Ben Crump, others demand better treatment for mental health patients

By Jeremy M. Lazarus

“We can’t keep treating mentally ill brothers and sisters as if they are degenerates. They have lives that are worthy of dignity and respect.”

So said renowned Attorney Benjamin L. “Ben” Crump as he brought his crusade for improved mental health care to Richmond Wednesday evening, just hours before the nation marks the third anniversary of the police murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, in Minnesota.

“If we don’t continue to talk about it, to speak truth to power and act against the power,” Mr. Crump said, then deaths like George Floyd will continue to happen.

He spoke to more than 150 people who gathered on the campus for the event titled “Justice for Irvo Otenio” that promoted improvements in mental health care for those in crisis, particularly Black people.

Informally dubbed “Black America’s attorney general,” Mr. Crump, who represented George Floyd’s family, is representing the family of Mr Otenio, who