Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) along with Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA07) and Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA13) on Monday reintroduced a bill that seeks to address racism a public health crisis in the United States.

The Anti-Racism Public Health Act takes aim at racial inequity in public health and police violence. 

It seeks to reform public health policy across the nation and create a race-conscious approach to public health. According to the text of the bill, it would amend the Public Health Service Act in order to fund public health research into understanding and eliminating structural racism.

Race clearly plays a large role in how patients are treated across the country. According to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), people of color people are more likely to contract and die from COVID-19 than white people. According to other statistics from the CDC, the same issues are present in maternal and infant mortality rates. The pandemic has only amplified underlying issues in the American public health system. People of color are also disproportionately impacted by chronic health conditions such as diabetes, asthma, hepatitis, and hypertension. They also receive less treatment for these conditions.

“It’s clear that COVID-19 has exacerbated decades of disparities in health outcomes for Black and Brown people,” Warren said.

The bill also creates a National Center for Anti-Racism at the CDC to declare racism as the public health crisis that it is and further develop the research base and knowledge in the science and practice of anti-racism. The Center would be charged with conducting research, collecting data, awarding grants, and educating the public on the health impacts of structural racism. Additionally, it would create at least three regional centers of excellence in anti-racism

The bill would address police violence as a public health crisis and create a dedicated Law Enforcement Violence Prevention Program within the CDC. This program would address the physical and psychological violence perpetrated by law enforcement that too often results in deaths, injuries, trauma, and stress. These issues disproportionately affect people of color and marginalized populations.

“Structural racism is a public health crisis that continues to ravage Black, Brown and indigenous communities, deny us access to quality health care, and exacerbate the longstanding racial disparities in health outcomes,” said Pressley. “To confront and dismantle the racist systems and practices that create these inequities, we need robust, comprehensive research on the public health impacts of structural racism and policy solutions to bring an end to these disparities once and for all. Congress must pass our bill, which is exactly the type of bold, responsive legislation we have a mandate to deliver. Our communities deserve nothing less.”

The bill aims to combat police brutality through a public health approach to addressing structural racism while also introducing an anti-racist approach to public health as a whole.

“The COVID-19 public health and economic crisis has illustrated the painful legacy of systemic racism in our country,” said Congresswoman Lee.

The bill is co-sponsored by more than 40 Members of Congress, including Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC). It is also endorsed by the NAACP and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights.