Wheeling City Council Stands In Unity With Social Justice Efforts

WHEELING -- Members of Wheeling City Council received praise Tuesday after unanimously approving a resolution declaring racism a public health crisis.

The proposal to adopt such a resolution stemmed from a recent meeting of the Health and Recreation Committee of council, chaired by Councilwoman Rosemary Ketchum. Nationwide social justice movements helped spark the local effort to step forward as a community and take a stand against institutional racism.

A group on hand during Tuesday afternoon's council meeting representing the Men of Change organization tipped their hats to Wheeling City Council for taking a bold move to declare racism a public health crisis. Those present indicated they believed Wheeling likely was the first community in West Virginia to make such a declaration, following suit with action taken recently in several urban communities in Ohio and in other locations across the country.

The Men of Change indicated they hoped this trend would continue in communities far and wide.

"We know that it's a positive thing, and it's honorable to be part of the first, but we hope that there are many more to come," said Isaiah Alford, speaking for the Men of Change. "It's a beautiful thing to see. That's what we're working for and fighting for. It shows us that the city wants to work with the community. It shows that they care and that they hear us, which is what we want. And that's the beginning. It just shows that they're laying the foundation for the solution and for the kind of progress that we're eager to see. We're excited about it. We couldn't be more happy with this first step forward."

According to the resolution passed Tuesday, members of Wheeling City Council support proactive and meaningful efforts by the municipal government that focus on improving the quality of life and equity for each Wheeling resident by seeking to reverse the health impacts and other impacts of racism wherever they may occur.

"Racism is a very complex thing," Alford said. "It's an ideology. It's not something in a physical form, so we will never be able to eradicate racism. But the one thing that I know that you can combat racism with is familiarity. That's achieved through cooperation with other people from different communities, as well as within our own. That's done by talking and working together. When different communities come together to work for the same cause, the differences don't matter as much as their similarities.

"So we're really trying to help people understand that our fight is their fight, because it's not just us affected by it. It affects the whole community. It's a thing that just trickles down in different ways."

Wheeling City Council's resolution takes definitive steps to bring about change, particularly in the way the city conducts its business. According to the resolution, the city manager is being directed to take the following steps:

– Work with city staff to review all city policies and procedures for the purpose of eradicating any implicit and explicit racial bias, and promote such policies and procedures that advance racial equity;

– Require all classified and unclassified municipal employees to complete implicit bias training;

– Require all new municipal employees to have implicit bias training as part of the new hire process;

– Work toward building a more diverse and inclusive workforce in which employees reflect the diversity of the community at all levels and where differences are welcomed and valued;

– Incorporate inclusion and equity, and offer educational training to expand employees' understanding of how racism affects people; and

– Work with the city council to build alliances and partnerships with other organizations that are confronting racism.

Through the resolution, city leaders noted that racism not only unfairly brings disadvantage to specific individuals and communities, but also serves to diminish the strength of society as a whole through the waste of human resources.

City leaders indicated it was time to move forward together to bring an end to these inequities.

Alford said the Men of Change encourage others to join them or to take the lead and set an example of unity for their own communities.

"What we really want to do is be a presence out there showing people that we're different than what we're stereotyped to be," Alford said, noting that people are all different, have different talents, come from different backgrounds and bring different things to the table, regardless of their race. "We care, not just about ourselves, but about others. One thing about the black community is that we're always welcoming people with open arms, and we're just trying to make that transparent to other people so maybe that they follow suit, and that we can all come together.

"Getting together, coming together is just what we're doing, and we're asking people to join with us. If you can't join with us, start your own thing. It's not about us, it's about the community. That's what we care about. So we call on the rest of the community to do the same. Let's make something happen. Let's make a change that will affect our kids and generations to come."