New York City Declared Racism A “Public Health Crisis”

The precedence has been set: declare something a “public health crisis” and with it comes great opportunity to set rules, regulations and policy unilaterally.

The politicians are addicted to these new found powers.

New York City's woke Board of Health passed a resolution recognizing racism as the new crisis in order to mandate the power they acquired during the pandemic scare.

So much sciencing.

What’s the new regulations they are going to pursue with this new “crisis”? Racism passports? Burdensome rules for whites? More apartheid-like carve outs for minorities?

Here’s what they plan on doing for starters with this new “crisis”. The resolution recognizes the impact of racism on the health of New Yorkers and requests the Health Department perform a series of actions, including:

1. That the NYC Health Department research, clarify, and acknowledge examples of its historic role in divesting and underinvesting in critical community-led health programs, and participate in a truth and reconciliation process with communities harmed by these actions when possible;
2. That the NYC Health Department establish a Data for Equity internal working group to ensure the agency apply an intersectional, anti-racism equity lens to public health data and provide annual guidance to other NYC Mayoral agencies on best practices to collect and make available to the Health Department relevant data to track and improve health equity;
3. That the NYC Health Department make recommendations on anti-racism, health-related NYC Charter revisions to the newly established Mayoral Racial Justice Commission to strengthen the NYC’s effort to combat racism;
4. That the NYC Health Department continue collaborations with sister agencies to report on fatalities, injuries, health conditions, by race, gender, and other demographics, to improve data quality and care;
5. That the NYC Health Department in consultation with relevant community organizations perform an anti-racism review of the NYC Health Code to identify any existing provisions that support systemic and structural racism and bias and recommend new provisions to dismantle systemic and structural racism and bias;
6. That the NYC Health Department partner with city agencies and relevant organizations, consistent with Local Law 174 (dated October 13, 2019) and Executive Order 45 (dated May 8, 2019), to advise on assessments of structural racism within policies, plans and budgets related to all determinants of health (transportation, education, housing, economic opportunities, civic participation and healthcare delivery contexts) and make recommendations to mitigate harm within a public health context; and
7. That the NYC Health Department report twice each year to the BOH to promote the work associated with this resolution and to ensure Health Department accountability on progress.