Linda Rippee Privatte - REWIND AND ERASE (California)
I slowly walked away, feeling sick to my stomach. If only I could rewind and erase all the horrible memories, delusions, pain, and suffering my blind, mentally ill, homeless brother’s experienced for the last three decades. Yes, Mark, I would feel better.
Every letter/email I’ve sent out has also been sent to the County Board of Supervisors. I’ve sent out over 1200 emails and my twin CJ has sent as many. Each time, we copy agencies and politicians. We’ve saturated them. We’ve sent thousands of private messages all over the state and made thousands of posts and comments in over 100 social media groups all over California. CJ authored the petition for AB1971* and we collected 56,000 signatures that went to the full assembly and senate. We’ve made 30 speeches speaking at public meetings. We’ve testified twice at the Capitol in support of AB1971. I’ve gone to the Capitol and told my brother's story to support several other bills. There have been 12 news articles and TV interviews. Mark’s story has been published in three national blogs and used at medical conferences. We’ve friended, and are in contact with, several well-known national mental health advocates — Ron Powers, Teresa Pasquini, Leslie Carpenter, Dede Ranahan, and DJ Jaffe to name a few.
The Board of Supervisors is ground zero. They are aware of all that we’ve done. They stay silent and do not converse with our family. The next project we are working on is a documentary. I have many, many videos of my visits on the streets with Mark. We will make the videos available to politicians and to the public. They are undeniable. When they are shown, Solano County should hang its head in shame.
Note: Solano County has declared Mark to be competent and ineligible for assistance.
Read more of Linda’s story in the upcoming book, TOMORROW WAS YESTERDAY - Explosive First-Person Indictments of the US Mental Health System -- Mothers Across the Nation Tell It Like It Is. It will be available on Amazon.
Watch my Nautilus Book Awards Author Spotlight video: https://vimeo.com/422993030