The new ethic: civil rights
apply only when they hurt

A news item from the Appeal-Democrat newspaper of Marysville, Calif. illustrates the hypocritical stance public officials are taking these days on civil rights in the US.

A 36-year-old Yuba City man who died Tuesday after setting himself on fire had made previous suicide attempts, his friends said.

Archie C. Davis died early Tuesday at the University of California, Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, a hospital spokesman said.
Davis doused himself with gasoline and set himself on fire about 10:45 a.m. Monday in a city park at Wilbur and Moore avenues, not far from his apartment.

Social worker and longtime friend Vickie Davis, who was not related to Archie Davis, said she had asked Yuba City police to take Davis to Bi-County Mental Health Services on Sunday night because he had been talking of suicide for two days.
Police took him to the center ... but he was sent home in a cab instead of being held for observation, said Vickie Davis, who is a social worker for the Salvation Army.

Archie Davis was a patient at the center and was taking psychiatric medication prescribed there.

Yuba City Police Chief Richard Doscher said he could not comment on any previous contacts his department had with Archie Davis that involved transporting him to a mental health facility.

Human Resources Director Ed Smith said he could not comment on the case or even confirm that Davis was a patient at Bi-County Mental Health.

"Clearly, we wouldn't leave a suicidal person to their own devices. When they're evaluated, if they appear suicidal, they would certainly be admitted," Smith said.

People brought to the center by police aren't necessarily admitted, he said.

"People do have civil rights" that protect them from being confined, Smith said. A-D

So let's see if we have this right: Archie Davis was suicidal days and years before he was transported to mental health; and Archie Davis committed suicide immediately after being turned away by mental health; but Archie Davis was "clearly" not suicidal for the few minutes he was evaluated at mental health. Otherwise, he would "certainly" have been admitted for care.

And, of course, no officials can comment on the case for fear they might infringe upon the privacy rights we all know police chiefs and resource directors cherish so dearly.

Obviously, the way "civil rights" work in the increasingly right-wing, greed-driven, lean and mean, productive capitalist society that has been fostered since Ronald Reagan became president is simple.

We don't have enough of them to get out of Guantanamo Bay but too many to be admitted for care at a county mental health facility.

Now there's good compassionately conservative Republican priorities at work for you. Civil rights apply only when they can be used to disenfranchise and -- with luck -- punish the undeserving poor.