Cities and counties are declaring that racism is a public health crisis, including at least one city in the Mountain West.
This week, Denver鈥檚 city council to 鈥渁cknowledge that the effects of intergenerational racism are a public health crisis ... and advocate for racial justice as a core element of Denver鈥檚 policies, programs and procedures.鈥�
鈥淲e can talk about police brutality, we can talk about unjust systems, but if we don鈥檛 acknowledge that racism still sits at its core, then we鈥檙e missing the point," council member Jamie Torres The Denver Channel.
James Hodge, a public health law professor at Arizona State University, said legally speaking, calling it a 鈥渃risis鈥� doesn鈥檛 carry as much weight as calling it a public health 鈥渆mergency.鈥�
鈥淎 proclamation from the city council actually doesn鈥檛 change -- legally -- much,鈥� he said. 鈥淚f Denver鈥檚 mayor declared a public health emergency, assuming that he or she had the capacity to do so, or the state of Colorado did that, that makes a big difference as far as what government鈥檚 prepared to do to respond.鈥�
Such crisis proclamations don鈥檛 marshall resources the way an emergency declaration does, but Hodge said they are still meaningful.
As Denver city council member Stacie Gilmore put it, 鈥淭his doesn鈥檛 change any of our policies, but words matter. It matters that we haven鈥檛 had an acknowledgement of what is America鈥檚 original sin. It鈥檚 our greatest sin. And we have to document that so that we know how we鈥檙e gonna evaluate ourselves -- how you evaluate if we鈥檙e doing what we say we鈥檙e going to do.鈥�
As The Guardian , public health experts have viewed structural racism as a crisis for a long time.
鈥淭he very first step toward solving any problem is to admit that you have a problem and to take responsibility not just for addressing it, but for your own part in perpetuating it,鈥� said Doug Blanke, who directs the Public Health Law Center at Mitchell Hamline School of Law in Minnesota. 鈥淚n a way, that鈥檚 what these resolutions do.鈥�
Last May, Milwaukee was reportedly to declare racism a public health crisis.
鈥淚 think the match has been lit,鈥� said Blanke. 鈥淲hat matters going forward is finding practical, meaningful, durable ways of implementing this intention 鈥� How do we not just dismantle the structures of racism but build new structures that will work against racism?鈥�
Blanke said it isn鈥檛 yet clear what measures might do so.
鈥淢ost states have a process where there鈥檚 an analysis of what the economic impact of that legislation would be,鈥� he said. 鈥淒o we need some similar standing mechanism to also evaluate what the impact would be in terms of racial justice?鈥�
As Kesha Moore with the NAACP Legal Defense And Education Fund , this is an especially urgent moment to act.
鈥淪tructural racism is a public health crisis. It is the underlying condition fueling disparities in COVID-19 outcomes,鈥� she wrote. 鈥淥ur success at fighting the spread of COVID-19 and ensuring public health and safety is predicated on acknowledging and addressing the pre-existing condition of structural racism that enables this pandemic to flourish.鈥�
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, the O鈥機onnor Center for the Rocky Mountain West in Montana, KUNC in Colorado, 九色网 in New Mexico and support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the .
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