Recommendation to adopt resolution acknowledging Racism as a Public Health Crisis and establishing a Framework for Reconciliation.  (Citywide)
Motion carries. Item 2711. Communication from city attorney recommendation to adopt a resolution acknowledging racism as a public health crisis and establishing a framework for reconciliation citywide. Gave a motion by Councilmember Richardson and a second by Councilmember Pearce. We got a public comment, please. There's one public comment for this item. Dave Shukla, your time begins now. Oh. Hello. Sorry. The bloody bishop. This is a very important item. It. Yeah. I mean, I can't stress that enough as someone who the only enemy he has is a hundred years of carbon trapped in the. It's kind of easy to attract content. But for everyone's lived experience right now, there are all the decisions that were made tonight, made from a place of lack of knowledge about how they'll affect certain groups more than others. And a lot of the unintended consequences that we hear about from public policy discussions, we need to kind of fill that in in the 21st century . We need to kind of look at the data that we have so many different events, but but specifically on how certain groups of people. How you have their freedoms as a result of keeping other people unfree. That's not what this country should be about. Thank you very much. Black Lives Matter. Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item. Councilman Richardson, you want to speak to the motion there? A few thoughts on that. Some are just some changes here. So first, I want to just acknowledge Vice Mayor Andrews, Councilman Austin and Councilwoman Pierce, who all signed on to the initial recommendation that started this on this framework reconciliation path. We've had two meetings, the last meeting, and it's one in 55 people in the listening session. I think it was in terms of listening sessions go, it was incredibly powerful and the things that we heard, what folks opened up and shared. I don't think has ever there's ever been a forum on the record for that to ever have happened, and that's incredibly important. I think the events that are taking place in our country with respect to racial injustice, it's an important moment for me. You know, for me personally and for a lot of the members of this council. Typically, when we pass a resolution, these are ceremonial moments and some of them means different, significant things. I think the fact that, one, our city council is unanimously declaring racial inequity as a public health crisis is important, and that makes me proud as a city. Secondly, it's important that we started off this process of this framework by acknowledging and so the original the original resolution that was proposed did things like acknowledge police violence in America and within our city. And it allowed us to acknowledge that so that we could, you know, start in the same place in terms of moving forward into listening, into convening and into catalyzing action. I know that traditionally in our process and this is I'm speaking for the public to understand this process, a lot of times we bring a resolution, we'll bring a draft, city attorney will make edits that draft, and it comes back to the council to make edits to the draft . So I know that there were pieces in here that were that were that were removed. That's the process. And we tonight, the council has the ability to put that back in again. These resolutions, you know, they they really sort of help reflect the statement that the council is trying to make. So and so I know that I've had the conversation with the city attorney and the city prosecutor about reinstating some of that language. I know that Councilwoman Pearce wants to speak to some of that, too. So we want to make sure that that language is is restored. I think it's also important for this moment in history that the resolution also proclaimed that Black Lives Matter. I think that's important. That is reflected consistent with, you know, this moment in history. And when our city looks back at this moment in history, we want to make sure that we acknowledge this movement for black lives and the role that is playing here. So that's it. That's my emotion. And I want to hear some of the feedback from the second. Councilman Pearce. Thank you and thank you so much for speaking to that. And yes, historically, whenever we bring items to the Council for a vote, a resolution, we ask the city attorney to draft it. And this resolution was drafted quickly and put as an example. And so I want to speak to the statistics that are that I'd like to put back into this, and I want to highlight that all the statistics that I'm going to suggest putting back in are numbers that our city has provided us, either through PD or through our Office of Equity in the Health Department. And so I will have this all written up and sent back to you, Mr. Parkins, with the exact language that was given to me by the Office of Equity. And so the original item was getting out. I'll go through it quickly because I know that you have it, but 13% of Long Beach is population, is African-American. Black residents and those who identify as mixed race, it's greater barriers and finding unemployment, employment and having a higher than average unemployment rate of 12.2%. Black workers tend to face higher unemployment rates regardless of education level. A nearly 33% black residents in Long Beach continue to have the highest poverty rates compared to other racial and ethnic groups . One quarter of black residents in Long Beach are homeowners, the lowest rate compared to other racial and ethnic groups. Black women have the highest rate of rent burden, which is defined by paying more than 30% of your rent of your income on rent. Black women are paying 63% of their income. Black residents have higher mortality rates compared to other racial and ethnic groups due to education, economic housing, segregation, as well as environmental racism. African-Americans in Long Beach have the highest rate of hospitalization for heart disease, diabetes, asthma compared to other races and ethnicities. Black residents are hospitalized for asthma 9.4 times more than whites. The long, the longest life expectancy has a gap of 17 years, depending on where you live in the city. One quarter of very low birthrate babies are born to African-American mothers in 40. Let me see. I wanna make sure I include only the stats. That 44%. So this is a number that did come from our city as well. 44% of those arrested by a Long Beach police department for cannabis enforcement were black, even though they were represented 13% of the population. And then the other two statistics, which are the only ones that we have right now, which speaks to the need for us to make a commitment to transparency, data and access for the public that we have around our police force. As of today, I know that there are numbers that are from the past. But today in Long Beach, when we passed this resolution, the facts are that in five years, from 2015 to 2019, there was 191 uses of force complaints filed against the Long Beach police officers, including 21 complaints in 2019. That number is significantly lower than the other years. In seven years, from 2014 to 2020, the city spent $31 million and alleged police excessive force. Settled lawsuits since 2014. And so I think that what Councilmember Richardson said was correct, that the resolution the city is making today is a statement saying that we are the responsible party for the structural racism that exists in our city, that includes health disparities, the climate gap, unemployment dependency discrepancy and police violence. Last night I listened to the public safety reconciliation session. I read the comments and I've talked to my constituents. They want a resolution that means something. They want an acknowledgment, a genuine acknowledgment and reflection on the current state of the city of Long Beach. It's with that that I ask that we include these statistics provided by the Health Department on the black state, on the state of Black Long Beach, and to include the current state of police in our city by including these statistics I've laid out. So thank you, Councilmember Richardson, and I hope to count on everyone's support for that. Okay. Very. Any public comment, please? We did public comment. Dave Shukla already spoke on this item. Right. Then roll call vote. District one. Upstairs I. District to. I. District three. I. District four. I. District five. District six. District six. What is he going to achieve by putting that? District six. District seven. I. District eight. Hi. District nine. I. Ocean carries. Okay. We're going to go ahead now and close the council meeting. We have a couple of announcements. Let me start with customary Ringo.