Therefore, be it resolved: Racism is a public health crisis, leaders say – 2018 resolution adopted by the Wisconsin Public Health Association inspires action

Photo by Jason Armond, courtesy The Los Angeles Times/Getty Images

In May 2018, the Wisconsin Public Health Association adopted this resolution declaring racism a public health crisis, inspiring cities and counties in the state — and eventually Wisconsin’s governor — to do the same. The movement has picked up steam across the U.S., with about 150 jurisidictions also declaring racism a public crisis. For a list of communities and states that have adopted declarations, visit www.apha.org/racism-declarations.

WHEREAS, race is a social construction with no biologic basis; and

WHEREAS, racism is a social system with multiple dimensions: individual racism is internalized or interpersonal; and systemic racism is institutional or structural, and is a system of structuring opportunity and assigning value based on the social interpretation of how one looks, that unfairly disadvantages some individuals and communities, unfairly advantages other individuals and communities, and saps the strength of the whole society through the waste of human resources; and

WHEREAS, racism causes persistent racial discrimination in housing, education, employment and criminal justice; and an emerging body of research demonstrates that racism is a social determinant of health; and

“Racism causes persistent racial discrimination in housing, education, employment and criminal justice; and an emerging body of research demonstrates that racism is a social determinant of health.”

WHEREAS, more than 100 studies have linked racism to worse health outcomes; and

WHEREAS, in Wisconsin, the highest excess death rates exist for African American and Native Americans, at every stage in the life course and our infant mortality rate for infants of non- Hispanic black women is the highest in the nation; and

WHEREAS, the American Public Health Association launched a National Campaign Against Racism; and

WHEREAS, Healthiest Wisconsin 2020 states that, “Wisconsin must address persistent disparities in health outcomes, and the social, economic, educational and environmental inequities that contribute to them;” and

WHEREAS, the Wisconsin Public Health Association has adopted in 2010 the resolution “Achieving Health Equity” and in 2014 the resolution “Promoting a Health in all Policies Framework to Guide Policymaking” and in 2017 convened a Racial Equity Workgroup; and

WHEREAS, public health’s responsibilities to address racism include reshaping our discourse and agenda so that we all actively engage in racial justice work; and

WHEREAS, while there is no epidemiologic definition of “crisis,” the health impact of racism clearly rises to the definition proposed by Galea: “The problem must affect large numbers of people, it must threaten health over the long-term, and it must require the adoption of large-scale solutions.”

• Copyright The Nation’s Health, American Public Health Association