The Community Mourns the Victims at Central Visual & Performing Arts High School and Calls for Mental Health Resources
(Image: apnews.com)
Dated: October 26, 2022
St. Louis, Minneapolis
UNITED SIKHS extends its sincerest sympathies to the families of victims of Central Visual & Performing Arts High School who were killed by a gunmen on October 25, 2022, and renews calls to Congress and the Executive branches at the state and federal level to declare these types of crimes, including race and ethnicity motivated hate crimes, a crisis and national emergency and exhort Congress to fund mental health and family support.
The media reported that the gunman’s family was struggling with his mental health conditions and alerted the authorities that he was in possession of a rifle he later used to kill the children at Central Visual & Performing Arts High School.
“It’s time this country implemented emergency, strategic, structural and systemic changes that serve as an alternative to a system that allows these crimes to continue to be perpetrated against our children,” UNITED SIKHS Director Gurvinder Singh stated.
UNITED SIKHS recommends that the U.S. Congress addresses violent crimes against our children by:
- Declaring and treating school shootings as a national emergency to enable Congress to act to develop a comprehensive national program that funds mental health and family services
- Provide proper funding for necessary resources to aid school security and active/shooter preparedness
- Ensure that respect for religious, gender, racial and ethnic diversity is a national, state and local government priority, by requiring such statements in all government publications and by requiring such teachings in all education curriculums
- Remove automatic weapons from the reach of young adults and persons with known mental health impairments; and
- Provide resources and restitution to the victim’s families.
“To abate school shootings everyone must support action at the state, federal and local levels and implement recommendations that will not only keep guns out of the hands of those who are committing the crimes but will also lead to increased resources for mental health wellness so that families living with mental illness are not alone in that struggle,” states Wanda Sanchez Day, UNITED SIKHS National Legal Director.
Manvinder Singh, UNITED SIKHS Director of Advocacy stated “We are outraged and we are saddened that children in our communities are dying senselessly in this way and we know what the problem is. In school shootings we see a consistent pattern that indicates we need to do more to provide quality, available mental health services and resources for families living with mental illness.”
As a nation, we should strengthen gun laws to remove semi-automatic and automatic guns from the hands of young adults, empower law enforcement to take control of a firearms when necessary,” stated Manvinder Singh, “but focus also needs to be placed on addressing mental health at an early age to develop healthy acceptance of others.”
Manvinder Singh
Advocacy Director
International Civil & Human Rights Advocacy – ICHRA
Recognize the Human Race as One
