Declaring Racism a Public Health Crisis: Unpacking the Impact of Local Government Declarations

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated a trend of local governments in the United States declaring racism a public health crisis. Since 2019, over 100 cities and counties have passed such resolutions, marked by a shift in public health governance. These declarations recognize the intertwined nature of racism and health inequalities, but often fail to implement meaningful change on the ground. This research argues that these declarations, influenced by theories of biopower and stratified biomedicalization, enable an uneven public health response that neglects the lived experience of racism.

Key Takeaways:

• Since 2019, over 100 local governments in the United States have declared racism a public health crisis, with a significant increase in the number of declarations following the COVID-19 pandemic.
• These declarations recognize the conjunctural nature of racism in the US and institute organizational changes and new policies, but often fail to implement meaningful change in racial and health inequalities on the ground.
• The biomedicalization of racism through these declarations enables an uneven and intermittent public health response that fails to attend to the lived experience of racism on the ground.
• The research draws on theories of biopower and stratified biomedicalization to understand the impact of these declarations on public health governance.
• The shift in public health authority and jurisdiction enables the expansion of public health services, but also leads to a devolution of programming to communities and an economization of downstream services.

Statistics:

• Over 100 local governments in the United States have declared racism a public health crisis since 2019.
• The number of declarations increased significantly following the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The research focused on the cases of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Chicago, Illinois to draw comparisons and understand the impact of these declarations on public health governance.
• The declarations led to an expansion of public health services, including policy "strategists," efforts to reduce organizational bias, and a devolution of programming to communities.

Sources:

• Declaring Racism a Public Health Crisis. Social Science & Medicine, 2025;377.
• Findings from University of Illinois Broaden Understanding of CDC and FDA (Declaring Racism a Public Health Crisis). Medical Letter on the CDC & FDA. July 13, 2025; p 559.