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'A possible America' begins with anti-racist training
The Seattle Times: Opinion
by Glenn Harris and Julie Nelson
 
On Sept. 4, President Donald Trump pledged to identify and cancel all anti-racist training contracts for federal government agencies, calling them “divisive, un-American propaganda trainings,” while directing the Office of Management and Budget to issue guidelines on defunding racial-justice work. At the same time, the Department of Justice has been investigating the city of Seattle’s racial-equity trainings with the apparent intention of intimidating local governments into retreating from the work. And earlier this month, journalist Bob Woodward revealed that Trump dismissed the notion he held any white privilege, saying, “No, I don’t feel that way at all.”
Why is Trump — who refused to meet with Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, while excusing the actions of accused killer Kyle Rittenhouse, who is white — targeting racial-equity work in cities like Seattle?
Racial-equity work focuses on undoing systemic racism in organizations, institutions and governments. Programs like those in the city of Seattle, which we helped to launch over a decade ago, examine how to change the structures that preserve and reproduce disparate impacts for whites, Black and Indigenous people, as well as all people of color.
Read the full piece here
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California Cabinet Secretaries Pass Racial Equity Resolution
On August 26th, 2020, a Council of seven California cabinet members and three public appointees unanimously approved a landmark Racial Equity Resolution committing their California state agencies to action to advance racial equity. The group is called the California Strategic Growth Council (SGC), and includes Secretaries of Housing, Health and Human Services, Food and Agriculture, Transportation, the Environment, Natural Resources, and Land Use Planning.
Commitments include integrating racial equity into agency operations, identifying and implementing measurable actions, working towards alignment across agencies, and reporting out to the public at least twice yearly. This resolution comes a year after SGC’s 2019 adoption of a Racial Equity Action Plan and grew out of work with the Capitol Collaborative on Race and Equity (CCORE).
Read the full blog here
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“It is critical for government employees and leaders to learn about racial equity”: PHI Statement on Federal Memo Banning Anti-Racism Training
Also responding to the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) memo, the Public Health Institute's CCORE Team drafted a statement highlighting key learnings they have had through their work. In it they acknowledge that racism is a primary cause of the divisions in our country, and programs to address institutional racism are critical to any efforts to repair that damage.
"As public health practitioners, we also know that racism is a key driver of health inequities, leading to a wide range of injustices and health harms for people of color in this country, especially impacting people who are black and indigenous, and literally killing millions of people. And we know that government policies and practices have caused and perpetuated many of these harms."
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