The Legacies of Slavery

The legacies of slavery appear in every aspect of 21st-century life in the United States, including economic inequality; education, health care, and judicial disparities; housing and community segregation; and through overt and implicit bias. From the end of Reconstruction in 1877, when federal legal and judicial decisions incapacitated laws intended to empower formerly enslaved people, until today, racism designed to subjugate African Americans exists in de jure (legal) and de facto (social custom) forms.

For centuries prior to the end of the Civil War, Black and white Americans worked together in the abolition movement. Post-Civil War and post-Reconstruction, abolitionists became advocates for equal rights for African Americans. From the civil rights movement of the mid-20th century to the Black Lives Matter movement today, the struggle for equity and inclusion continues.

Lowell - 2020

In July/August 2020, Lowell's City Council considered a community-generated resolution that would declare racism a public health crisis in the city. The city council held a listening session, during which community members shared their experiences of racism in Lowell. Ultimately, the council voted down the resolution, instead adopting a milder one which notes that the city rejects "all forms of racism and will strive for improvements in a number of areas, such as housing and health." Below are two excerpts from a Boston Globe article detailing support for and opposition to the resolution to declare racism a public health crisis in Lowell.

2022 Update!

On June 14, 2022, Lowell's City Council unanimously passed a resolution declaring that "racism is a public health crisis" and to continue to make commitments and investments in key areas; specifically, education/training; public health; social/economic equity; and growing generational wealth. Testimony from community members helped Councilor Mercier, who voted "no" on the previous resolution (see above), see the issue from a different point of view. In the 2022 City Council meeting she said, “Sometimes we’re not always right. I don’t practice racism. That doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist. You hear from the hospital that says that people of color and minorities are not getting the same care, that is a problem. I feel perhaps I need more education in this area because I don’t understand it. But I will turn around, and I will support it. If people come time-after-time to declare it is a public health crisis then it must be so. That isn’t fair. If I try to be anything, I try to be fair.”

While people in attendance applauded the passing of the resolution, the actual work needs to be done to identify areas of inequity and put policies in place to alleviate them. An editorial in the Lowell Sun put it best, "... simply declaring racism a public-health crisis constitutes no more than a feel-good gesture without putting concrete policies in place. They’re the bedeviling details that a united City Council, along with City Manager Tom Golden’s administration must first agree on and execute."