Dear Community Members,

We at CHART support our community in our grief, pain and outrage that has arisen due to the unjust murder of George Floyd while in police custody. His death is a symptom of the deeply-rooted racism that impacts Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) of our nation. We support the protests in our own community that call for equal human rights and to dismantle racism because Black Lives Matter.

Systemic, institutional, and interpersonal racism is a public health crisis in our country and in our state that must be addressed. “When public policy, institutional practices, and other social and economic structures combine to perpetuate inequity between people of different ethnic groups, it is known as structural racism,” former American Public Health Association President, Camara Jones MD, MPH, PhD.

Black people are three times more likely to be killed by police than white people and COVID-19 has disproportionately affected the infection and death rate of communities of color. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, communities of color already faced systemic barriers to health and well-being. People of color disproportionately have higher rates of many chronic conditions—which are associated with the social determinants of health—and are over-represented in low-wage, front-line jobs designated as essential workers in this pandemic.

CHART recognizes that to achieve our mission to impact policy, systems, and environmental changes to raise the overall health and wellness of all residents of the county, we must acknowledge and address the systemic and interpersonal racism that negatively affect the health outcomes and aspirations of our BIPOC community. We acknowledge that there will be resistance, conflict, and mistakes made as we develop our anti-racist practices, but we will be there to support each other as we practice together. We must struggle to discover our blind spots, look at our own beliefs and actions critically in the mirror, and hold ourselves and our organizations accountable for outcomes.

This practice begins with ourselves and is the best way to support health equity for our entire community. CHART is committed to providing health equity and anti-racist learning opportunities. Clatsop Community College in partnership with the Alliance for Equity in Education is also organizing an Anti-Racist Learning Community that you are invited to join.

Please Click here if you would be interested in joining.

These are materials to get started right away or if you would like to start your own Anti-Racist Learning Community.

Scaffolded Anti-Racist Resources

With hope and gratitude,

CHART Rapid Response Task Force