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Officials in Orange County (yes, that one!) declare racism to be a public health crisis [1]
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Date: 2022-12-11
On Tuesday, the five-member Orange County Board of Supervisors declared racism to be a public health crisis. This was done amid an increase in hate crimes against Asian Americans.
In the resolution the board vowed to "work to promote an inclusive, well-informed, and racial equity and justice-oriented governmental organization that is conscious of injustice and unfairness through robust trainings and continuing education to expand the understanding of how racial discrimination affects individuals and communities most impacted by inequities."
Dr Regina Chinsio-Kwong, the Public Health Officer for Orange County, spoke on the correlation between racism and poor health conditions. The “Equity in OC” initiative, currently being worked on by the Orange County health agency, will have a data-driven approach on improving health within diverse communities.
One clear example of the problem was seen during the pandemic — the rates of hospitalization and death were significantly higher for Black, Hispanic, Native American and Alaskan people compared with White people, OC Health Officer Dr. Regina Chinsio-Kwong said in an interview. “We know nationwide that there are certain racial and ethnic minority groups that have experienced much higher rates of chronic illness” on average than White people, she said. “It’s not a clear line directly connecting between a chronic condition and racism, but we do know that when you’re impacted by it either directly or indirectly, it does take its toll,” sometimes in the form of anxiety, depression, stress or poor health choices, Chinsio-Kwong said.
Andrew Do is a member of the Board of Supervisors for the first district, which covers places like Garden Grove and Westminster. Do, a refugee from Vietnam, spoke about being harassed when going out for a run, to the point where batteries and bottles were thrown at him. As public officials, both Do and Chinsio-Kwong have faced racist critics.
In a 2021 board of supervisors public meeting, a member of the audience called Do a “parasite” and said, “I ask you to go the fuck back to Vietnam.” And just this week, as the board was preparing to vote on Do’s resolution declaring racism a public health crisis, an audience member yelled at Orange County Health Care Agency Director Clayton Chau, telling him to “Go back to China!” Do quickly came to his colleague’s defense, slamming the man who had hurled the slur as well as those claiming the resolution was unnecessary in Orange County. “Really, go back to China?” Do said. “And you think racism is dead?”
Nevertheless, the unanimous vote to declare racism as a public health crisis may leave some gobsmacked, considering that public officials in more conservative areas tend to aim their ire towards critical race theory (CRT) and “woke” ideology. Orange County, known to be “Reagan Country”, has long been the epicentre of modern conservatism in not only Southern California, but also the entire United States. It hasn’t voted for the Democratic nominee for president from 1940 to 2012, and the county voted for the Republican in the recent Governor and US Senate races, if only by a small margin.
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