With support and partnership from CMF members, several Michigan communities have declared racism as a public health issue — fueling a commitment to address racial inequities that affect the health and well-being of residents.
With support and partnership from CMF members, several Michigan communities have declared racism as a public health issue — fueling a commitment to address racial inequities that affect the health and well-being of residents.
Genesee, Ingham and Kalamazoo counties—among others— have passed resolutions within the last month to address systemic issues that impact the health of people of color, including police brutality targeting the Black community.
“The most infectious and the most deadliest cancer that we are experiencing in this country is racism,” a Michigan State University researcher told ABC News 12 in Flint. “And until we do that, until we address that, all of these disparities and inequities are going to continue to play out.”
Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation (TRHT) sites in Kalamazoo, Lansing and Flint that are led by or facilitated by CMF members in partnership with CMF, worked with nonprofits, researchers, county leaders and others on these resolutions.
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation leads the TRHT initiative, a national and local effort to bring meaningful change to address the effects of racism in the United States.
“The underlying infection of racism creates persistent systemic and structural barriers that disproportionately threaten the health and lives of Black, Indigenous and people of color,” Sarah Gettel, director of capacity at One Love Global, the organization leading the efforts of TRHT Lansing said. “The resolution names racism as an emergency and a priority for decision making and action in the county, which is an important support for policy and community transformation.”
In Genesee County, the Community Foundation of Greater Flint (CFGF) facilitates TRHT efforts in the area, with two members of the local TRHT Task Force authorizing the county-wide resolution. CFGF and TRHT are planning racial healing circles with the Flint Police Department and the city of Flint to strengthen the impact of local initiatives addressing racial equity.
“This is only a beginning of CFGF's commitment to jettisoning the hierarchy of human value,” Isaiah Oliver, president and CEO of CFGF said. “Ultimately, our hope is that TRHT becomes a way of doing and being that is incorporated into what we do as a community.”
The Kalamazoo Community Foundation (KZCF), which hosts TRHT Kalamazoo, supported the local resolution in Kalamazoo County. TRHT Kalamazoo attended the virtual county commission meeting last week in which two resolutions were passed: a declaration of racism as a public health emergency and one to address and condemn police brutality towards people of color.
“We would like to continue to partner with the county and other government and non-government entities in the community towards healing and transformation,” Sholanna Lewis, TRHT director at KZCF said. “We have been growing this work across Kalamazoo through design teams with broad community participation and have launched several projects.”
Among those projects is a partnership that includes TRHT Kalamazoo’s Cultural Experience Awareness Program for local police cadets to help build positive relationships between law enforcement and communities of color, as well as the Virtual Healing Project to develop and deepen relationships, share resources and support the community collectively during the COVID-19 pandemic.
All of these efforts are designed to address racism as a systemic problem that negatively impacts the lives of communities of color.
“Recognizing that racism is a public health crisis acknowledges how racism is deeper than individual feelings, but a systemic issue that has deep physical and mental health implications for people of color, especially Black people,” Lewis said.
Want more?
Connect with TRHT Kalamazoo’s Virtual Healing Project.
