During Pandemic, Louisville Mayor Declares Racism a Public Health Crisis

There’s nothing like using the language and zeitgeist of a global pandemic to hop on your soap box and virtue signal to your constituents. At least, we assume that’s what was going through the mind of Louisville, Kentucky Mayor Greg Fischer when he signed an executive order on Tuesday proclaiming racism a public health crisis.

“This order lays out in stark terms the societal, economic, physical and mental health impacts of racism on not just Black Louisville, but all the people of our city,” Fischer said before admitting that his order doesn’t actually do anything to change any of that.

“Of course, we can’t change America by ourselves, but we can show America how a city can change itself,” he said. “We can channel the energy from the pain we’ve experienced and take ourselves from tragedy to transformation.”

Well, those are definitely words.

“For too many Louisvillians, racism is a fact of daily life, a fact that was created and documented in our country’s laws and institutional policies like segregation, redlining, and urban renewal,” Fischer said. “Laws and policies that restrict the freedom of all Americans to exercise their constitutional rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

Fischer either was unable to or unwilling to provide examples of government-enforced segregation occurring in Louisville in the year 2020, but we’re sure that was just an oversight.

“Fischer on Tuesday laid out a plan targeting seven areas for the city’s elected officials and residents, including public safety, support for children and families, Black employment, Black wealth, housing and neighborhood investment, health and voting,” reports The Hill. “The mayor’s office on Tuesday announced a slate of projects and initiatives within each of the categories, ranging from recruiting ‘a police chief to build a culture of guardianship and corresponding budget reallocation’ for city law enforcement to assisting Black-owned businesses and providing additional COVID-19 ‘testing in the Black community.’”

Naturally, the order also calls for expanding early voting and mail-in balloting. Don’t think that these Democrats are confused about how they managed to pull off the impossible last month. We doubt that the mayor’s order is going to do a single thing to “cure racism,” but those initiatives alone will certainly help his party continue to win elections and drive the city into a deeper hole of despair.

To which, of course, the answer will be to cry racism and do it all again!