The mayor of Kentucky’s largest city declared racism a public health crisis.
Mayor Greg Fischer, whose city has been besieged by protests that at times became destructive following the March shooting death of 26-year-old Breonna Taylor by law enforcement, signed an executive order on Tuesday stating that racism would carry the designation of a public health crisis in the city moving forward.
Fischer said the decree would help the city “repair distrust through action” after Taylor’s death made Louisville “a focal point for America’s reckoning on racial justice.”
Taylor, an emergency room technician, was killed by Louisville police officers who used a battering ram to knock down Taylor’s door and serve a search warrant for her apartment. Taylor’s boyfriend, believing police were intruders, shot at the officers who killed Taylor in the crossfire.
Fischer’s order outlines funding to assist in the development of several areas of racial disparity, including public safety, black employment, and voting, which officials hope will “repair distrust” in the city.
Fischer said in June that the city “must have a new sense of urgency” around issues of race in the aftermath of Taylor’s shooting death by local police. Fischer said that “dismantling racism” would lead to a “real transformation” in the city.
“I look forward to partnering with Council on this work of declaring racism as a public health emergency,” Fischer said.
