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Cleveland City Council unanimously declares racism as public health crisis

Cleveland City Hall
Posted at 6:25 PM, Jun 03, 2020
and last updated 2020-06-03 18:25:45-04

CLEVELAND — The Cleveland City Council unanimously voted to declare racism as a public health crisis.

The council will be setting up a working committee of experts to study and make strategies to bring about racial equity.

“Racism is a sickness,” said councilman Blaine Griffin, chairman of council’s Health & Human Services Committee, at an earlier committee meeting. “We want to institutionalize racial equity.”

The resolution comes after a white police officer in Minneapolis knelt on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, cutting off his breathing.

It also comes at a time when coronavirus is killing blacks and minorities at a higher rate than whites, revealing inequities in health care and healthy environments.

RELATED: WATCH: Cleveland City Council discusses proposed resolution declaring racism a public health crisis