June 16, 2023 4p
(WGTD)---Suspicions that the newly-appointed members of the Kenosha County Racial and Ethnic Equity Commission want to work to rescind a 2020 county board resolution that declared racism to be a public health crisis were eased a bit Thursday night.
An agenda item that opened the door to a discussion of the matter at Thursday’s commission meeting had been placed by Commissioner Brian Thomas. Thomas said that he simply wanted a better understanding of what led to the adoption of the resolution.
The county board vote in 2020—following Jacob Blake and George Floyd—was nearly unanimous.
Alayna Arrington, the only African-American female member of the commission, left no doubt how she felt about the resolution. “To anyone who may believe that racism is not a public health crisis--- by definition that person is ignorant,” she said. “Or you could draw the conclusion that that person is not ignorant but they’ve decided that they do not believe the brothers and sisters that suffer at the hand of systemic racism.”
Said Thomas: “I appreciate all of the comments that everyone shared with us tonight but there was no intent to discredit….any of the facts that you all expressed or the personal opinions that you shared,” Thomas said. “It was quite the opposite of that.”
Former commission member Brad Backer said the commission was wasting its time reexamining the resolution. “It’s really said that the question—the re-visitation of the long-settled resolution that racism is a public health crisis—it’s really sad that this is on the agenda, and that we are wasting time and the efforts of a commission intended to eliminate and to work to solve problems of race.”
The commission at its next meeting is expected to discuss asking for supporting documents from county administration.
During the public comments portion of the meeting, a number of speakers cited justification for viewing racism as a public health crisis, starting with high infant mortality rates in the African-American community.
During their county board appointment confirmation hearings earlier this year, both commission chair Xavier Solis and vice-chair A. Brian Gonzales had expressed skepticism over the county board’s declaration of racism as a public health crisis.
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