Broward County Commissioners spent most of Tuesday in their meeting chambers, but unlike other weeks, this one wasn't spent going over a normal agenda.
Instead, in the wake of civil unrest after the death of George Floyd, commissioners participated in a racial equity presentation from the Racial Equity Institute out of Greensboro, North Carolina.
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"I think we've spent a lot of time in the last two months dispelling some of the things that we've been told," Deena Hayes-Green told the commisison. Hayes-Green is the managing director and co-founder of the Racial Equity Institute, and chairs the board of education in Guilford County, North Carolina.
"Looking at what is happening in this country I think COVID-19 and the racial outcomes, what's happening with our law enforcement and community and those outcomes, have only illuminated what has been around for centuries," she said.
Black people are suffering more severe impacts of COVID-19 around the country than white populations.
At the end of the presentation County Mayor Dale Holness proposed creating a Racial Equity Task Force to participate in developing a countywide action plan. Hearing no vocal opposition from the commission, Holness said he wants the county attorney and county administrator to move forward with the idea.
"We'll prioritize community-led solutions driven by those most affected, in partnership with the office of Equity and Community Investment ... we've had this office for one year. What it will take is more work, and certainly more funding," Holness said.
The insitute's program for the commission was a data-filled day of case studies in race: name studies, resume studies and examples showing how racial bias impacts socio-economic, healthcare, education, homeownership and government systems; even the disparity in maternal morbidity rates between Black and white mothers.
The institute focused on teaching commisioners a "groundwater approach" to identify and measure inequity in communities across the United States. As Hayes-Green describes it, "this framework has been very useful to us in looking at problems outside of the lens that we've been educated and trained to look at them."
She noted there isn't a quick solution to ending the systemic issues.
Read More: Protests and Marches Continue to Demand Justice and Equity for Black Americans
Last week the Broward County Commission passed an action item: a new budget arrangement with the sheriff's office to jointly fund racial equity training for deputies. But some community groups, like the Black Lives Matter Alliance of Broward, have said they want to see BSO do more trainings like this while spending fewer taxpayer resources.
#Broward Commissioners approve $500K in funding for BSO officers to receive racial equity education and follow up training with subject matter experts for 6,000 sworn officers and support staff. Sheriff and County sharing cost.
— Broward County Commission (@browardinfo) June 18, 2020
In a county with several top leaders who are Black, including County Administrator, County Mayor and Sheriff, a county employment trend report from 2017 shows that there is systematic disparity between Black and white races. The report showed higher unemployment rates among Black people than the Broward County average.
"Talking about race, racism and inequity is often very, very uncomfortable, and I know some in this audience were today," Holness said, and called for a new county disparity study to be done. "The data doesn't lie, the facts are the facts. Now we're going to have to deal with the issues as a community."
