Racism is a Public Health Crisis
Reimagining and Redefining Public Safety in a Structure of State Sanctioned, Anti-Black Violence
OCT. 24, 2020
9 A.M. - 1 P.M. PST | 10 A.M. - 2 P.M. MST | 12 P.M. - 4 P.M. EST
About The Half-Day Summit
A Free, Half-day Summit Hosted by The California Endowment on the Eve of APHA's 2020 Annual Meeting and Expo
“Violence” is often used to label the visible response of people who have endured traumatic experiences rooted in a system originally designed to deny the human rights of Black People.
Unaddressed public policy, institutional and systemic oppression, and anti-Black racism, including physical violence against Black people, continues to preserve our government's original intent. Challenging how we see “violence” and understanding who the beneficiaries are of government “safety protocols” is the critical, anti-racist work of health equity. Grassroots movements and innovative projects with equity frameworks redirect our focus toward root causes of disparities, disempowerment and disease while practicing communities of belonging. These — sometimes seen as unconventional, imposing and disruptive — methods are actually the dismantling of unhealthy communities while laying the foundation for health transformation.
Attend the summit to learn more about this important work and how Sacramento-based organizations are sparking change.
Meet The Speakers
We are thankful to the community leaders from Sacramento, California for sharing their expertise on transforming the health of local communities.
Agenda
9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. PST / 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. MST / 12:00 - 4:00 p.m. EST
9:00 AM (PST)
10:00 AM (MT) | 12:00 (EST)
Opening Remarks
Christine Tien from The California Endowment and Kim Williams from Sacramento Building Healthy Communities provide welcoming remarks. They explain how community residents have been providing the leadership to transform communities like Sacramento, California so that health and racial equity are at the forefront.
Senior Program Manager
The California Endowment
Hub Director
Sacramento Building Healthy Communities
9:10 AM (PST)
10:10 AM (MT) | 12:10 (EST)
Spoken Word
Youth poets from Sacramento Area Youth Speaks (SAYS) will provide spoken word. SAYS elevates the voices of students as the authors of their own lives and agents of change. As Coco Blossom, the coordinator for SAYS writes, "Poetry is Heart; Poetry is Soul; Poetry is Freedom- Writing-4-Freedom!"
Denisha "Coco" Blossom
Keon Johnson
Patrice Hill
Alex Huynh
Fernanda Hurtado
9:20 AM (PST)
10:20 AM (MT) | 12:20 (EST)
Land Acknowledgment
Native Americans are the first inhabitants of this land we now stand on. In recognition and with respect, Niki Jones will do a land acknowledgment.
9:25 AM (PST)
10:25 AM (MT) | 12:25 (EST)
History/Context of Sacramento, California
During this general session, attendees will learn more about the history, context, and fight for racial justice in Sacramento, California. Sacramento is a vibrant community that has endured traumatic experiences rooted in a system designed to deny the human rights of Black People. Learn about how community residents, public health professionals are building grassroots movements and innovative projects with equity frameworks to redirect their focus towards root causes of disparities, disempowerment, and disease while practicing communities of belonging.
Epidemiologist
Senior Director of Policy, Public Health Advocates
Hub Director
Sacramento Building Healthy Communities
Executive Director
California Urban Partnership
Community Organizer
Youth Forward
9:45 AM (PST)
10:45 AM (MT) | 12:45 (EST)
State Sanctioned, Anti-Black Violence
Warning: Video contains graphic content (police violence). A video with examples of state violence and community resistance in Sacramento, California to help summit attendees think critically about defining "violence" and understanding racism as a public health crisis.
Grassroots Organizer
Decarcerate Sacramento
Thank you to the Black Zebra Impact Team for producing this video with footage from Sacramento.
9:55 AM (PST)
10:55 AM (MT) | 12:55 PM (EST)
What is Violence?
Challenging how we see "violence" and understanding who the beneficiaries are of government "safety protocols" is critical anti-racist work. During this session, Asantewaa Boykin (Registered Nurse) and Ryan McClinton (Community Organizer) elevate the importance of reimagining and redefining public safety in a structure of state sanctioned anti-Black violence.
Emergency Registered Nurse
Co-Founder, Mental Health First
Co-Founder, Anti Police-Terror Project
Community Organizer
Sacramento Area Congregations Together
10:10 AM (PST)
11:10 AM (MT) | 1:10 PM (EST)
Break
Please choose your breakout session for Round 1. As a reminder, breakout discussions A-J from Round 1 will repeat for Round 2. Breakouts will begin at 10:15 AM.
10:15 AM (PST)
11:15 AM (MT) | 1:15 PM (EST)
Breakout Session Round 1
Please select one breakout session. Each session is 50 minutes. As a reminder, breakouts A-J from Round 1 will repeat for Round 2.
A
Economic Violence and Criminalization in the Era of Legalized Cannabis
Data from the Sacramento Police Department Crime Analysis Unit showed that nine zip codes were disproportionately targeted with cannabis-related arrests between 2004 and 2017. The economic violence and criminalization of Black People for these disproportionate rates of cannabis-related arrests are still felt today. In response, the California Urban Partnership led and ensured that communities most harmed by marijuana arrests and jail sentences could participate and benefit in Sacramento's legal cannabis industry. During this breakout, attendees will learn about historical harm from the war on drugs that devastated entire communities and what remains to be done in the era of legalized cannabis.
Executive Director
California Urban Partnership
Executive Director
Youth Forward
B
Can’t Get Well in a Cell: Community Responses to Mental Health Crises
What if we invested in public health instead of the criminalization of communities? During this session, participants will learn about a community first responder program to provide trauma-informed intervention to respond to people in crisis without the police. The community-led program was launched in January by the Anti Police-Terror Project and is called Mental Health First. Its volunteers include emergency registered nurses, peer crisis counselors, and people from the very communities being served.
Outreach Worker
Mental Health First (MH First)
Facilitator
Mental Health First (MH First)
C
Funding Healthy Futures: Budgetary Violence & Defunding Law Enforcement
The Budget is Killing Us! You’ve heard that budgets are statements of values –well the values espoused in the Sacramento City and County budgets are ones that value police over people, corporations over community, and respectability over respect for human life and wellbeing. This session will detail the recent shenanigans of these two institutions, their foundation in white supremacy, and how we are building an inside and outside game to dismantle this system of white supremacy. Issa conversation. Join Us.
Epidemiologist
Senior Director of Policy, Public Health Advocates
Activist and Director of Impact, United Way California Capital Region
Founder of the Social Justice PolitiCorps for Sacramento County
D
Fines & Fees Justice: Breaking Cycles of Criminalization and Poverty: Participatory Justice Initiatives
Is your organization actively fighting the harm caused by historic systems of anti-Black racism? Participatory Justice centers lived-experience-expertise by those who are disenfranchised as the priority of its structure. This model offers an alternative to committed organizational leaders to make your intention for inclusion and equity, a catalyst for greater collective systems change. Using participatory justice examples, including the cycle of criminalization and fines and fees , we will engage you in thinking about how Participatory Justice can create a more just outcome.
Equity Educator
Program Manager
PRO Youth & Families
Scholar, Public Policy and Public Administration at Sacramento State
Community Organizer
Sacramento Area Congregations Together
E
Care Not Cages: How We Stopped an $89 Million Jail Expansion Project
Sacramento County incarcerates nearly 4,000 residents on average on any given day. Within the walls of the County’s jails, people are subjected to wholly inadequate medical and mental health care, extraordinarily long and dangerous stays in solitary confinement, and other inhumane treatments and conditions. When community members learned their county planned to expand one of its jails, they mobilized to stop it. And they were successful in changing the course of Sacramento’s history. But the fight for residents to protect people inside the jail and prevent the County from unnecessarily incarcerating more people has not stopped there. This session will provide insight into the history of jail expansions in the state of California, the consequences of mass incarceration in Sacramento, and detail the journey of Sacramento activists and residents to reduce the harm of the carceral system in their community.
Community Organizer and Graduate Student, Decarcerate Sacramento
Civil Rights Attorney
Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights
of the San Francisco Bay Area
F
Black Child Legacy Campaign: The Reduction of African-American Child Deaths and Youth Gun Violence Reduction
In Sacramento County, African American children die at twice the rate of any other ethnicity. The four leading causes of death are perinatal conditions, infant sleep-related deaths, child abuse and neglect and third party homicides. During this session, attendees will learn about the successful Black Child Legacy Campaign (BCLC). BCLC is a community-driven movement working to reduce deaths of African American children in Sacramento County.
Associate Director, Community and Economic Development
Sierra Health Foundation
Steering Committee
Reduction of African American Child Deaths (RAACD)
G
Boys and Men of Color Initiative: Seeding Black Justice System Change in Sacramento
Hub Director, Sacramento Building Healthy Communities
Youth Development Specialist
Men’s Leadership Academy
Sacramento Boys and Men of Color
Math Teacher, C.K. McClatchy High School
Senior Program Associate
My Brother’s Keeper (MBK) Sacramento Community Coordinator
Sierra Health Foundation
During this session, attendees will learn about several programs and initiatives focused on the specific needs of young men of color in Sacramento. The BMoC collective work addresses social justice issues, including racism, disproportionate suspensions, and law enforcement involvement. It is possible to create healthier communities addressing the systems of oppression that negatively impact BMoC by empowering youth, dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline, and shifting resources from incarceration to prevention. Youth who have successfully participated in BMoC have shown improved outcomes in academics, discipline, and school attendance.
H
Between Oppression and Liberation: Using Data for Action and Impact
How can we best leverage our positions and organizations, shift power to impacted communities, and transform structural anti-Black racism and violence? Join us in grounding ourselves in a research justice framework, which accounts for intersectionality and power relations embedded in data and analyses. We will reaffirm our principles, reflect on specific strategies, and wrestle with tensions we experience in this work across health, economic, homelessness, and criminal legal systems.
Research and Strategy Consultant
Sacramento County Department of Health Services
Program Planner, County of Sacramento’s Department of Human Assistance & Co-Founder of Justice2Jobs Coalition
I
Learning the Language of Equity and Anti-Black Racism in America
Community Organizer
Youth Forward
Grassroots Organizer
Decarcerate Sacramento and Sacramento Tenants Union
Scholar, Community Organizer & Teacher
ASCRIBE Educational Consulting
"The opposite of racist is not "not racist", it's anti-racist". -Dr. Ibram X. Kendi
These are critical times, and it is with urgency that we leverage collective responsibility for the most fragile, marginalized and traumatized in community. It's not enough to not be a racist, we all have to be anti-racist. During this breakout, Sonia Lewis, Mackenzie Wilson, and Nia MooreWeathers will guide attendees on learning the language of equity and anti-Black Racism in America.
Criminalizing Mentally Unhealthy People
J
Asantewaa Boykin is an Emergency Registered Nurse and the co-founder of the Anti Police-Terror Project. The Anti Police-Terror Project is a Black-led, multi-racial, intergenerational coalition that seeks to build a replicable and sustainable model to eradicate police terror in communities of color. Mental Health First (MH) is one of their projects. The purpose of MH First is to interrupt and eliminate the need for law enforcement in mental health crisis first response by providing mobile peer support, de-escalation assistance, and non-punitive and life-affirming interventions, therefore decriminalizing emotional and psychological crises and decreasing the stigma around mental health, substance use, and domestic violence, while also addressing their root causes: white supremacy, capitalism, and colonialism.
11:05 AM (PST)
12:05 PM (MT) | 2:05 PM (EST)
Break
Please choose your Breakout for Round 2. As a reminder, breakout discussions A-J from Round 1 will repeat. Breakouts will begin at 11:10 AM.
11:10 AM (PST)
12:10 PM (MT) | 2:10 PM (EST)
Breakout Session Round 2
Breakouts are 50 minutes. Please select one breakout session for Round 2.
12:00 PM (PST)
1:00 PM (MT) | 3:00 PM (EST)
Transition Break
10-minute break before the final session begins at 12:10 PM. The final session will be in the main virtual meeting room.
Hub Director
Sacramento Building Healthy Communities
Community Organizer
Sacramento Area Congregations Together
Epidemiologist
Senior Director of Policy
Public Health Advocates
Activist and Director of Impact United Way of California Capitol Region
Founder Social Justice PolitiCorps for Sacramento County
12:10 PM (PST)
1:10 PM (MT) | 3:10 PM (EST)
Where do we go from here?
During the final general session, a panel of experts will speak to the work that remains to be done in Sacramento and how they will partner together in the years ahead. As attendees reflect on "Creating the Healthiest Nation: Preventing Violence," we will need to reimagine and redefine how we view "violence" and understand the unaddressed public policy, institutional and systemic oppression, and anti-Black racism that impacts the health and well-being of communities. Attendees will reflect on what they have learned throughout the day, their takeaways, and their commitment to dismantle systemic racism.
1:00 PM (PST)
2:00 PM (MT) | 4:00 PM (EST)
Conclusion
Organizations
