October 25, 2020 Dena Jensen

‼️Heads up‼️ regarding a resolution “Affirming Racism is a Public Health Crisis.”

This is a quick call to action to contact the Whatcom County Council to support the Whatcom County Public Health Advisory Board resolution. The County Council was supposed to discuss/vote on the resolution Affirming Racism is a Public Health Crisis in one of their committees by October 27, which is why we all should contact them ASAP.

Meanwhile, the resolution is not mentioned in their combined agenda packet for the 27th, or on any of the committee agendas for this week, which makes it appear that everything else – including resolving support for the Whatcom County Sheriff’s office and their budget, which Council Members have already done! – is more important than the health of BIPOC in Whatcom County.

Below are all the details you need, including a suggested script, which you can also find on the Riveters Collective website.

Contact Whatcom County Council Members ASAP to call for their support of the resolution Affirming Racism is a Public Health Crisis

Description:
Call or email County Council Members immediately to urge them to support all the actions called for in the resolution proposed by the Public Health Advisory Board on October 6, 2020. Background: Here is a link to the text of the original resolution, Affirming Racism is a Public Health Crisis: https://whatcom.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=8823936&GUID=13668448-68F0-46D0-AA9A-711C831294CD.

County Council Members, acting as the Health Board, discussed the resolution on October 6, and voted in favor of having Council Members Elenbaas and Browne work on “updating the resolution.” They referred it to committee for a later date, possibly by October 27. There are excellent actions proposed in the resolution, “to ensure racial equity, equity of access and service and further to ensure the equitable treatment of all people, regardless of race or ethnicity.”
We do not want these actions – Sections 1-6 of the resolution – to be removed or weakened!

Contact info and suggested script:

Phone numbers:
Rud Browne: 360-820-9494
Todd Donovan: 360-483-8474
Tyler Byrd: 360-778-5021
Kathy Kershner: 360-220-7535
Ben Elenbaas: 360-778-5025
Barry Buchanan: 360-224-4330
Carol Frazey: 360-778-5024

Email Addresses:
Whole Council (for the public record) <council@co.whatcom.wa.us>;
Barry Buchanan <bbuchana@co.whatcom.wa.us>;
Todd Donovan <tdonovan@co.whatcom.wa.us>;
Carol Frazey <cfrazey@co.whatcom.wa.us>;
Rud Browne <rbrowne@co.whatcom.wa.us>;
Tyler Byrd <tbyrd@co.whatcom.wa.us>;
Ben Elenbaas <belenbaa@co.whatcom.wa.us>;
Kathy Kershner <kkershne@co.whatcom.wa.us>

Dear Whatcom County Council:
I agree that racism is a public health crisis in Whatcom County. I am calling on you to either strengthen or retain, as written, the actions in Sections 1 through 6 of the resolution proposed by the Public Health Advisory Board on October 6, “Affirming Racism is a Public Health Crisis,” and to approve the resolution with those actions included.

I also call on you to take the actions recommended by the Public Health Advisory Board to “support County membership in the Government Alliance on Race and Equity (GARE), a national network of governments working to achieve racial equity,” and “approve allocation of resources within County budget process to address race equity issues, including staff training and outreach and engagement with communities of color.”

Sincerely,
[Name and Location]

Additional info:
Link to the Health Board discussion form: https://whatcom.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=8823938&GUID=626559C2-FB47-49A4-A076-7F47142D2446

Link to the Power Point presentation, “Addressing Racism as a Public Health Crisis”: https://whatcom.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=8823939&GUID=F3DDCC63-9ED9-4C63-8A5A-DEAEA95FE48A

Link to the video recording of the 10:45 a.m. October 6, 2020, Whatcom County Council as the Health Board meeting: http://whatcom.granicus.com/player/clip/428?view_id=1&redirect=true https://riveterscollective.org/2020/10/tell-whatcom-county-council-to-declare-racism-a-public-health-crisis/