Council declares racism a crisis
Racism is a public health crisis that requires coordinated, community-based efforts and more resources to end systemic disparities, the San Antonio City Council agreed Thursday
“This is a great first step,” said Celeste Brown, a community organizer, as the council considered a resolution declaring the crisis. “Now that the city has named racism as a public health crisis, there must be tangible action that addresses said crisis.
“Now is the time to put your money where your mouth is and to fund public health at an equitable level to where we can actually address the thing that keeps our community down,” she said.
Numerous studies have linked racism to increased stress, changes in brain structures and high blood pressure, and it can lead to chronic mental and physical conditions such as heart disease, depression, cancer and suicide.
Council members were adamant that the problem must be addressed sooner than later.
“Systematic racism is killing our people, and we need to do something about it,” said District 4 Councilwoman Adriana Rocha Garcia.
District 2 Councilwoman Jada Andrews-sullivan, the council’s sole Black member, spearheaded the resolution after watching the social unrest unfolding in San Antonio as it did across the nation when George Floyd died at the hands of white officers in Minneapolis.
“We are addressing the monster that has divided our nation for far too long,” Andrews-sullivan said.
She told colleagues her own children are asking if it is safe to go outside or drive a car because of the color of their skin.
“No longer will we stand divided,” she said. “United we will conquer what has already plagued this country for far too long.”
But District 10 Councilman Clayton Perry said some of the statements in the resolution came across as divisive and he asked for edits that didn’t make it into the final document.
Perry had previously submitted drafts to his colleagues trying to focus the document as a whole on the science of the matter, rather than the historical statements, according to one of Perry’s spokespeople, Landry Stafford.
“I believe some words will undoubtedly lead to unnecessary divisions in our community,” Perry said at Thursday’s meeting.
The resolution passed without opposition; Perry said he supported the premise of the resolution so he didn’t vote against it, but he did abstain.
And though Andrews-sullivan understands Perry’s reasons for his abstention, she thinks his drafts did not speak to the hows and whys behind the scientific evidence.
“For me, if we’re going to tell the story, we have to tell the whole story and not half the
story,” said.
By declaring racism a public health crisis, the resolution reads, the City Council “commits to advocating for racial justice as a core element of all policies, programs, and procedures.”
The council has agreed to increase advocacy for further racial equity by supporting community-based initiatives, supporting historically marginalized groups and mitigate housing and job displacement.
City staff will also provide biannual presentations updating the community about policies and programs implemented by the city to improve racial equity.
Funding is another matter.
When council members were presented with the proposed 2021 budget earlier this month, Metro Health was allocated $44.8 million in funding, $2 million more than this year.
Meanwhile, the San Antonio Police Department is slated to get $487.2 million, $8 million more than this year, primarily because of contract-required salary increases.
Several
Andrews-sullivan city residents who spoke at Thursday’s meeting were concerned that only a resolution was passed and that no specific funding or programs were authorized, including moving money from the police department to fund health initiatives.
“Resolutions alone do not solve problems,” District 7 Councilwoman Ana Sandoval acknowledged, adding, however, “They begin the conversation about how to solve these problems.”
Andrews-sullivan hopes to allocate funds to marginalized small businesses so they can expand and increase job positions. She also plans to proposed redistributing resources for health and other social initiatives, especially for youth.
Black and Hispanic San Antonians face disparate economic and educational outcomes, which were highlighted in San Antonio’s Racial Equality Indicator Report last year.
The report showed, among other gaps, that Black and Hispanic members of the community have a higher chance of not having health insurance and often delay healthcare due to cost, further exacerbating health problems.