County resolution recognizes racism as a public health crisis

Following a number of similar measures from local and state governments nationwide, Whatcom County Council adopted a resolution declaring racism a public health crisis in its November 24 meeting.

According to a November 27 press release, the resolution commits the Whatcom County Health Board to “actively participate in the dismantling of systemic racism through deliberate funding and policy decisions.”

“This resolution is a critical step that will set the stage for the health department’s work toward undoing racism and the foundational effects it has on health and well-being,” said Whatcom Health Department director Erika Lautenbach in the press release.

The resolution passed 6-1, with councilmember Ben Elenbaas opposed. By passing this resolution, the health board commits to:

• Implementing training on the following topics for all elected officials, county staff and members of boards, commissions and committees: Implicit bias, trauma-informed practices and review of health disparities.

• Assessing and revising county department policies, procedures and ordinances to ensure racial equity and transparency are core elements.

• Ensuring that hiring practices provide equitable opportunities for people of color to be employed to help ensure the diversity in the county’s workforce represents the diversity in the community.

• Promote diversity of race within county boards and commissions.

• Supporting community efforts to alleviate issues of racism and bias and engaging actively and authentically with communities of color wherever they live.

• Building and strengthening alliances with other organizations that are confronting racism, encouraging other agencies to recognize racism as a crisis, including considering county membership in the Government Alliance on Race and Equity (GARE), and involving community representation and input in matters of historic and continued racial injustice.

In early September, appointed members of the Whatcom County Public Health Advisory Board voted to recommend that the council join an increasing number of similar declarations across the U.S. since the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other unarmed people of color. Working with the health department, the advisory board drafted the resolution and presented it to council – which acts as the health board – in early October.

In Whatcom County, the push for local government to take action began with a protest in August in downtown Bellingham. Shu-Ling Heregenhahn-Zhao and Kristina Michele organized the march on August 27 in solidarity for the 57th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom led by Martin Luther King, Jr. The two women of color, who are also working with the Chuckanut Health Foundation to found a local racial equity commission, petitioned to make racism a public health crisis.

“Growing up in the Meridian School District was isolating,” Heregenhahn-Zhao said in the October 6 council at the health board meeting. “And I don’t think I fully understood that until I got older, and I could feel some of those deep ripples of trauma.” 

Heregenhahn-Zhao, who is the president of Whatcom Women in Business and capital campaign chair for Sylvia Center for the Arts, said she believes Whatcom County is a beautiful community to live in and not a hateful place, but that it is limited by the dominant population that lives in it.

“Because we’re a predominantly white community, we just don’t have the opportunity to meet other cultures, and to embrace them, and understand them,” she said.

With a population of 229,247 people, Whatcom County is 78.3 percent white, 9.8 percent Hispanic or Latino, 4.8 percent Asian, 3.4 percent Native American or Alaska Native, 1.3 percent Black or African American and 0.3 percent Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander, according to 2019 U.S. Census Bureau data.

The resolution states that racism impacts child development, mental health, education and economic stability across the county. It says 54 percent of white children entering kindergarten are ready for school, while only 23 percent of American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) children and 27 percent of Hispanic children are ready. Similarly, the resolution states 66 percent of AI/AN 10th graders, 43 percent of Black 10th graders and 44 percent of multi-racial 10th graders reported feeling depressed, as opposed to 36 percent of white 10th graders.

Elenbaas, who opposed the resolution when it came time to vote, worked with councilmember Rud Browne and members of the health board to include such local health statistics and improve the language.

“This document deals a lot about color and the color of people’s skin, and I think that the issues that we see are deeper, can be deeper, than just the color of people’s skin,” he said.

Elenbaas represents the county District 5 that includes Blaine, Birch Bay, Point Roberts, most of Ferndale and Lummi Nation, wanted to include other social issues like single-parent families and information on chronic health concerns.

“This document says that [racism] exists to the point that it’s a health crisis. And then it seeks to justify that statement with statistics,” he said. “While it is an issue, there are a lot of other things in this community that I would consider crises than I would say racism rises to that level, in this community.”

County executive Satpal Sidhu said he appreciated the advisory board’s advocacy for the resolution and was pleased to see council adopt it.

“On the same day the council also approved the biennium budget, which includes funding for my proposal to create a countywide Racial Equity Commission,” he said in the press release. “I am very hopeful that this commission will take the next steps, going beyond declarations and identifying specific actions to address systemic racism.”

Heregenhahn-Zhao reinforced that there is still work that needs to be done.

“This is not the end of a journey, this is just getting the foot in the door,” she said. “This doesn’t necessarily work if we don’t keep the door open and work with people of color so they can have their seat at the table.”