Black, Indigenous and people of color account for a disproportionate number of Vermont’s Covid-19 cases. People in those communities are also less likely than other Vermonters to have a primary care doctor, and more likely to have poor mental health, experience homelessness and live in poverty, according to a new joint resolution.
For those reasons and others, J.R.H.6, if passed, would declare racism a public health emergency in Vermont.
Similar declarations have been adopted in hundreds of other cities and states in the past year, including Burlington, which declared racism a public health emergency in July.
Rep. Ann Pugh, D-South Burlington, and chair of the House Committee on Human Services, said House Speaker Jill Krowinski has identified racism as an “important and integral” part of the Legislature’s work this session.
Mark Hughes, director of the Vermont Racial Justice Alliance, said the point of the resolution is “to make a public acknowledgement that what we’re doing is just that important and just that urgent.”
“I think a lot of folks are sitting there saying, ‘Why are we doing this? What does this really mean?’” Hughes said. “The first thing I went to is, ‘Yeah, of course. They’re killing us.’ But then I thought that’s probably not exactly what we’re talking about. It’s about systemic racism and institutional racism on aggregate and how it affects people. It’s not just demographics. There’s a lot that goes into it.”
When Burlington declared racism a public health emergency last year, Hughes said, it put into motion “so much work” in Chittenden County, with hundreds of thousands of dollars donated by more than 30 organizations to support the work. Hughes said that would not have happened without the declaration.
The declaration in the House is a two-page document, consisting mostly of statistical examples of disparities facing BIPOC Vermonters in health conditions and outcomes.
Maria Mercedes Avila, a professor at the University of Vermont and expert on racial health disparities, said she could easily add 25 pages of examples to the resolution but supports a shorter version because it’s important to quickly adopt a declaration for dismantling systemic racism.
“The information is clear, concise and to the point,” Avila said. “We could expand and add many more areas, but if that will delay the process of declaring racism as a public health crisis, I would advocate for moving forward.”
Health Commissioner Mark Levine told the committee Thursday morning that last summer’s Covid-19 outbreak in Winooski, the most diverse community in Vermont, was the Vermont Department of Health’s call to action on the issue. It issued a statement identifying racism as a public health emergency and set up a health equity community engagement team.
“If that was in place last summer, then I’m wondering why we still have a problem, frankly,” Rep. Francis McFaun, R-Barre, said. “Because you have both of those in there. We sent money out to BIPOC communities, part of that money I assume was going to be used to educate the people in terms of what was going on, then we instituted a policy to give the shots by age, and we even changed that to involve whole families. So the corona-19 problem was being used to kind of expose racism, and I’m just trying to put that together in my head because from what I just heard from you, we did a lot.”
Levine said it’s a “very high hill to climb” — a problem that has built up over centuries and that will take a long time to dismantle.
“There are social determinants that are bearing down on Black and brown folks coming from every area,” Hughes said. “The impact it’s creating is taxing, and it’s not good for your health.”
Levine said that opening vaccine appointments to all BIPOC Vermonters last month was “as progressive as it gets in this country,” and despite that, his office still got a lot of criticism for not making that decision sooner, which he said he accepts.
But McFaun said that bothers him.
“I would like to hear now and then that Vermont did do a lot, and we weren’t just sitting around,” he said. “I want that publicized, as much as I want going forward what we have to do. And I don’t think it’s happening, and it’s bothering me, and I’m going to let it be known that it’s bothering me.”
Levine said he sees tremendous value in declaring racism a public health emergency. It may be a small step, but he said he hopes the bill will ignite a strong follow-through.
“There are some things that, even if they’re symbolic and they don’t accomplish a piece of legislation that changes the world, that if they are broadly endorsed and publicly available for all to see, that creates so much of an image and a hopefulness for the future, but also if it’s done correctly, creates an agenda for the future,” Levine said.
Rep. Carl Rosenquist, R-Georgia, said he thinks it “does harm to the overall resolution” to use the word racism rather than racial disparities to describe the nature of the public health emergency.
“I think that by using the term ‘racism’ and the connotation that goes along with it, it divides us instead of bringing us together,” Rosenquist said.
Hughes said he thinks the United States has worried far too much as a nation about being accused of being racist. Using the word racism in the resolution, he said, creates an opportunity to talk about the fact that you can be in a racist system without necessarily being a racist.
“Nothing that I’ve said has anything to do with anybody being a racist,” Hughes said. “It has everything to do with the question of systemic racism, which has nothing to do with individuals. It has everything to do with systems.”
Hughes said the resolution was specifically designed to imprint upon people the stark health realities that BIPOC Vermonters are facing.
“When you look at each one of these ‘whereas’ clauses, it kind of knocks you back in your seat a little bit,” Hughes said, referring to the litany of health problems outlined in the resolution. “And this is light. We realize that this is, even in its limited form, a shell-shocker for somebody who just picks this up, especially a legislator, because truthfully you don’t see stuff like this every day.”
One of the resolution’s final clauses, Hughes said, committing Vermont to deep and sustained work to actively fight racist practices that are in place, gives him hope that this legislation could really do some good.
“I know it’s just words,” Hughes said. “But words matter.”
