Recommendation to request to enact a resolution recognizing the third Tuesday of every January as the Day of Racial Healing.
Thank you. That is the end of public comment. Now we're going to move on to item 21:00, please, with the item. Item 21 is communication from Councilmember Richardson. Councilmember Peers and Councilmember Muranga Recommendation two requires to enact a resolution recognizing the third Tuesday of every January as the day of racial healing. Councilman Richardson. Thank you. Late evening we heard we've heard a lot about racial healing today. So I'll just give some quick background and ask for council support. So the Day of Racial Healing is an initiative started by in 2017 by the W.K. fellow Kellogg Foundation. It's supported by 559 of these leaders, 130 organizations. There'll be activities taking place here in Long Beach with CCJ. And it's made. It's designed to follow Dr. Martin Luther King Day. And so this record this is this motion is to allow the city of Long Beach to be on record as a city that also recognizes this day . I want to acknowledge all the people who participated in the the event earlier in the lobby. Long Beach Office of Equity. Safe Lobbies. Violence Prevention Lobbies. Public Library, CCJ National COMPADRES Network Community Development YMCA. Long Beach Opera, California African-American Museum, Historical Society, Long Beach and all the council members who joined us this afternoon. The event is going to take place January 24th at 5:30 p.m. at St Mark's Baptist Church in Long Beach. And. And the final thing I'll say is that in October, I was able to participate in National League of Cities, Cities for Racial Healing and Racial Equity, convening in New Orleans with cities from cities of Charlotte, Wichita, Rochester and Pittsburgh, who are also in this cohort with Long Beach. So it's good work. Thank you. And I encourage and I vote. Thanks. Yes. Councilman, your anger. Thank you, Mayor. And I want to thank Councilmember Rich for bringing this forward. It's a good way of celebrating our diversity. One of the things that I said earlier today at our at our event right here at the lobby was that, unfortunately, over the last couple of years, we've had. Items come in to our vernacular that I thought we had gone over. Words such as bigotry and racism. And, you know, I thought that by 2018, 2019, that we would have moved on beyond those terms and those hateful vernacular would be gone from our vocabulary. But apparently it's not. And I think that the weekend really brought that into focus from some of our national leaders, basically pointing to the fact that it comes from the top that comes from the White House. And we need to change that. And we need to change. And one way of getting there is by coming together, like, is being planned to have a national day of racial healing. And I think that this is a great opportunity to do that. I strongly support it. And I'm glad that you brought this forward and I will be voting yes on it. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman, you. Councilwoman Pierce. Yes. Thank you. And I want to thank Councilmember Richardson not only for this item, but for really leading the discussion in this city alongside many community members and organizations around talking about race. My work on the steering committee with the California Endowment, we had a lot of conversations around. We want to talk about racial equity in the city of Long Beach, but people are going to be uncomfortable. You know, and it's been several years where we've said, are we going to be comfortable or uncomfortable to try to get to a place where everybody can live in a life of equality with their neighbors? And so I really appreciate you for leading this discussion. And I look forward to, you know, every year trying to have a space of healing. And we know that whether it's grieving a family member that's lost or your own trauma that you've been through, healing really takes having to talk about it first. And as leaders in the city, I'm really thankful for all of my colleagues for creating a space to where we get to talk about racial healing. And so I look forward to playing a role next year and creating that space in the district. But I just want to thank you and all the organizations that are really leading this effort. Appreciate it. Thank you very much. Myself also, I'd like to thank Councilman Richardson for allow me to send you to the side of me, because I am thrilled to see so much of our community coming together for the purpose of healing. This is the third year that organization across the country has planned events following Martin Luther King Jr Day to celebrate the progress and racial healing. This same day is also a reminder of the actions we can all take to further push for equality and and unity when we all come together and we accomplish more. When we begin to unpacked our past. There's a transformation in our healing. Let's tonight be a fresh start and how we can acknowledge and engage on different paths that over come ourselves. Thank you very much. And now we can move on. I would like to remove any comments on this item. Anyone from the Irish like to speak on this? Please cast your vote. Motion carries. Now we're going to be moving to item number 23. Would you please read the item?