PHL Director Directs Attention to Deep Racial Health Disparities in Nation’s Capital
Public Health Liberation Director continued his advocacy for improved community health with a letter, supported by public housing resident leaders, for the nation’s capital to address wide health disparities. The following letter went to city council, US Congress (the legislature for DC), and various DC-based distribution lists.
The economic and health reality for African Americans in Washington, DC does not live up to the promise of equal protection or racial equality. Yet the political establishment through successive administrations and city councils continues to punt the need for addressing structural racism and racial inequality for at least the last 20 years. Kicking the can down the road is no longer a tenable position. As we illustrate below, the lived experiences of Black DC residents are starkly different from other racial and ethnic groups. The severe health burden due to the social determinants of health remains a lingering injustice more than 50 years after the Civil Rights Movement. An often quoted mantra from that era, “If not us, then who? If not now, then when?” is as relevant today as it was then.
Since the Control Board ended its oversight of District finances in 2001, the city has experienced rapid growth and unprecedented expansion of its tax base. The District's tax revenue per capital from 2002-2019 increased by $6,500 - a rate of increase more than any US state in the same period. The city's tax revenue per capita of $12,087 in 2019 was greater than any US state. DC Mayor Muriel Bowser's proposed budget of $19.5 billion illustrates how DC has become immensely resource-rich. Notwithstanding regional differences in the costs of living, comparisons with states of similar populations such as Delaware ($4.9 billion budget for FY23) and Alaska ($4.6 billion budget for FY23) show the highly favorable financial position of the District. If the fiscal outlook cannot explain the persistent racial inequity in health and wealth, what does? The lack of political will. As the DC Council considers the fiscal year 2023 budget, Southwest Voice is demanding policies aimed at redistributive racial justice in health and wealth.
Under pressure from the Black Lives Matter movement, the District swiftly moved on major reforms to respond to calls for narrowing the racial divide. However, these efforts are quickly proving to be short-lived. At its height, the Council Office of Racial Equity (CORE) provided an independent and honest account of the racial impact of proposed legislation, which DC Council regarded with high esteem and critical reflection. Its racial equity impact assessments have increasingly lost influence on DC Council. When CORE determined that the Ward redistricting map would likely exacerbate racial inequity, many DC councilors dismissed the findings and unconvincingly feigned confusion. The Ward map passed without much change. The changes that did occur had hardly anything to do with CORE's report.
