Kenneth Cole is the owner of one of America’s most prominent fashion houses who has also shown an interest in promoting social causes ranging from AIDS to homelessness. He is also NYS Governor Andrew Cuomo’s brother-in-law. In fact, he describes himself on his twitter account as an “aspiring humanitarian, frustrated activist, social networker in training.”
In an apparent effort to fight for both more services for Americans with mental health conditions and more gun control, Cole recently sponsored billboard sized ads that say:
OVER 40M AMERICANS SUFFER FROM MENTAL ILLNESS
SOME CAN ACCESS CARE…ALL CAN ACCESS GUNS
Our community and supporters must speak out TODAY and very forcefully decry a message that, regardless of intent, plays into the damning discrimination and completely unfounded connections with violence that we face each day. And if getting more access to care is the goal here, vilifications of this sort will only make people less likely to do so.
Mr. Cole has responded to increasing waves of criticism with “this ad is not meant to further stigmatize those suffering from mental illness community in need & already underserved,” but it does do just that!
We need thousands of Americans to speak out today to urge Mr. Cole to take down those signs! One commentator on Twitter replied that these signs will only come down if our voices are very loud.
So…go to https://twitter.com/mr_kennethcole/status/637017465600524288 and/or
https://www.facebook.com/KennethCole?fref=ts
and tell Mr. Cole some version of the following:
Take down your defamatory signs linking people with mental health conditions with violence!
Hope was raised recently by the inspiring Destination Dignity March in Washington:
Let’s put that dignity into action!