Representative McGee Declares Racism A Public Health Crisis

Press release from CGA:

March 31, 2021

Representative Brandon McGee (D-Windsor/Hartford) held a press conference regarding H.B. 6662: An Act Declaring Racism as a Public Health Crisis and Establishing the Commission on Racial Equity in Public Health.

Rep. McGee joined Paul Mounds, Chief of Staff for Governor Ned Lamont; House Majority Leader Jason Rojas; Dr. Tekisha Everette, Executive Director of Health Equity Solutions; Steven Hernández, Executive Director of the Commission on Women, Children, Seniors, Equity and Opportunity; Vanessa Dorante, Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Children and Families; Rep. Geraldo Reyes, Chair of the Black and Puerto Rican Caucus; Rep. Bobby Gibson, Vice Chair of the Black and Puerto Rican Caucus; Mayor Justin Elicker of New Haven; Mayor Suzette DeBeatham-Brown of Bloomfield; Mayor Ben Florsheim of Middletown; and Mayor Jay Moran of Manchester.

“This legislation is imperative to end the injustice that Black and Brown folks have endured long before the pandemic began. The COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated the public health crisis that our community has experienced for generations,” says Rep. McGee. “We must act swiftly on behalf of Black, Indigenous, Latinx and other people of color in Connecticut or continue to pay the costs of our state’s wide inequities. The opportunity to advance equity is ripe in 2021.”

"Racism is a virus that has permeated the deepest cracks of our society for generations. It is incumbent upon us all to address the toxic legacy that racism and discrimination has had on our communities and our state," says House Majority Leader Jason Rojas. "Now is our opportunity to reconcile and engage in a constructive dialogue to meaningfully reverse centuries of state-sanctioned violence against people of color. This bill moves our state out of its steady habits and brings us closer to addressing and eradicating racism in Connecticut."

“Research, common experience, and knowledge tell us that one of the greatest barriers to achieving this vision is the historical and contemporary relationship between racism and health. Our collective or individual refusal to acknowledge this as a primary cause of health inequities hinders our progress toward eradicating health inequity and health disparities. Denying the existence of racism in our culture, institutions, and policies will not make it go away. As we all know, acknowledging the problem is the first step to solving it,” says Tekisha Dwan Everette, PhD, Executive Director of Health Equity Solutions.

"As the Chair of the Black and Puerto Rican Caucus and a person of color, I have a duty and responsibility to advocate for the communities I represent," Rep. Reyes said. "It is important that we have the courage to work and progress policies in order to reflect the diverse balance of Connecticut, and there is no better time than now to make these advances."

"This is such a critical time in our nation's history…in Connecticut's history. I continue to be proud of the Department of Children and Families and its steadfast commitment to racial justice, anti-racism, and equitable outcomes. In the midst of unprecedented circumstances, Connecticut’s children and families are counting on all of us to lead boldly into pandemic recovery with honesty, candor and resolve. Our Department's evolution has brought us to 2021 with keen awareness that in order to get to equitable outcomes, we must first have common values, consistent language and targeted goals," says Commissioner Vanessa Dorante of the Connecticut Department of Children and Families.

“This bill would expand on the work of this legislature to create a Racial and Ethnic Impact Statement (P.A. 18-78) that will, upon request, accompany bills and spending measures to ensure that we know the consequences of our own actions. We are on the cusp of implementing that law. When we realize as a society that racism is both a condition and an outcome, both of which are preventable, we will finally be able to address the ills that bind us including poverty, lack of educational opportunity, disproportionate incarceration, low birth weights, and premature death,” says Executive Director Steven Hernández of the Commission on Women, Children, Seniors, Equity and Opportunity.

“Bloomfield was one of the towns that signed on early to acknowledge that racism is a public health crisis,” says Mayor Suzette DeBeatham-Brown of Bloomfield. “We see the disparities and how it affects our population. Bloomfield is 57% Black as of the 2010 Census and we have seen how this COVID-19 pandemic have impacted Black and Brown people. We, as a community, are committed to bringing light to this public health crisis and addressing it head on with our partners in education.”

“Representative McGee’s legislation is critical to recognizing that systemic racism impacts every aspect of people’s lives. Our Board of Alders took the step to declare, with one voice, that this is a public health crisis and we are now working to undo inequity within our city. We need to act with purpose not just in cities like New Haven, but across our state to make Connecticut a place where everyone has the opportunity to thrive,”says Mayor Justin Elicker of New Haven.

"Declaring racism as a public health crisis is an important step in Manchester's ongoing efforts to address structural racism and live up to our vision of being a national model for what it means to be a truly welcoming, diverse, inclusive, and thriving American community," says Mayor Jay Moran of Manchester.

To date, 20 Connecticut municipalities and the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation have declared racism a public health crisis. This reflects a collective motivation at the local level to acknowledge the role racism plays in impacting the health of people of color. Several towns have taken further steps to turn these declarations into action.

For example, New Haven created a Racism as a Public Health Issue Working Group to provide anti-racist policy recommendations and guidance to the city’s Board of Alders. H.B. 6662 aims to amplify this work at the state level through the establishment of a Commission on Racial Equity in Public Health.

The bill was discussed at a public hearing before the Appropriations Committee March 26.

This press release was produced by CGA. The views expressed here are the author's own.