On June 24, the Los Angeles City Council voted to approve a resolution to declare racism a public health crisis in the city. The resolution, put forward by Councilmen Herb Wesson, 10th District, Curren Price, 9th District, and Marqueece Harris-Dawson, 8th District, also calls on city of Los Angeles departments to review their internal policies and procedures to ensure that racial justice is a core element of city government.

“The health disparities that we’re seeing by race is a result of our long history of systemic racism in this country,” Wesson said. “The question now becomes, ‘What we are going to do to change these systems for future generations?’”

According to Wesson’s original motion, across L.A. County, a third of Black households experience severe rent burdens. In South L.A., the share of Black households experiencing severe rent burden is about 50%. And while African Americans make up approximately 8% of the overall county population, they make up 29% of L.A. County’s jail population, and 34% of the homeless population.

“This is the system that has been designed since our country’s founding – a system built on white supremacy. The time is long overdue for a correction,” Wesson said.

Specifically, the resolution identifies 10 core actions the city of Los Angeles should undertake to address this public health crisis, including to work to progress as an equity and justice-oriented organization, to identify specific activities to further enhance diversity and to ensure antiracism principles across city government.

For information, visit clkrep.lacity.org/onlinedocs/2020/20-0715_reso_06-09-2020.pdf.