Wake commissioners declare Juneteenth county holiday, declare racism a public health crisis

The commissioners also voted unanimously to declare racism a public health crisis in the county.

Commissioner Jessica Holmes said the day is the oldest national celebration of the end of slavery.

"We all enthusiastically celebrate the Fourth of July and our country's independence and our love for our country," Holmes said. "It's very important that we recognize all of our country's history."

Chairman Greg Ford said he got numerous questions and quizzical looks over the weekend after news of the potential Juneteenth holiday first surfaced.

"I hope this sends a message not only to our contemporaries but to future generations that this is a day of significance," Ford said. "There's a reason why dates significant like this are not included in history books or taught. ... The dominant culture gets to write the history. The dominant culture gets to decide what is taught to children and what isn't."

Giving the county's 4,000-plus employees another paid holiday will cost about $545,000, officials said.

Vice Chairwoman Vickie Adamson noted that declaring a holiday is merely a symbolic move and that the county must follow it up with other steps.

"This is the first step in a very long journey," Adamson said.

"We've got a long way to go for everyone to feel they're equally respected," Commissioner Susan Evans agreed.

One of those steps actually came before the Juneteenth vote, when commissioners declared racism a public health crisis.

"COVID has exposed inequities that, quite frankly, always have been in place," Holmes said, noting that Black and Latino residents make up about 70 percent of the county's coronavirus caseload but only 30 percent of its population.

The three-page resolution notes that racism helps perpetuate poverty, with "persistent racial disparities in housing and food security, criminal justice, education, health care [and] employment" and that the chronic stress produced by racism contributes to the high levels of high blood pressure and other health conditions among Black residents.

"[D]ata shows race, income, and ZIP code have a bigger impacts on health than behavior, medical care or genetic code," the resolution reads.

Declaring a health crisis paves the way for Wake County officials to devote resources to addressing it, and Holmes ticked off a list of priorities, such as reducing infant mortality among minorities and investing more in social workers in area schools.

"This is not something that we'll do today and put on a shelf and not think about again," she said.