A look back at Athens’ declaration of racism as a public health crisis Written and designed by Izzy Keller Digital Editor
O
ver a year ago, the Athens City Council passed a resolution declaring racism to be a public health crisis in the city, county and state. The resolution contains five sections dedicated to action, two of which are still in the works today. The resolution, R-10-20, was brought forth by Councilmember Sarah Grace on June 22, 2020 in a special session of council. City Council unanimously passed it with the support of Athens Mayor Steve Patterson. “I found that the resolution became a line in the sand to start systemic change here in the city of Athens … We’ve got to turn things around as a country, since we are a municipality within the country. This was a starting point for change here in our own community in Southeast Ohio,” Patterson said about R-10-20 in a phone interview. Along with declaring racism a public health crisis, the resolution urged the Ohio General Assembly and Gov. Mike DeWine to pass Senate Concurrent Resolution 14, which declares racism a public health crisis in Ohio. A copy of the resolution was sent to its sponsors along with other lawmakers. Senate Concurrent Resolution 14 was referred to the Senate’s Heath, Human
9
Services and Medicaid Committee on June 3, 2020, according to the Ohio Legislature’s website. The resolution includes a commitment from City Council to conduct an internal review of the Athens City Code, along with other city practices and procedures with racial equity in mind. Currently, there is an ongoing assessment to identify potential weaknesses in terms of equity. The resolution also asks Patterson to create a group dedicated to racial equity and mitigating systemic racism. The group, functioning as a partnership between a city task force and the Athens Racial Equity Commission, was created in December 2020. The group has 31 members, many of whom belong to existing commissions and differing city departments. “There’s no need to reinvent the wheel of creating a new coalition of any type, so I had reached out to a number of individuals from throughout the city,” Patterson said of the creation of the task force. “As well as my HR Director Ron Lucas (also) identified a number of people in the different departments of the city to kind of augment the Racial Equity Coalition.” Patterson followed Grace’s recommendation during the June 22, 2020 council meeting by selecting standing commission members and people from city departments. One frequently mentioned body is the Athens Community Relations Commission, cochaired by John Schmieding.
Winter M a g a z i n e V I , J a n u a r y 2 0 2 2
