IV 
118TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. RES. 988 
Supporting the values of the Equity or Else quality-of-life platform and 
acknowledging the need for the House of Representatives to use the 
platform as a holistic framework for drafting and implementing policy 
that promotes racial and economic equity for all across various social 
issues. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 31, 2024 
Mr. BOWMAN (for himself, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Mr. CARSON, Mr. GARCI´A 
of Illinois, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania, Mrs. RA-
MIREZ, Mr. THANEDAR, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, and Ms. TLAIB) submitted the 
following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judici-
ary 
RESOLUTION 
Supporting the values of the Equity or Else quality-of-life 
platform and acknowledging the need for the House of 
Representatives to use the platform as a holistic frame-
work for drafting and implementing policy that promotes 
racial and economic equity for all across various social 
issues. 
Whereas the foundation of any nation are the institutions 
that lay the structure for the people’s development; 
Whereas, according to the United Nations, the five basic in-
stitutions in a community are education, health care, 
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•HRES 988 IH 
housing, food production and delivery systems, and cloth-
ing; 
Whereas through qualitative and quantitative empirical data 
we know that in Black, Brown, Indigenous, and working- 
class communities, systemic racism has sabotaged basic 
quality-of-life institutions while maintaining resources for 
a privileged few; 
Whereas equity requires providing resources identified by im-
pacted communities to alleviate harms caused by various 
social injustices including but not limited to racism and 
other forms of discrimination; 
Whereas directly impacted communities must guide and in-
form processes committed to equity; 
Whereas through hundreds of listening projects, town hall 
meetings, and engagement with grassroots organizations, 
the Equity or Else campaign has engaged tens of thou-
sands of people across the country on the impact racism 
has had in education, housing, health care, food produc-
tion and delivery systems, the environment, youth invest-
ment, immigration, senior rights, and economic develop-
ment; 
Whereas, in May 2022, representatives from organizations 
across the country reached consensus on the Equity or 
Else quality-of-life platform; 
Whereas, in September 2022, the Equity or Else quality-of- 
life national platform was released as a living, breathing 
framework that can be used to shape racial equity policy 
at the local and Federal level; 
Whereas local communities around the United States are 
using the Equity or Else framework to develop racial eq-
uity policy solutions; and 
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•HRES 988 IH 
Whereas the Equity or Else campaign is calling on local gov-
ernments and the Federal government to adopt a ‘‘zero 
tolerance’’ approach to racial inequity, expressed through 
policy and practice: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) supports the values of the Equity or Else 
quality-of-life platform, including the acknowledg-
ment that racial inequity can only be undone by 
changing the belief systems that currently serve as 
a foundation for our institutions, policies, and soci-
ety at-large; 
(2) recognizes the need to change its belief sys-
tem and expresses a commitment to evolving the 
House’s practices to prioritize and listen to impacted 
communities and to craft and pass transformative 
legislation that advances racial and economic equity 
across various social issues; and 
(3) acknowledges that without equity there is 
fascism. 
Æ 
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