Sonoma County supervisors will consider a resolution Tuesday that would declare racism to be a public health crisis.
Black people’s lives are 10 years shorter than those of other racial and ethnic groups in the county, the Department of Health Services said in a statement Friday.
Black and Latinx children are more than twice as likely to live in poverty than white children, and more likely to lack health insurance, the department said. Whites make up 60 percent of the county’s population.
“Declaring racism a public health crisis is intended to further increase attention to the health disparities, change the narrative from blaming the victims to changing the system, and uplift the strategies that are already underway and those to come,” the department said.
The resolution doesn’t ask for additional investment, resources or re-direction of existing funds.
“The primary goal of the resolution is to clarify the need to do more to prevent the trauma and harm associated with racial inequity,” Health Services Director Tina Rivera said in the statement.