LANSING, MI (WILX) - — The Ingham County Board of Commissioners voted to declare racism a health crisis June 9. Friday, they joined a town hall to discuss how they’ll combat racism.
Now, the county is ready to take action.
Dr. Renee Canady, CEO of the Michigan Public Health Institute, said action began with protesting, showing the public they’d had enough of the mistreatment of people of color.
"People are saying, 'I'm so tired of talking about this, when are we going to stop talking about it,’” Canady said. “Well, let's stop talking about it. Anybody that's talking about cultural anything, race anything, let's bring them in, hold the container and figure out what the action is together."
Canady called out news headlines such as those about protesters to the “nice white cop hugging the little black guy.”
“What are we going to do when the headlines change,” Canady said. “Will we be persistent to escorting change over the finish line?"
State Rep. Sarah Anthony also spoke Friday. She said protests demanding change are not falling on deaf ears at the state capitol.
"It's amazing what happens when people put the pressure on politicians,” Anthony said. “Keep making them uncomfortable. Keep coming. Because that's actually helping those of us who are at the table move our agendas further along."
Anthony said even though systemic racism is everywhere, it’s encouraging to see so many people want to make a change.
"Sometimes it feels really heavy, but conversations like this, people like you really are in a position where we can start to tackle that,” she said.
Ingham County Commissioner Derrell Slaughter was another one of the panelists. He said today’s meeting was a good start, but that the fight against racism has a long way to go.
During the meeting, there was a moment of silence to reflect on Juneteenth, as well as the lives of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others.
