The city of Chicago has recently declared racism to be a prevailing health crisis as Mayor Lori Lightfoot made the announcement to the public on Thursday.
This means the city will now allocate $10 million for community betterment from its COVID-relief funds as it feels the need to tackle racism as a public health emergency.
The mayor called systemic racism a major public health emergency and one that is a leading factor that determines life expectancy and its discrepancies across the city.
Combined in its efforts with the Chicago Public Health Department, the mayor added how a whopping 9.2-year life expectancy gap between both the black as well as the non-black community exists among the citizens of this city.
“Racism is taking a major and disastrous toll upon the health as well as the well-being of all the citizens of color,” the mayor added.
And this is absolutely true for those who are Black. In the same way, she spoke about how it was an important decision to announce this on a public platform and to acknowledge the impact it is carrying on a daily basis.
“If we don’t do something soon, we will never be able to move forward in the right direction as a city, while failing to provide our communities with adequate resources that they require to live happily and in a healthy manner.”
Chicago’s mayor also spoke about how she planned on doubling down with both ongoing as well as new collaborations that take place between different city officials and leaders of the community, especially when it came down to matters related to racism.
“The city will implement the ‘will to act’ which is an initiative that focuses upon addressing different impacts relating to historical policies.
For this reason, it is now moving forward with the decision to allocate $10 million from its COVID-relief funds to help tackle this major issue so that it can create 6 healthy equity zones, that will span across the city.