Stand Against Racism | Racism Education
April marks the beginning of our racism education campaign, Stand Against Racism
As we join YWCA’s across the country, we work together to bring awareness to the impact of structural racism. By focusing on racism education, we can build a community that cares about racial justice. We hope to inspire the Monterey County community to take a #StandAgainstRacism with us.
YWCA USA’s 15th annual Stand Against Racism campaign will take place April 22 – 25, 2021 and YWCA-MC will join in this racism education campaign. While planning virtual events, we will focus on impacts to the health and safety for people of color. We plan to explore from Declarations to Change: Addressing Racism as a Public Health Crisis. By doing so, we can advance the work of justice in our community and empower people of color.
Racism education from a public health perspective.
When evaluating societies structural racism, government studies show that racism can determine access to quality housing, education, food, transportation, political power, and other social constructs that affect overall health. The same government studies amplify the importance of understanding systemic racism from a public health perspective which is crucial to eliminating inequities. In looking at the 2003 Institute of Medicines landmark report, Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Healthcare, they connected racism to mortgage lending, access to housing, employment, and criminal justice and health disparities. Every person of color in our Monterey community should have an opportunity for well-being in all aspects.
Keys to repairing structural racism as a public health crisis from the Justice Collaborative Institute:
1. Define racism as a system that impacts all the key areas of the SDOH, Social Determinants of Health Framework, which must be dismantled to achieve racial equity, thereby ending the public health crisis;
2. Provide material, institutional, and social supports to redress the historical and current practices of racism that have harmed racial and ethnic minorities;
3. Require the use of a racial equity tool to determine whether government laws, policies, and practices reinforce racism;
4. Give racial and ethnic minorities the power to participate in the decision-making process as well as craft laws, policies, and practices that will address their current needs and redress past harms; and
5. Incorporate a healing process, such as a Truth and Reconciliation process, to address the trauma of experiencing racism.
While some governments (state and local) have included definitions of racism, funding to address racism, and evaluation of community engagement measures, none of the current laws and policies include all these best practices.
