|
Sen. Sherrod Brown in Your Hometown
Declaring Racism a Public
Health Crisis
Guest Column
Cities and counties around
Ohio have led the country in declaring racism a public
health crisis.
The first step to solving a
problem is recognizing its existence. That's why I joined my
colleagues Senators Kamala Harris and Cory Booker to
continue the effort at the federal level. We introduced a
Senate resolution last week that declares racism a national
public health crisis, and acknowledges the systemic barriers
that people of color, especially Black Americans, continue
to face in our health care system.
The COVID-19 pandemic has
been the "Great Revealer," and exposed what Black Ohioans
already knew: racism threatens their health, their safety,
and their lives, every day.
We see it in disparities in
access to health insurance and quality health providers, and
implicit biases in our health care system. We see it in a
justice system and an economic system that too often treat
Black lives as expendable. And we see it in all the social
determinants of health - education, environmental hazards,
housing, and job opportunities.
Of course we know a
resolution alone won't solve centuries of racism baked into
so many of our systems. This acknowledgment must be the
beginning of the conversation - it's a commitment to engage
with communities that have been silenced for too long, and
work together for long-term change.
It's why in crafting this
resolution, I held virtual roundtables to get input from
Ohioans across the state - NAACP chapters and groups of
young Black leaders and public health officials. The best
ideas aren't going to come out of Washington - they'll come
from Black and brown communities who have been living with
these inequalities and fighting this fight for generations.
This month we lost an
American hero and an icon of the Civil Rights Movement,
Congressman John Lewis. From the age of 20, John risked his
life fighting for justice and racial equality in this
country.
We must carry the torch he
has passed us as long as we can, and honor his legacy by
continuing the fight to finally tear down the walls of
racial inequality in this country once and for all.
|
