[Updated] Statement on Declaring Racism a Public Health Crisis in Hennepin County

[Update on June 30, 2020]

Today, the Hennepin County Board took the final vote and declared racism as a public health crisis. When we don’t call out and correct systemic biases, we perpetuate oppression. We must stop treating the symptoms of disparities and step back to see all the systems that got us here. This resolution calls for a review of policies and practices to ensure we are not overtly engaging in racist behavior. I am thankful to my colleagues who supported this essential resolution.

[Original statement on June 23, 2020]

On Friday June 19, 2020, Commissioner Angela Conley and I announced a Resolution that declares racism a public health crisis in Hennepin County. See the Resolution here (PDF) and our supporting materials here (PDF).

Today, our Resolution passed in Administration, Libraries and Budget Committee (4 in favor, 2 abstain, 1 absent) and will be before the Board for final approval on Tuesday June 30.

Public health is the science of protecting and improving the health of people and their communities. Public health professionals try to prevent problems through educational programs or recommending policies, which “contrasts to clinical professionals like doctors and nurses, who focus primarily on treating individuals after they become sick or injured” [CDC Foundation (2020), Retrieved from https://www.cdcfoundation.org/what-public-health].

In other words, where a clinical approach may treat a symptom or result—a public health approach may step back and examine why that symptom occurred in the first place, and in ideal settings, how we may prevent this result from happening again.

Since joining the Board 18 months ago, nearly every presentation or report has included racial disparities. No matter the topic, from mortality rate to infectious disease to housing, income, or criminal justice—here and across the country, the data and articles support a disturbing reality for our Black, Indigenous, and POC neighbors.

I am grateful that this Board and Administration adopted a Disparity Reduction framing last year, so that Hennepin can be responsive to where disparities present themselves. And for me, this Resolution declaring racism a public health crisis, does just that.

The data is clear, and reducing disparities in silos can only get us so far. It is time for Hennepin to go beyond treating the symptom—and to step back and examine: why are such harmful results persisting for our Black, Indigenous, and POC residents, and how we will prevent these harmful results from continuing in the future?

This Resolution does not tie to any one specific outcome; instead, it seeks to infuse a public health approach across the organization. It allows us to shift from incremental improvement centered on service-delivery to clients, to a comprehensive approach that incorporates systemic, structural, and institutional changes. 

The documented racial disparities we are seeing within public health as a department, as well as across every line of business, demonstrates a deep interconnectedness among community well-being, distribution of resources, and decision-making from government institutions. 

Through this Resolution, we can build upon the work Hennepin has done to date, and can work to address disparities at their root cause and more holistically—because a public health approach will transform future solutions and change the trajectory of what’s possible for generations to come.

*This statement can also be found at hennepinD2.com/racism-public-health.