III 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. RES. 655 

Declaring racism a public health crisis. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 22, 2020 

Mr. BROWN (for himself, Mr. BOOKER, Ms. HARRIS, Mr. SCHUMER, Mr. CARPER, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. WYDEN, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. 

HEINRICH, Mr. BENNET, Ms. SMITH, Mr. CARDIN, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mr. 

SANDERS, Ms. WARREN, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. 

MERKLEY, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Ms. HIRONO, Mrs. MURRAY, Ms. HASSAN, Mr. KAINE, Ms. DUCKWORTH, Mr. SCHATZ, Mr. 

CASEY, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. REED, Ms. STABENOW, and Mr. KING) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 

Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

RESOLUTION 

Declaring racism a public health crisis. 

Whereas, since the Nation’s founding, the United States has 

had a longstanding history and legacy of racism, mistreatment, and discrimination against African Americans, 

Latinos, Native Americans, and other people of color; 

Whereas the United States ratified over 350 treaties with 

sovereign indigenous communities, has broken the promises made in such treaties, and has historically failed to 

carry out its trust responsibilities to Native Americans, 

including American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native 

Hawaiians, as made evident by the chronic and pervasive 


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underfunding of the Indian Health Service and Tribal, 

Urban Indian, and Native Hawaiian health care, the vast 

health and socioeconomic disparities faced by Native 

American people, and the inaccessibility of many Federal 

public health and social programs in Native American 

communities; 

Whereas people of Mexican and Puerto Rican descent, who 

became Americans through conquest, were subject to, but 

never full members of the polity of the United States and 

experienced widespread discrimination in employment, 

housing, education, and health care; 

Whereas the immoral paradox of slavery and freedom is an 

indelible wrong traced throughout the Nation’s history, 

as African Americans lived under the oppressive institution of slavery from 1619 through 1865, endured the 

practices and laws of segregation during the Jim Crow 

Era, and continue to face the ramifications of systemic 

racism through unjust and discriminatory structures and 

policies; 

Whereas, before the enactment of the Medicare program, the 

United States health care system was highly segregated, 

and, as late as the mid-1960s, hospitals, clinics, and doctors’ offices throughout Northern and Southern States 

complied with Jim Crow laws and were completely segregated by race—leaving Black communities with little to 

no access to health care services; 

Whereas, between 1956 and 1967, the National Association 

for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Legal 

Defense and Education Fund litigated a series of court 

cases to eliminate discrimination in hospitals and professional associations; 


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Whereas the landmark case Simkins v. Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital, 323 F.2d 959 (1963), challenged the 

Federal Government’s use of public funds to expand, support, and sustain segregated hospital care, and provided 

justification for title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and 

the Medicare hospital certification program—establishing 

Medicare hospital racial integration guidelines that applied to every hospital that participated in the Federal 

program; 

Whereas, in 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson established 

the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, 

which concluded that White racism is responsible for the 

pervasive discrimination and segregation in employment, 

education, and housing, resulting in deepened racial division and continued exclusion of Black communities from 

the benefits of economic progress; 

Whereas language minorities, including Latinos, Asian Americans, and Pacific Islanders, were not assured non-discriminatory access to federally funded services, including 

health services, until the signing of Executive Order 

13166 in 2000; 

Whereas the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act included provisions to expand the Medicaid program and— 

for the first time in the United States—established a 

Federal prohibition against discrimination on the basis of 

race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability in certain health programs, building on other Federal civil 

rights laws; 

Whereas the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act required reporting to Congress on health disparities based 

on race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability; 


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Whereas several Federal programs have been established to 

address some, but not all, of the health outcomes that are 

disproportionately experienced by communities of color, 

including sickle cell disease, tuberculosis, infant mortality, and HIV/AIDS; 

Whereas the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention 

and Health Promotion works to raise awareness of health 

disparities faced by minority populations in the United 

States, such as Native Americans, Asian Americans, 

Black Americans, and Latino Americans, aiming to reduce risk factors for groups affected by such health disparities; 

Whereas the United States health care system and other economic and social structures remain fraught with racism 

and racial, ethnic, sex (including sexual orientation and 

gender identity), and class biases that lead to health inequity and health disparities; 

Whereas life expectancy rates for Black and Native American 

people in the United States are significantly lower than 

those of White people in the United States; 

Whereas disparities in health outcomes are exacerbated for 

LGBTQIA+ people of color; 

Whereas disparities in health outcomes are worsened for people of color with disabilities due to bias and inequitable 

access to health care; 

Whereas several States with higher percentages of Black, 

Latino, and Native American populations have not expanded their Medicaid programs—continuing to disenfranchise minority communities from access to health 

care to this day; 


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Whereas 16 States have failed to take advantage of the Federal option to expand access to Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program to lawfully residing immigrant children within the first 5 years of lawful status, 

and 26 States have failed to do so for similarly situated 

pregnant women; 

Whereas, between 2016 and 2018, the child uninsured rate 

increased from 4.7 percent to 5.2 percent and the Latino 

child uninsured rate increased from 7.7 percent to 8.1 

percent, and children of color are far more likely to be 

uninsured than White children; 

Whereas a climate of fear and confusion for immigrant families due to the public charge rule discourages such families from enrolling eligible children in Medicaid and the 

Children’s Health Insurance Program; 

Whereas Pacific Islanders from the Freely Associated States 

experience unique health disparities resulting from 

United States nuclear weapons tests on their home islands, but such people have been categorically denied access to Medicaid and other Federal health benefits; 

Whereas the United States has historically facilitated outsider status toward Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, such as the authorization of the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, which resulted in 

profound economic, social, and psychological burdens for 

the people impacted; 

Whereas the history and persistence of racist and non-scientific medical beliefs are associated with ongoing racial 

disparities in treatment and health outcomes; 

Whereas implicit racial and ethnic biases within the health 

care system have an impact on the quality of care experiVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:58 Jul 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR655.IS SR655

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enced by communities of color, such as the undertreatment of pain in Black patients; 

Whereas the historical context of unethical practices and 

abuses experienced by Black patients and research participants, such as the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, serve as 

symbols of the Black community’s mistrust of the medical system; 

Whereas women of color continue to face attacks, documented throughout history, on their prenatal, maternal, 

and reproductive health and rights; 

Whereas enslaved Black women were forced to endure egregiously unethical and cruel treatment, as subjects of insidious medical experiments, to advance modern gynecology; 

Whereas, through the late 1960s and early 1980s, physicians 

routinely sterilized people of color, performing excessive 

and medically unnecessary procedures on patients of 

color without their informed consent; 

Whereas Black and Native American women are 2 to 4 times 

more likely than White women to suffer severe maternal 

morbidity or die of pregnancy-related complications, and 

implicit racial biases and lower quality care are contributing factors to the health care disparities that lead to 

these outcomes; 

Whereas Black and Native American infants are twice as 

likely to die as White infants, and the Black infant mortality rate in the United States is higher than in 97 

countries worldwide; 

Whereas researchers have developed the analytical framework 

of ‘‘weathering’’ to describe how the constant stress of 


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racism leads to poor health outcomes for Black Americans; 

Whereas the daily experience of racism is associated with 

stress, depression, and anxiety, and may cause physiological reactivity or contribute to chronic health conditions; 

Whereas racism is linked to mental health challenges for children and adolescents; 

Whereas children of color are overrepresented in the United 

States child welfare system, and up to 80 percent of children in foster care enter State custody with significant 

mental health challenges; 

Whereas disparities in educational access and attainment, 

along with racism experienced in the educational setting, 

affect the trajectory of academic achievement for children 

and adolescents, and ultimately impact health and racial 

inequities in school discipline, which has long-term consequences for children; 

Whereas racism and segregation in the United States contribute to poor health outcomes by segregating Black, 

Latino, and Native American communities from opportunity; 

Whereas, for decades, discriminatory housing practices, such 

as redlining, systemically excluded people of color from 

housing, robbing them of capital in the form of low-cost, 

stable mortgages and opportunities to build wealth, and 

the Federal government used its financial power to segregate renters in newly built public housing; 

Whereas environmental injustices, such as proximity and exposure to toxic waste or hazardous air pollutants, continue to harm the health of communities of color, low-inVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:58 Jul 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR655.IS SR655

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come communities, and Indigenous communities around 

the Nation; 

Whereas social inequities such as differing access to quality 

health care, healthy food and safe drinking water, safe 

neighborhoods, education, job security, and reliable transportation affect health risks and outcomes; 

Whereas, during the COVID–19 pandemic, the effects of racism and discrimination are seen in COVID–19 infection, 

hospitalization, and mortality rates—disproportionately 

high among Black, Latino, and Native American populations compared to the overall population—exacerbating 

health disparities and highlighting barriers to care for 

Black, Latino, and Native American patients across the 

United States; 

Whereas, because of racial and ethnic disparities, people of 

color are more likely to have pre-existing, preventable, 

and chronic conditions, which lead to higher COVID–19 

morbidity and mortality rates; 

Whereas people of color are overrepresented in the number of 

people in the United States living under poor air quality 

conditions, which can increase the likelihood of COVID– 

19 morbidity and mortality; 

Whereas the COVID–19 pandemic has worsened barriers for 

Black, Latino, and Native American households that suffer from disproportionately higher rates of food insecurity; 

Whereas Black and Latino workers make up a disproportionate number of frontline workers, are less likely to receive paid sick leave or have the ability to work from 

home, and have been excluded from many forms of relief 

readily available to other groups; 


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Whereas people of color are disproportionately impacted by 

the criminal justice and immigration enforcement systems 

and face a higher risk of contracting COVID–19 within 

prison populations and detention centers due to the overincarceration of people of color; 

Whereas, during the COVID–19 pandemic, an increased use 

of anti-Asian rhetoric has resulted in Asian Americans 

being harassed, assaulted, and scapegoated for the pandemic; 

Whereas communities of color continue to bear the burdens 

of inequitable social, economic, and criminal justice policies, practices, and investments that cause deep disparities, hurt, harm, danger, and mistrust; 

Whereas over 40 percent of Latinos report being discriminated against or harassed because they are Hispanic; 

Whereas approximately 24 percent of the Latino population 

in the United States identifies as ‘‘Afro-Latino’’ and is 

thus potentially subject to both race and national origin 

discrimination; 

Whereas, because of racism, Black people in the United 

States share a unique set of challenges and experiences 

that require heightened levels of awareness and risk while 

performing everyday tasks—such as jogging in neighborhoods, driving while Black, or playing in a park—that 

are not experienced by other populations; 

Whereas Black people in the United States are 3 times more 

likely to be killed by police than White people in the 

United States, and police violence is the 6th leading 

cause of death for young Black men; 


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Whereas the police brutality and violence experienced by 

Black people in the United States adversely impacts mental health among Black communities; 

Whereas Black communities led the Nation in mourning the 

killings of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George 

Floyd, Elijah McClain, and countless other Black Americans—calling for justice and long-term changes to dismantle systems of oppression; 

Whereas, throughout our Nation’s history, people of color 

have been at the forefront of civil rights movements for 

essential freedoms, human rights, and equal protection 

for marginalized groups and continue to fight for racial 

and economic justice today; 

Whereas a public health issue is defined as meeting the following 4 criteria: 

(1) The condition affects many people, is seen as a 

threat to the public, and is continuing to increase. 

(2) The condition is distributed unfairly. 

(3) Preventive measures could reduce the effects of 

the condition. 

(4) Those preventive measures are not yet in place; 

Whereas racism meets the criteria of a public health crisis, 

and public health experts agree; 

Whereas a Federal public health crisis declaration defines 

racism as a pervasive health issue and alerts the Nation 

to the need to enact immediate and effective cross-governmental efforts to address the root causes of institutional racism and their downstream impacts; and 

Whereas such declaration requires the response of the Government to engage significant resources to empower those 

communities that are impacted: Now, therefore, be it 


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1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) supports the resolutions drafted, introduced, 

3 and adopted by cities and localities across the Na4 tion declaring racism a public health crisis; 

5 (2) declares racism a public health crisis in the 

6 United States; 

7 (3) commits to— 

8 (A) establishing a nationwide strategy to 

9 address health disparities and inequity across 

10 all sectors in society; 

11 (B) dismantling systemic practices and 

12 policies that perpetuate racism; 

13 (C) advancing reforms to address years of 

14 neglectful and apathetic policies that have led 

15 to poor health outcomes for communities of 

16 color; and 

17 (D) promoting efforts to address the social 

18 determinants of health—especially for Black, 

19 Latino, and Native American people in the 

20 United States, and other people of color; and 

21 (4) places a charge on the Nation to move for22 ward with urgency to ensure that the United States 

23 stands firmly in honoring its moral purpose of ad24 vancing the self-evident truths that all people are 

25 created equal, that they are endowed with certain 


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1 unalienable rights, and that among these are life, 

2 liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 

Æ 


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