Austin City Council Labels Racism A Public Health Crisis, Names Juneteenth A Holiday

KEY POINTS

The Austin City Council declared racism a public health crisis during Wednesday meetings focused on addressing racism in the city
The council put forward proposals on addressing this, including reinvestment into minority neighborhoods created by Jim Crow-era laws and policies
June 19, better known as Juneteenth, was declared a city holiday and the city manager has been tasked with outlining benefits for city employees going forward

The city council for Austin, Texas, has labeled racism a public health crisis and called on city officials to take firm action in addressing racism in the city. City Manager Spencer Cronk will work with other city officials in creating anti-racist policies and addressing city practices rooted in older, racist policies

“Racism is literally killing Black and brown people. It’s a public health crisis and it’s beyond time to treat it as such,” Council Member Natasha Harper-Madison told Austin NBC-affiliate KXAN.

“The inequities are countless and they aren’t because African Americans are inherently inferior. They are the fruits of generations worth of explicitly discriminatory and racist policies, things like housing policies from the federal level on down to the local level that kept Black residents from even reaching the ground floor of generational wealth-building.”

Harper-Madison, who authored the proposal that was passed on Wednesday, cited data showing the impact racism has on health. One example she provided was the difference in poverty rate between white and Black Austin residents.

Harper-Madison cited census data that found the poverty rate among white residents as 9.1%. By contrast, the poverty rate among the city’s Black residents is 22.9%. The proposal pointed to the Jim Crow-influenced 1928 Master Plan, which created a “negro district” and helped restrict city resources from predominantly Black neighborhoods as a reason for this stark difference.

Among the first steps to address this disparity is a proposed reinvestment into the area near Texas Interstate 35 created by the 1928 Master Plan. It would include new, affordable housing accessible to residents currently living in those neighborhoods, along with new recreational spaces, retail fronts, and support services.

Beyond naming racism a public health crisis and working on how to address it, the council also declared June 19, also known as Juneteenth, a city holiday going forward. The day celebrates the end of slavery in the U.S. and Wednesday’s proposal instructs the city manager to establish rules providing a paid day off or provide some benefit to city employees.