Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors President Cindy Chavez and Supervisor Dave Cortese plan to propose two resolutions declaring racism a public health crisis in light of national civil unrest and calls for defunding the police at Tuesday’s board meeting.
The two board members announced this resolution in an effort to support the Black Lives Matter movements’ goal of eliminating racial inequities at a news conference outside the Santa Clara County Government Center Monday.
“Almost equal is never going to be good enough in this country, or anywhere,” Cortese said.
In the wake of the police killing of George Floyd and protests around the country, the resolution calls for educational efforts, community engagement and internal policy review.
“I want the Black community here to know that we see them, hear them, support them and are ready to learn from them,” Chavez said. “The resolution . . . sends a message to our entire community that Black lives matter, we condemn racial injustice and racial violence . . . we’re committed to changing things as they go forward.”
The resolution would be part of a long fight against systemic racism and institutional racial inequalities for the sake of future generations.
Cortese, co-author of the resolution, said in two days over 300 community members signed in support of the resolution and over 20 organizations also pledged their support.
Some of the organizations, including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Silicon Valley chapter, Silicon Valley De-Bug and the Black Leadership Kitchen Cabinet, spoke at the conference.
But most came with their own set of demands and said that while they think this resolution is a step in the right direction, there is much more that needs to be done.
Rev. Jethroe Moore II, president of the NAACP Silicon Valley, spoke about the efforts of young protesters out in the “battlefield” and how the county needs to honor their hard work by addressing various other issues.
Moore cited offering free childcare, pardoning the youth who were peacefully protesting, having an African American oversight council for African American childrens’ well-being and removing all police officers from school campuses as a few ideas that should be implemented.
Moore’s list of demands, which also included calls for police oversight and a deadline to meet the demands, was handed over to Cortese and Chavez.
“This is the beginning of the conversation, and it’s a good start," Moore said. "The community would like to see it go further and ensure that we have more than words on paper and that we attach measurable outcomes.”
Raj Jayadev, coordinator at Silicon Valley De-Bug, a San Jose-based community organizing and advocacy group, spoke about holding the county accountable for not defunding the police.
He said you can’t support the Black Lives Matter movement and not defund the police, which is what many young organizations and protesters primarily want in San Jose.
“We will no longer tolerate Black bodies in the street and Black and brown bodies in cages,” Jayadev said. “We’re not only here to abolish the police, but to [also] abolish the punishment system that has led to mass incarceration here locally and nationally.”
He added that what happened last week with San Jose City Council leaders deciding to “undermine the call of Black Lives Matter,” to defund police and create a Racial Equity office, was not right.
The City Council voted on it during last Tuesday’s budget meeting and approved the creation of the Office of Racial Equity to address racial inequities.
“It was an outright insult to the Black Lives Matter movement, it was an outright insult to the families that lost loved ones to police violence here in Santa Clara County and it was an outright insult to the thousands that are held in cages in [the Santa Clara County Jail],” Jayadev said. “The movement of Black Lives Matters is not for government to lead the governed, it is for the populus to lead the government.”
Jahmal Williams, program coordinator for the San Jose State African American/Black Student Success Center and co-chair of the Black Leadership Kitchen Cabinet, pointed out that while he supports the proposed resolution, people have to realize racism is a public health crisis.
He said that from when his mom couldn’t attend the same schools as white americans, to now when Black and brown kids continue to be overcriminalized in schools, racism has always been a public crisis.
“Racism has been a public crisis since our native brothers and sisters had their land stolen and their communities slaughtered and since our African ancestors were enslaved for hundreds of years to build a country that still disregards Black lives,” Williams said. “Racism is at our foundation and will continue to be a public crisis until we think, act and live revolutionary.”
Before the conference ended, Karrington Kenney, a 17-year-old Milpitas High School senior who called out one of her teachers for wearing blackface last year, spoke about how calling racism a public health crisis is still not enough.
She called for more education on the history of how the police originated as slave patrols and more focus on the history of racism rather than having schools make it a “two paragraph summary.” She wants to also focus on education about Black success.
Kenney echoed the sentiments of Moore and Jayadev to defund the police.
“Stop claiming that you stand with us, I want you to stand for us and defund the police. Put that money where you know we need it,” Kenney said. “We do not want fake allyship. Either you announce the crisis tomorrow and promise to make change or do not do it at all.”
Cortese and Chavez will announce the crisis and resolutions to the board for a vote at tomorrow's Board of Supervisors meeting at 9:30 a.m.
