Louisville Mayor Declares Racism A Public Health Crisis
From BREAKING911.COM
KENTUCKY — (OFFICE OF THE MAYOR, NEWS RELEASE ) — Mayor Greg Fischer signed an Executive Order today declaring racism as a public health crisis in the city.
In his remarks today about the unique combination of challenges facing the city – the COVID-19 pandemic, the economic downturn, an increase in gun violence and the protests calling for racial justice and equity – the Mayor noted that “2020 has been a year like no other,” but presents an opportunity to turn tragedy into transformation.
And that begins, he said, with creating a city of racial justice and equity. “Advancing racial equity has been a major focus of our work at Metro Government for the past 10 years,” he said. “But it’s clear that we need to move faster and invest more resources. We need to do everything we can to repair distrust through action.”
Breonna Taylor’s tragic death “made our city a focal point for America’s reckoning on racial justice,” which has been painful, the Mayor said, adding that moving forward requires our community to address the pain and the root causes of racism and openly acknowledge the impact it still has every day.
“For too many Louisvillians, racism is a fact of daily life, a fact that was created and documented in our country’s laws and institutional policies like segregation, redlining, and urban renewal,” he said. “Laws and policies that restrict the freedom of all Americans to exercise their constitutional rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Laws and policies that can restrict where people live, what schools they attend and what jobs they can get. And laws and policies that effectively limit the wealth they can earn and pass on to their children.”
The Mayor cited the toll of such injustices in our city today, including:
The Black poverty rate in Louisville is nearly 3 times the white poverty rate.
Black residents make up 22.4 percent of our population but own only 2.4 percent of our businesses.
The percentage of Black residents who own their own homes is half the percentage of White residents.
And even among college graduates, the average Black graduate in Louisville earns almost $10,000 less per year than their white colleague.
And life expectancy can vary by as much as 12 years between some majority-Black and majority-White neighborhoods.
“All of these and a million other statistics and real-life experiences tell us that our systems are more than broken – they must be dismantled and replaced,” the Mayor said – requiring that we rethink “how government, business, education, health care and other institutions operate so that we make sure everyone really has a fair and equal shot at the American dream, at expanding their opportunities, at realizing t... (Read more)
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