I am writing on behalf of the families and people affected by mental illness who are extremely disappointed by the portrayal of a local terrorist as a person with mental illness.  Mental illness is an illness like any other, that does not carry with it a propensity for violence.  That point has been made over and over by the Surgeon General and the President’s New Commission report.  When you portray people with an illness in this way it simply adds to the discrimination and prejudice that is based upon

 ignorance.  Newspapers in America have an obligation to meet the public trust by portraying information accurately, not through spreading misunderstanding based upon ignorance.  One in five Americans experience some type of mental disorder in a given year.  So there are people all around us all the time- much as there are people with diabetes and heart disease.  And treatments work very effectively.  More so than some physical health treatments in fact.   The real worry is that by portraying people in this way, people will stop talking about their illnesses and stop seeking help.  That would be a tragedy. 

The National Alliance on Mental Illness North Carolina would like to see the Charlotte Observer issue an apology for this cartoon along with a factual article on mental illness and the lack of correlation with violence.