Oakland Declares Racism a ‘Public Health Crisis’

The City of Oakland, California, declared racism to be a “public health crisis” in a unanimous vote of the city council on Tuesday, allocating $350,000 to hire a consultant and data analyst in the Department of Race and Equity.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported:

The ordinance was introduced by the city attorney, Barbara Parker, City Administrator Ed Reiskin,and Darlene Flynn, the director of the department of race and equity. It was also cosponsored by Council Members Sheng Thao, Loren Taylor and Treva Reid — all of whom are running for mayor.

“The link between racism and disparate health outcomes is well-established and indisputable, and the City of Oakland wishes to join the growing number of jurisdictions across the country that have formally declared racism a public health crisis,” Parker, Flynn and Reiskin wrote in a staff report.

…

Parker said the two new staff members will help identify inequities in the city, and Flynn will then “develop the means, steps and procedures to advance equity.”

The Department of Racial Equity exists to “to create a city where our diversity is maintained, racial disparities have been eliminated and racial equity has been achieved.”

Last year, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf announced a special program to provide a $500-per-month grant to 600 poor “BIPOC” (black, indigenous and people of color) families, discriminating against white families in violation of the U.S. Constitution and the state constitution.

Newsweek, fact-checking the claim that Oakland was discriminating against white households, found the claim to be “true,” adding: “The targeted nature of the grants also has a historical relevance. A form of basic income is a legacy of the Black Panther Party, which was founded in Oakland in 1966.”

The city was later forced to clarify that all residents of the city were eligible to “apply” for the grant, though “BIPOC” residents remain the focus.

In 2020, the mayor said that “nooses” found hanging from a tree were a possible hate crime, until the person who put them there, a local black resident, spoke out to say that they were exercise aids that he had placed in the tree for recreational use.

 

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.