security guard at the G4S company, which identifies itself on its website as "the leading global integrated security company."
Rahman said he knew Mateen and his family since the shooter was a young boy. Playful as a child, he became more serious as an adult, Rahman said. He spoke both English and Farsi, and was into body building. He was not, as far as the imam could see, someone who would ever commit such a gruesome act of mass violence.
"It was totally unexpected," Rahman said.
Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/1ff9c3330ed24416875879957371289a
Press TV
US President Barack Obama has
denounced the Sunday mass shooting in Florida as an act of terror and
hatred, ordering the American flag lowered to half mast to honor the
victims.
At least 50 people were killed and 53 more were injured in a shooting at the Pulse Club in Orlando, Florida on Sunday.
“Today as Americans we grieve the brutal murder, a horrific massacre of dozens of innocent people,” Obama said during a White House address to the nation.
“Although it is early in the investigation, we know enough to say that this was an act of terror and an act of hate,” the president added.
Referring to a meeting with FBI Director James Comey and other American security officials, Obama said that he has directed the government’s full resources to the ongoing investigations into the attack.
"The FBI is appropriately investigating this as an act of terror. We will go wherever the facts lead us ... What is clear is he was a person filled with hatred," Obama continued.
Obama also issued a proclamation on Sunday, ordering the flag to be flown at half mast as a mark of respect to the victims.
Daesh claims responsibility
The gunman, identified by US media as an alleged Daesh sympathizer named Omar Mateen, took hostages at the club and barricaded himself in the complex but was later killed by specially trained SWAT units.
The terror group later on claimed responsibility for the attacks, according to media outlets affiliated with the terror group.
Mateen allegedly called 911 moments before the attack, pledging allegiance to the terror group, the Lost Angeles Times reported, citing a federal law enforcement official.
Earlier on Sunday, Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on a congressional intelligence committee had said that local law enforcement believed the suspect in Sunday's deadly Orlando shooting had pledged allegiance to the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group.
Read more: http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2016/06/12/470157/Obama-Florida-Pulse-Club-shooting-Daesh
At least 50 people were killed and 53 more were injured in a shooting at the Pulse Club in Orlando, Florida on Sunday.
“Today as Americans we grieve the brutal murder, a horrific massacre of dozens of innocent people,” Obama said during a White House address to the nation.
“Although it is early in the investigation, we know enough to say that this was an act of terror and an act of hate,” the president added.
Referring to a meeting with FBI Director James Comey and other American security officials, Obama said that he has directed the government’s full resources to the ongoing investigations into the attack.
"The FBI is appropriately investigating this as an act of terror. We will go wherever the facts lead us ... What is clear is he was a person filled with hatred," Obama continued.
Obama also issued a proclamation on Sunday, ordering the flag to be flown at half mast as a mark of respect to the victims.
Daesh claims responsibility
The gunman, identified by US media as an alleged Daesh sympathizer named Omar Mateen, took hostages at the club and barricaded himself in the complex but was later killed by specially trained SWAT units.
The terror group later on claimed responsibility for the attacks, according to media outlets affiliated with the terror group.
Mateen allegedly called 911 moments before the attack, pledging allegiance to the terror group, the Lost Angeles Times reported, citing a federal law enforcement official.
Earlier on Sunday, Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on a congressional intelligence committee had said that local law enforcement believed the suspect in Sunday's deadly Orlando shooting had pledged allegiance to the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group.
Read more: http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2016/06/12/470157/Obama-Florida-Pulse-Club-shooting-Daesh
Obama: Florida mass shooting ‘act of terror, hate’
Press TV
US President Barack Obama has
denounced the Sunday mass shooting in Florida as an act of terror and
hatred, ordering the American flag lowered to half mast to honor the
victims.
At least 50 people were killed and 53 more were injured in a shooting at the Pulse Club in Orlando, Florida on Sunday.
“Today as Americans we grieve the brutal murder, a horrific massacre of dozens of innocent people,” Obama said during a White House address to the nation.
“Although it is early in the investigation, we know enough to say that this was an act of terror and an act of hate,” the president added.
Referring to a meeting with FBI Director James Comey and other American security officials, Obama said that he has directed the government’s full resources to the ongoing investigations into the attack.
"The FBI is appropriately investigating this as an act of terror. We will go wherever the facts lead us ... What is clear is he was a person filled with hatred," Obama continued.
Obama also issued a proclamation on Sunday, ordering the flag to be flown at half mast as a mark of respect to the victims.
Daesh claims responsibility
The gunman, identified by US media as an alleged Daesh sympathizer named Omar Mateen, took hostages at the club and barricaded himself in the complex but was later killed by specially trained SWAT units.
The terror group later on claimed responsibility for the attacks, according to media outlets affiliated with the terror group.
Mateen allegedly called 911 moments before the attack, pledging allegiance to the terror group, the Lost Angeles Times reported, citing a federal law enforcement official.
Earlier on Sunday, Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on a congressional intelligence committee had said that local law enforcement believed the suspect in Sunday's deadly Orlando shooting had pledged allegiance to the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group.
Read more: http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2016/06/12/470157/Obama-Florida-Pulse-Club-shooting-Daesh
At least 50 people were killed and 53 more were injured in a shooting at the Pulse Club in Orlando, Florida on Sunday.
“Today as Americans we grieve the brutal murder, a horrific massacre of dozens of innocent people,” Obama said during a White House address to the nation.
“Although it is early in the investigation, we know enough to say that this was an act of terror and an act of hate,” the president added.
Referring to a meeting with FBI Director James Comey and other American security officials, Obama said that he has directed the government’s full resources to the ongoing investigations into the attack.
"The FBI is appropriately investigating this as an act of terror. We will go wherever the facts lead us ... What is clear is he was a person filled with hatred," Obama continued.
Obama also issued a proclamation on Sunday, ordering the flag to be flown at half mast as a mark of respect to the victims.
Daesh claims responsibility
The gunman, identified by US media as an alleged Daesh sympathizer named Omar Mateen, took hostages at the club and barricaded himself in the complex but was later killed by specially trained SWAT units.
The terror group later on claimed responsibility for the attacks, according to media outlets affiliated with the terror group.
Mateen allegedly called 911 moments before the attack, pledging allegiance to the terror group, the Lost Angeles Times reported, citing a federal law enforcement official.
Earlier on Sunday, Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on a congressional intelligence committee had said that local law enforcement believed the suspect in Sunday's deadly Orlando shooting had pledged allegiance to the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group.
Read more: http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2016/06/12/470157/Obama-Florida-Pulse-Club-shooting-Daesh
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VIDEO: Python Bites Man on Toilet
WARNING: This video may be too graphic for some audiences.
It’s the stuff nightmares are made of. Attapom Boonmakchuay went to use the bathroom in Thailand when a large python sprang up from the toilet and sank its fangs into his penis.
While Boonmakchuay’s wounds weren’t life-threatening, it was a very close call. “I fought it,” he said from his hospital bed. “I called my wife and she went to get the neighbor.” It took about a minute for the neighbor to get there, and while help was arriving, Boonmakchuay was able to free himself. “During that time it began to lose some strength,” he said, “so I used my hand to pry open its mouth. The snake then released its grip by itself.”
“I think he’s lucky,” said Dr. Chutima Pinchareon, the Hospital Director where Boonmakchuay was treated. “We have to watch for infection. If there is none, and if the wound is healing well, then he should be able to go home.” She adds that Boonmakchuay narrowly escaped a horrible fate. “If the bite would have gone into the urinary tract, it would have been a big problem.”
The next time you use a toilet in Thailand, make sure you take a good look inside first.
It’s the stuff nightmares are made of. Attapom Boonmakchuay went to use the bathroom in Thailand when a large python sprang up from the toilet and sank its fangs into his penis.
While Boonmakchuay’s wounds weren’t life-threatening, it was a very close call. “I fought it,” he said from his hospital bed. “I called my wife and she went to get the neighbor.” It took about a minute for the neighbor to get there, and while help was arriving, Boonmakchuay was able to free himself. “During that time it began to lose some strength,” he said, “so I used my hand to pry open its mouth. The snake then released its grip by itself.”
“I think he’s lucky,” said Dr. Chutima Pinchareon, the Hospital Director where Boonmakchuay was treated. “We have to watch for infection. If there is none, and if the wound is healing well, then he should be able to go home.” She adds that Boonmakchuay narrowly escaped a horrible fate. “If the bite would have gone into the urinary tract, it would have been a big problem.”
The next time you use a toilet in Thailand, make sure you take a good look inside first.
This Chicago doctor stumbled on a hidden epidemic of fetal brain damage
Dr.
Carl Bell, a psychiatrist in Chicago, began sounding the alarm about
fetal alcohol spectrum disorder four years ago. Photo by James Bernal
for STAT
Dr. Carl Bell studied the young woman. Flat cheeks. Thin upper lip. Folds at the corner of her eyes. It hit him like a thunderbolt: She had subtle features of fetal alcohol syndrome.
Bell had seen thousands of patients like this over the past 40 years and been baffled by their explosive tempers, poor social skills, spotty memories, trouble communicating, and learning disabilities.
Now, this psychiatrist realized their behavior might be explained by exposure to alcohol in the womb.
No one realizes how common it actually is.
Bell
had stumbled on a hidden epidemic of brain damage, concealed by shame
and stigma, which affects up to 5 percent of Americans — and in poor
communities, possibly far more.
READ MORE: A little alcohol may not be good for you after allThe victims are often misdiagnosed with psychiatric disorders or antisocial tendencies. As kids, they’re stuck in special education classes. As adults, they often end up homeless or in jail. They’re deemed unruly, uncompliant, out of control.
Instead, they may have fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, or FASD.
“No one realizes how common it actually is,” said Bell, 68, who is nationally known for his work exploring the impact of trauma on children in disadvantaged neighborhoods.
His jolt of recognition in 2012 came as other researchers around the country were beginning to look much more closely at fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. The most recent version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, published in 2013, includes it for the first time as a condition that needs further exploration.
Today, FASD is widely recognized as the largest preventable cause of birth defects and developmental disabilities in the US.
‘I’ve never been so stunned in my life’
In 2014, a team of researchers led by Philip May of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill published a seminal paper showing that 2 to 5 percent of first-graders in a largely white, largely middle-class Midwestern city had fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.
Bell suspected the numbers would
be higher still in poor, tough, neighborhoods where liquor stores can be
found on every other block.
At the far end of that spectrum lies
fetal alcohol syndrome, identified in 1973. Children affected have
intellectual disabilities, small heads, stunted growth, and unusual,
characteristic facial features: small eyes, a thin upper lip, and a
smooth area between the nose and that lip known as the philtrum.
Other people on the spectrum lack these distinctive physical features but are troubled by
poor judgment, difficulty planning, impulsivity, and distractibility.
They’re often behind in speech and language skills, and have trouble
performing tasks in a sequence.May’s report hit a nerve: Previous estimates of the prevalence of FASD had been much lower. But his calculations may still underestimate the problem. Two new reports, yet to be published, will show that fetal alcohol disorders are more common than May calculated, according to Julie Kable, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Emory University who studies FASD.
Bell suspected the numbers would be higher still in poor, tough, neighborhoods where liquor stores can be found on every other block.
So he conducted a formal study of 611 of his psychiatric patients on Chicago’s South Side. Nearly 40 percent had FASD.
It wasn’t a representative sample of the population, and Bell wasn’t administering sophisticated diagnostic tests, but the results were eye-opening.
“No one had looked at the prevalence of FASD in low-income African American communities before,” Bell said. “I’ve never been so stunned in my life.”
READ MORE: Her office is Skid Row: A doctor tends to the staggering needs of the homeless
At another Chicago clinic, Dr. Ira Chasnoff, a pediatrician, was testing kids and teens who’d been adopted or were in foster care and having serious behavioral problems. His examinations were more comprehensive, involving a thorough assessment of intelligence, executive functioning, speech and language, sensory processing, and social skills, among other factors. They involved a team of professionals and took a full day or more to complete.
Chasnoff’s findings, published last year: Nearly 30 percent of these youngsters had fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. Eighty percent had not received a diagnosis of this kind previously.
Such studies, along with others across the country, are bringing fresh attention to the impact of exposure to alcohol in utero.
Bell “excels at changing the way people think,” said Gene Griffin, a retired professor of psychiatry at Northwestern University’s medical school.
There’s no question that the young African-Americans that Bell is trying to call attention to are engaging in high-risk behaviors, Griffin continued. The question is, how do we explain that — and how do we respond? Are the kids bad? Traumatized? Mentally ill? Marked by adverse environments? Or do we trace their behavior to their exposure, in utero, to alcohol?
“All of these are possible ways of looking at the same data,” Griffin said. By highlighting the brain damage caused by alcohol, Griffin said, Bell is “trying to get us to see these behaviors through a different lens.”
Educational material in Bell’s office explains the characteristics of fetal alcohol syndrome. Photo by James Bernal for STAT
Susan Earl is still coming to terms with the partying she did in her mid-20s, before she became a mother.
Back then, she used to spend most weekends at clubs with friends. She usually had a few drinks. Her boyfriend at the time encouraged her because it loosened her up.
She was about six weeks into a pregnancy when she learned she was expecting. “I stopped drinking as soon as I found out,” Earl said.
It wasn’t soon enough.
Quinton Mills, her son, born four weeks early, had the characteristic facial features of fetal alcohol syndrome. His speech was delayed, and in kindergarten he started biting, kicking, and screaming. He was bullied by classmates. He wet his bed until he was 12.
Now 14 years old, an eighth-grader, and a patient of Bell’s, Quinton is in special education, doing work at the second- or third-grade level.
“His thinking skills, they’re not that good,” Earl said on a recent morning at her home in Calumet City, south of Chicago. “If you tell him to take out the trash, he won’t remember a minute later. I don’t know if his mind goes off or what.”
Arriving home from school, the boy mumbled brief answers to his parents’ questions.
“How was class today?”
“Good.”
“Did you have fun?”
“Yeah.”
As Quinton went back to his room, his stepfather, Nathaniel Earl, became pensive. “I want him to be able to fend for himself,” he said. “But if you ask him who is the president or what is going on [in the world], he can’t tell you. I worry about that.”
A warning to young women backfires
Earlier this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advised all sexually active women of childbearing age to abstain from all alcohol unless they’re using contraception.
Some women think having a beer or a
few glasses of wine a couple of times a week — social drinking, not
heavy drinking — doesn’t count.
The warning was aimed at the more
than 3 million women in the US at risk of bearing children with FASD.
But it was widely ridiculed. Women called it condescending.
That backlash points to the difficulty of preventing FASD.Doctors and therapists, including those who deal with children’s learning disabilities and behavioral problems, are extremely reluctant to inquire whether a mom drank while pregnant.
“I can’t tell you how many providers don’t want to ask: There’s so much stigma attached to identifying women who are drinking,” said Kable, the Emory University psychiatrist. “Alcohol is so pervasive in our culture. But no one wants to talk about it.”
Even when physicians do ask, it can be hard to get accurate information. Some women think having a beer or a few glasses of wine a couple of times a week — social drinking, not heavy drinking — doesn’t count. Others think that if they stop drinking when they find out they’re pregnant, they’re in the clear. Others simply deny having had any alcohol.
Officially, the CDC estimates that about 10 percent of women in the US drink during pregnancy.
Officially, the CDC estimates that about 10 percent of women in the US
drink during pregnancy. Other research, cited by Chasnoff, suggests
that figure may be as high as 20 to 35 percent.
Conveying the risk of fetal alcohol exposure is difficult, because
not every woman who drinks during pregnancy will have a child who is
affected. It depends on how much alcohol she consumes at various times
during her pregnancy as well as her stress level, her nutrition, how she
metabolizes alcohol, and her baby’s genetic susceptibility, among other
factors.But the research is clear: No amount of alcohol can be guaranteed to be safe, even in a pregnancy’s very early stages.
As soon as three weeks after conception, before most women realize they’re pregnant, binge drinking (defined as four to five drinks on a single occasion) can cause the kind of brain damage that underlies the symptoms of FASD.
The more women continue to drink, the greater the risks to a fetus. Studies indicate that alcohol exposure alters the brain’s wiring, disrupts brain connections, and leads to brain cell death, causing permanent injury that interferes with normal development.
Even one drink a week during pregnancy can lead to a child with deficits in thinking, judgment, and self-control, reflected in a tendency toward to lash out, throw tantrums, and ignore rules, according to a 2001 study published in Pediatrics.
READ MORE: Uncertainty haunts parents of Flint, as every rash, every tantrum raises alarms
It’s not that these children won’t listen to their parents or teachers. It’s that they can’t process what they’re hearing and translate it into action. Their brains are impaired.
“For the most part, the root cause of these children’s problems goes unrecognized, and children end up being blamed for behaviors that are really biologically based, over which they have no control,” Chasnoff said.
Aggressive interventions at an early age can help kids with FASD learn how to regulate their emotions, break activities down into steps, and think through problems. “You have to raise these kids differently than other children,” Bell said.
But that’s especially hard to do in disadvantaged communities where professional help is scarce and getting along day-to-day is so difficult.
Without intervention, kids with FASD often get diagnosed with mental illness and put on psychiatric drugs at a very young age. Or they’re offered interventions at school that don’t address the full range of their deficits. Or they never learn how to control themselves, and when they grow up find themselves in a world of trouble.
Saving Treshawn
Treshawn
Jones plays in his backyard while his aunt, Ora Jackson, supervises.
Treshawn was born with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder and has had
difficulty controlling his temper and following directions. Photo by
James Bernal for STAT
“She gave him to me and ran out the door,” Jackson remembered recently, in her home in a tough South Side neighborhood. “I put him on the bed, and I saw that he wasn’t a bad baby. She just didn’t know what to do with him.”
Jackson, 56, who never had children of her own, loved Treshawn and raised him as her son. But it hasn’t been easy. His mother, Jackson’s great niece, had been living on the streets, drinking and doing drugs throughout her pregnancy.
“I started noticing when he was 3 that something wasn’t right,” Jackson said. “He’d have tantrums like I’d never seen before. I took him to a doctor and they told me he was an overactive child. But I was like, no, I know something is wrong, not just that.”
In kindergarten, Treshawn would get into fights and ignore his teacher. Jackson marched him over to Jackson Park Hospital, where a pediatrician recommended that he start seeing a counselor — treatments that continue, weekly, to this day.
Treshawn was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and started taking Ritalin, which helped a bit. But still, he couldn’t tie his shoes. He mumbled when people asked him to speak clearly. And he kept on having problems in school.
Jackson pulled out her phone and showed a text Treshawn’s teacher had sent the week before: “He’s in rare form today fighting and cussing and everything else will not be quiet in class.” And another: “Acting up again won’t shut up stop talking and focus.”
Two years ago, Jackson took Treshawn back to Jackson Park Hospital, where he was evaluated by Bell. “He cannot sit still, he has a bad temper … [but] this is a nice kid,” the psychiatrist wrote in his initial case report. Treshawn, he wrote, had “a clear history of fetal alcohol exposure.”
Bell’s advice: give the boy vitamin A, folate, omega-3, and choline, a nutrient that plays a role in brain development. Animal studies, and studies of young children with FASD, suggest it might ameliorate some of the brain damage from fetal alcohol exposure.
But there’s no solid evidence that choline can help older children or adults.
“In general, we think that choline helps early on in development, but we’re a lot less clear about later,” said Jeffrey Wozniak, an associate professor of psychiatry and codirector of the FASD program at the University of Minnesota. “It’s too early to even say this is a treatment.”
That doesn’t faze Bell, who likes to be ahead of the curve. “I don’t care, because I’m a clinician and as a clinician I get to do what makes sense to me,” he said. “Academics, they can afford to be purists trying to count the hairs on a gnat’s ass.”
Treshawn Jones plays in his backyard on the South Side of Chicago. Photo by James Bernal for STAT
On a recent morning, Bell strode through the psychiatric ward at Jackson Park Hospital, wearing a green lab coat, black sneakers, and a black baseball cap — part of an extensive collection of hats.
“FASD is extraordinarily sneaky and covert,” he said, before entering a patient’s room.
His diagnostic approach relies on “triangulating” a person’s birth history (prematurity? heart murmur? low birthweight?); their educational history (special education? speech and language problems? explosive temper?); their cognitive skills (can they spell “world” backward and count down from 100 by 7s?); and whatever he can learn about the family background and propensity to drink.
“I sometimes learn the father is an alcoholic, and that’s important because if he’s a drinker, chances are he’s going to influence her to drink,” Bell said.
READ MORE: Why are kids of older dads at higher risk for mental illness?
Outside of his clinic duties, Bell is trying to spread the message about FASD wherever he can. Recently, he gave a talk about it at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, his alma mater. A few weeks later, he traveled to Washington, D.C., to discuss it at a committee of the National Academy of Sciences.
Bell is also trying to convince the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center in Chicago to screen youngsters who’ve gotten into trouble with the law for FASD.
In the end, Bell hopes to show that African-American kids who are dropping out of school and ending up on the streets are there because of “social determinants of health” such as alcohol use. Perhaps, then, communities would see alcohol for what it is — a bigger problem than cocaine or heroin — and kids whose brains were damaged in utero would get treatment, instead of being labelled as deadbeats and failures.
But he’s not sure if people really want to hear his message.
“I’ve been told all my life that African-Americans are intellectually inferior,” Bell said. “I’m terrified of what I’ve found, because it might feed into this stigma” by suggesting that brain damage is more common in poor black communities than elsewhere, reinforcing painful stereotypes.
“But what it really says is that if we want social justice, we have to address the fetal alcohol problem.”
This article is reproduced with permission from STAT. It was first published on May 27, 2016. Find the original story here.
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