"For more than 400 years, generations of Black Americans
have endured the detrimental impacts of slavery and the
racial injustices that stem from it," said Brown. "In order
to root out the systems of oppression that are engrained in
the fabric of this country, we must acknowledge the harm it
has caused the Black community and we must take action now.
The Commission on Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation
will play a critical role in finding the long-term solutions
we need to help our country heal and put an end to the
inequities that still exist today."
The Senate resolution is
also co-sponsored by Senators Richard Durbin (D-IL), Bob
Menendez (D-NJ), Bernie Sanders (D-VT), Sheldon Whitehouse
(D-RI), Chris Coons (D-DE), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Richard
Blumenthal (D-CT), Ed Markey (D-MA), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)
and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL).
Earlier this year, Brown introduced a resolution alongside
Sen. Booker and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) to declare racism
a public health crisis.
The coronavirus pandemic has been the great revealer -
underscoring the racial disparities that continue to pervade
public health as a direct result of systemic racism.
Barriers to quality health care access, housing, jobs, wages
and so much else contribute to stark health disparities for
communities of color.
Brown also hosted the office's
first-ever Ohio Black Women's Health Symposium. The virtual
symposium, held over the course of two Saturdays on the
social determinants of health, included panel discussions,
workshops and speakers addressing physical,
community/environmental, mental and economic health. At
virtual workshops held during the symposium, participants
received tools designed to help navigate and overcome
barriers to health equity.
In June, Brown helped introduce
the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, a comprehensive
package that would help put important policing reforms into
place, help end racial profiling in the criminal justice
system and work to improve police-community relations.
Brown also joined Sen. Booker and
Rep. Lee in introducing the Confederate Monument Removal
Act, bicameral legislation to remove all statues of people
who voluntarily served the Confederate States of America
from the National Statuary Hall Collection.
The full text of the
resolution can be viewed here at
www.brown.senate.gov
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