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PROPOSED RESOLUTION
OBSERVING AND HONORING JANUARY 21, 2025, AS THE NATIONAL DAY OF RACIAL HEALING IN COOK COUNTY
WHEREAS, on the day after Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, a National Day of Racial Healing marks a time to contemplate our shared values and role in addressing racism’s present consequences; and
WHEREAS, the National Day of Racial Healing brings racial awareness to schools, libraries, parks and recreation centers, faith communities, local businesses, foundations and nonprofits, healthcare settings, artists and content creators, policymakers and decisionmakers; and
WHEREAS, this national event was created by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation on the foundation of the Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation (TRHT) initiative, a comprehensive community-driven effort to bring about transformational and sustainable change while addressing the historic and contemporary effects of racism; and,
WHEREAS, racial healing takes more than one day and requires that we acknowledge that racism affects all of us, whether we are aware of it or not, at school and jobs, when renting and shopping, visiting a doctor or trying to access healthy food, in interactions with the police, and in our social interactions and policies; and
WHEREAS, racial trauma and mental illness can form as the result of racism, racial inequality and forms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD); and,
WHEREAS, according to the National Center for PTSD, racial trauma can be defined as the cumulative traumatizing impact of racism on a racialized individual, which can include individual acts of racial discrimination combined with systemic racism, and typically includes historical, cultural, and community trauma; and,
WHEREAS, according to Mental Health America, direct traumatic stressors include all direct traumatic impacts of living within a society of structural racism and/or the impact of individual racist attacks such as being heavily policed, barriers to home ownership due to inequitable policies, physical and verbal attacks, or other microaggressions; and,
WHEREAS, minorities substantially have lower odds of treatment-seeking for PTSD-related symptoms, supporting the need for racial healing; and,
WHEREAS, according to the US Department of Justice’s National Crime Victimization Survey, blacks experience higher levels of violent victimization than any other racial group, causing layers of trauma; and,
WHEREAS, hate crimes have more than doubled since 2014, with 324 hate crimes reported in 2023 across Illinois, of which 55% were related to race or ethnicity; and
WHEREAS, racial healing recognizes the need to tell the truth about past wrongs created by individual and systemic racism, and to address the historic and contemporary effects of individual and systemic racism in communities and institutions; and
WHEREAS, racial healing is part of community, organizational, and systems transformation; and
WHEREAS, racial healing is defined as an ongoing process of restoring individuals and communities to wholeness, repairing damage caused by racism, facilitating trust, building authentic relationships, building bridges of divides amongst all; and,
WHEREAS, racial healing is at the core of racial equity and an opportunity to speak openly and hear the truth about past wrongs and the negative impacts created by individual and systemic racism; and,
WHEREAS, Cook County United Against Hate inspires individual and organizations to publicly denounce hate, create welcoming spaces, support community learning, and take action to disrupt hate; and
WHEREAS, in 2022 Cook County created a $100 million Equity Fund to address historic and continued disinvestment, inequities, and structural barriers that have negatively impacted Black, Latino, and other marginalized residents and which prevent the meaningful advancement of equity in Cook County; and
WHEREAS, in 2020, Cook County Board of Commissioners passed the Justice for Black Lives Resolution to invest additional resources in housing, health care, mental health, restorative justice, job creation, public, transit, evictions/foreclosure, and contract compliance.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the President of the Cook County Board of Commissioners and the Cook County Board of Commissioners do hereby declare January 21, 2025 the National Day of Racial Healing in Cook County; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, Cook County commits to the educational, social, mental and overall well-being of all residents, the process of racial healing, investing in communities most impacted by racist structures that limited opportunities for children and families, and to working to reverse the generational impacts of racist institutions and individuals; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be tendered as a token of awareness, involvement, and action in which the President of the Cook County Board of Commissioners and the Cook County Board of Commissioners encourages participation in racial healing as often as possible, using this annual event to reflect on our shared values, and creating a collaborative blueprint for how we collectively heal from the effects of racism.
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