2020-06-25-LHRC-min - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

Town of Lexington,Human Rights Committee Meeting Thursday,June 25,2020 Virtual Public Meeting 9:31-11:17 Present Committee Members: Monami D. Roy (Chair), Tanya Gisolfi (Vice Chair), Georgia Swann (Clerk), James Barry (Police Department), Fuang Ying Huang, Melissa Interess (Town Manager's Office Member/Human Services Department), Scott Bokun (School Department Member), Cleveland Coats Liaisons and Guests: Scott Bokun (School Committee Liaison), Jill Hai (Board of Selectmen Liaison), Valerie Overton (LexPride Liaison), Aidan Evelyn (Police Department Liaison), Christina Lin (PPC Liaison), Jodi Finnegan (Guest), Carissa Black(Guest), Colette Powell (Guest), Debbie Armstrong (Guest), Deborah Strod (Guest), Glenn Parker (Guest), Barry Orenstein (Guest), Katie O'Hare Gibson (Guest), Kristen Arena (Guest), Marcia Butman (Guest), Miranda Clarke (Guest), Nancy Brodsky (Guest), Reginald Murphy (Guest), Giulia Sorcini (Guest), Catherine Reilly (Guest). I. Welcome Statement on activity in town and the desire of Lexington residents to talk about racism and systemic inequities. "If we want to understand even a little,the experience of our neighbors and some of our children it requires us to focus on what it is they are actually communicating." Tanya Gisolfi,Vice Chair. The committee cannot fix racism but with the help of the community we can support making Lexington a better place to live through support, suggestions and anti-racist programming. 2. Issues surrounding Race: Possible Next Steps • Support of potential Board of Health work on Racism as a Public Health Issue • MDR: Disparity exists in Lexington in health outcomes by race, for example Black residents were overrepresented in COVID cases in town (6% of cases vs the 1-1.5% of residents). Board of Health is looking into declaring Racism a Public Health Crisis • MI: Has spoken to BOH about bringing together other stake holders like Human Services who would be interested in working on the issue. • Public comment from Deborah Strod: Has been leading effort on working with the BOH. Began by asking SB and BOH to declare racism a public health issue. The effort begins with asking the question and getting the data on how residents are affected by systemic racism. The desire is to learn about different ways that systemic racism affects health outcomes and related to COVID exposure 1625 MASSACHUSETTS AVENUE•LEXINGTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02420