COLUMBUS – Racism would be declared a public health crisis in Ohio and the day celebrating the official end of slavery would become a paid state holiday under racial justice measures reintroduced in the Statehouse Tuesday by lawmakers from central Ohio and Cleveland.
The measures were originally introduced in the wake of the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, which sparked nationwide protests in the summer but efforts to pass them during the last legislative session were unsuccessful.
Under a resolution introduced by Senators Hearcel Craig (D-Columbus) and Sandra Williams (D-Cleveland), the state would follow the lead of 25 cities, counties and boards of health across Ohio which have declared racism a public health crisis.
“Black Ohioans continue to be arrested and incarcerated at alarming rates, experience wage and workforce disparities as well as maternal and infant mortality and get diagnosed with long-term health conditions like diabetes at higher rates than white Ohioans,” Craig said.
According to a federal government report earlier this month, the CDC, the average life expectancy for Black Americans dropped by nearly three years and Hispanic Americans saw their life expectancy fall by almost two years as a result of the pandemic, which has highlighted disparities in health care between communities of color and those of white Americans, whose life expectancy declined by one year from 78.8 to 77.8 years.
Craig and Andrew Brenner (R-Powell) introduced legislation to declare Juneteenth a paid state holiday, a reintroduction of a bill that previously passed unanimously in the Senate.
Juneteenth, which began as a Texas holiday in 1980, is currently recognized in 47 states, including Ohio, though Texas is the only state where it is a paid holiday.
Juneteenth marks the date — June 19, 1865 – when slaves in Texas were informed that slavery had been abolished.