Bob Darby: Advocate for the Homeless Mentally Ill

Our special guests for March 28, 2014, on "Human Rights Demand" Blogtalkradio show are Bob Darby, an advocate for the homeless mentally ill, and Elizabeth L Gaskins, an elder in the Cherokee Nation.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/humanrightsdemand/2014/03/28/bob-darby-advocate-for-the-homeless-mentally-ill 

Darby has a B.A. in psychology from Emory University and has attended graduate schools in psychology and theology. He is a former employee of Georgia Regional Hospital, Boston State Hospital, and New Hampshire's Hanover-Darthmouth Hospital. In 1994, he founded Atlanta Food Not Bombs and has been an advocate for the homeless mentally ill for more than twenty years.

Elizabeth Gaskins is a devoted human rights advocate and organizer, radio host of "Native American Affairs - Freemen" on Human Rights Demand.

We will discuss Jerome Murdough, a homeless Marine Corps veteran who suffered from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder who was arrested in Riker's Island jail and died there of overheating in a solitary jail cell in February 2014. Bob will discuss how deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill during President Regan's term and simultaneous removal (through lack of funding) for the "safety net" of detoxification centers, group homes and outpatient treatment programs contributed to Murdough's avoidable death and the negligence of America's most vulnerable population. The National Institute of Mental Health (NAMI) says there are 8,100,000 adults in this country with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, and a UCLA study found that fifteen percent of people with these diagnoses are homeless.