Senate Resolution No. 3206

BY: Senator PARKER

DECLARING racism a public health crisis, and
asking Governor Andrew M. Cuomo to establish a
working group to promote racial equity in the State
of New York

WHEREAS, The American Medical Association states that racism
contributes to health inequities in the United States; and

WHEREAS, Social determinants of health, the social and material
factors that influence health outcomes, have a lifelong impact beginning
even before birth; and

WHEREAS, The American Public Health Association (APHA) has expressed
that racism is a driving force of the social determinants of health due
to the resulting inequalities in several matters, including housing,
education, and employment; and

WHEREAS, The APHA clarifies that racism is a social system with
multiple dimensions: individual racism is internalized or interpersonal;
systemic racism is institutional or structural, and is a system of
structuring opportunity and assigning value based on the social
interpretation of how one looks; and

WHEREAS, This system unfairly disadvantages specific individuals and
communities, while unfairly giving advantages to other individuals and
communities, and saps the strength of the whole society through the
waste of human resources; and

WHEREAS, Almost all four hundred years of black Americans'
experience was under slavery and Jim Crow laws, which subjected black
people to hardship and disadvantage in all areas of life; and

WHEREAS, The American Anthropological Association asserts that
genetic analyses show race to be a social construct not rooted in
meaningful biological difference; and

WHEREAS, There is clear data that racism negatively impacts the
lives of people of color in New York; and

WHEREAS, The American Psychological Association says that, because
of poverty and discrimination, racial minority children are more likely
to experience traumatic events than white children, and that childhood
trauma has negative impacts on academic, behavioral, and physical health
outcomes; and

WHEREAS, Statistics compiled by the Centers for Disease Control show
a national disparity between black and white infant mortality rates; and

WHEREAS, Data collected reveals that maternal mortality is two and a
half times greater for black women than white women and that black women
are significantly more likely to experience severe maternal morbidity,
which includes unexpected outcomes of pregnancy, labor, or delivery that

result in significant short- or long-term consequences to a woman's
health; and

WHEREAS, The APHA has identified law enforcement violence as a
public health issue that disproportionately affects marginalized groups,
including people of color, impacting both physical and mental health
outcomes; and

WHEREAS, The impact of racism on public health deserves action from
all levels of government; and

WHEREAS, This Legislative Body supports the establishment of a
working group to address these issues and to: create a publicly
accessible glossary of terms and definitions concerning racism and
health equity; promote community engagement and provide tools for
government agencies to engage actively and authentically with
communities of color; continue to work to build alliances with
organizations that have a legacy and track record of confronting racism;
encourage community partners and stakeholders in the education,
employment, housing, and criminal justice and safety arenas to recognize
racism as a public health crisis and take appropriate action; continue
to promote racially equitable economic and workforce development in New
York; continue to promote racially equitable hiring and promotion of all
employees including state employees; provide training to all elected
officials, staff, funders, and grantees on workplace biases and how to
mitigate them; promote and encourage all policies that prioritize the
health of people of color; support local, state, regional, and federal
initiatives that advance efforts to dismantle systematic racism and
mitigate exposure to adverse childhood experiences and trauma;
incorporate educational efforts to address and dismantle racism and to
expand understanding of racism and how racism affects individual and
population health; and secure adequate resources to successfully
accomplish the aforementioned activities; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to
declare racism to be a public health crisis affecting our entire State;
and be it further

RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pauses further to ask Governor
Andrew M. Cuomo to establish a working group to promote racial equity
throughout the State of New York; and be it further

RESOLVED, That the members of this Legislative Body are committed to
reviewing all portions of the Revised Code with a racial equity lens,
and conducting all human resource, vendor selection, and grant
management activities with a racial equity lens, including reviewing all
internal policies and practices such as hiring, promotion, leadership
appointments, and funding; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution, suitably engrossed, be
transmitted to The Honorable Andrew M. Cuomo, Governor of the State of
New York.