KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — The Kalamazoo County Board of Commissioners has voted in favor of issuing two proclamations regarding racism and police brutality.
During a virtual meeting Tuesday evening, Commissioners discussed the proclamations at hand. The first was meant to declare racism as a public health crisis, while the second was dedicated to ending police brutality. Both can be found in the agenda packet here.
This comes after protests in Kalamazoo over the last few weeks against the death of George Floyd, police brutality and the response by the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety (KDPS). The City of Kalamazoo passed their own reform measures at a meeting Monday night.
County Commissioners said that over 1,000 messages had been received urging the board to vote in favor of both measures.
While both of these proclamations were seeing their first review, Commissioners decided to vote to suspend bylaws in order to take a final vote on them the same night. Normally, a proclamation would be voted on first review to be moved to a final vote two weeks later.
The approval means the board will look at ways to address health disparities in the black community and assess internal policies and procedures within the county to ensure racial equity. The second proclamation also focuses on the long-standing history of police brutality to minority groups and condemns the violence that has accompanied some of the recent protests in the county.
Some Commissioners said that time was of the essence in regards to both proclamations.
“It’s absolutely time for all of us to listen and to hear the voices, not only the voices in the streets, but the voices in our inbox saying do something now, and let’s do something tonight,” Commissioner Meredith Place said. “We’ve all had ample time to review this resolution.”
The two motions to vote on the bills Tuesday night both passed in a 9-2 vote, which is the same vote that each proclamation received.
Board Chair Julie Rogers was in agreement that the matter should receive a final vote that same night.
“I tend to be a rule-follower, and I do agree with the sentiments that were made by my colleagues,” Rogers said. “I think it’s unprecedented, I’ve been serving on this board eight years, I don’t think I’ve ever remembered a time getting [up to 1,100] emails. I think it’s a call to action.”
The only two Commissioners that voted against a Tuesday night vote were Commissioners John Gisler and Roger Tuinier, both of who said they hadn’t had time to fully review the material. They also voted against both proclamations.
In regards to the public health crisis proclamation, Gisler asked why the health department should consider racism as a health crisis.
“While we agree in total about the crisis that exists, I’m not sure putting it into the public health realm is appropriate,” Gisler said. “I’m thinking now of the public health issues that are still on the table – we’ve got PFAS lingering over our shoulders, we’ve obviously got COVID-19 that’s not going away. I’m not sure I want to add to the burden of the public health part of our operation.”
Commissioners such as Jennifer Aniano maintain that racism is a real public health crisis.
“People of color are disproportionately affected by disease, and it’s not because of their skin color, it’s because of the history of systemic racism in our country, and because, sadly and unfortunately, more people of color live in poverty than white people, so it is a public health crisis,” Aniano said. “I think that we need to, as a group of people, recognize and acknowledge that our health care is a system, and within that system is racism, because our country was built on the back of slavery.”
Commissioner Michael Seals was also in agreement.
“For me, it’s waking up every day and knowing that there’s a possibility I could be hurt today,” Seals said. “That’s every day, and that’s stressful. That’s stressful on my soul, it’s stressful on my body. To me, this is a public health crisis. Nobody should be treated the way that I’ve been treated my whole life. I’m almost 60 years old, and I can’t remember any day and ran around and felt safe, or that I wasn’t worried that I wouldn’t get home.”
Seals added that he fears for his own children.
“I don’t want my kids to grow up in this, but they are,” Seals said. “It’s not right. I want them to be happy just like everybody else. So I fully support this resolution and expect that we are going to do some hard work and get uncomfortable.”
Commissioner Stephanie Moore, who authored the two proclamations, also said that Commissioners must fully represent all of their individual constituents regardless of skin color.
“We have a sworn oath to serve every member of our community,” Moore said. “If you cannot step up and open your mind and your heart to do this work, on all people for all people, you shouldn’t be in this room. You’re doing a disservice to all of Kalamazoo County, and you’re hurting the people who need the healing the most. This [police brutality] resolution is not the for-all end-all, I think it’s a big step in the right direction to set us up to do some real work. This is a teachable moment for everybody – it’s a watershed moment for our community and for our region, for us to really be in a position to acknowledge the very thing that is holding the Kalamazoo community back.”
Moore also reminded Commissioners at the end of the meeting that there is much more to be done.
“I want to thank you all for putting your hearts and your minds and your thoughts in this resolution, but I’m also gonna to tell you to get some rest, because it’s not gonna stop,” Moore said. “There’s a lot of work to do and it’s heavy-lifting work. We’ve got protests that are going on, and they are not going to stop, they are not going to give peace until they see some real action from City, County, State level work. We are the board that definitely should be able to do it, that should be able to give it to them, and I’m definitely ready for the work.”
