Racism is a public health crisis in Buncombe County.
County health and government officials testified to that fact in a pair of resolutions passed this summer promising action to address glaring health inequities as the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted those differences across the country.
Six and eight months after those resolutions were signed, on the tail end of a spike in COVID-19 cases and during a once-in-a-generation vaccination effort, those on the front lines say it s a promising start, but there s still plenty to do. We re looking at systemic change across all county government, said Stoney Blevins, Buncombe County Health and Human Services Director, who also noted that in July, the county s Justice Resource Advisory Council proclaimed racism a public safety emergency as well, a month before every county commissioner voted in favor of their resolution.
is a “black-person thing.”
Can rising gun violence in Asheville be stopped in its tracks by roughly $200,000 of funding supporting a year of on-the-ground programming? Probably not. But that doesn’t mean community organizations don’t plan to try.
Over the last year, the urgent need to address the interrelated causes and impacts of gun violence, systemic racism and poverty grew even more pressing. In 2020, the Asheville Police Department reported a five-year high for calls related to gun discharges and shootings, the vast majority of which involved Black men. Community members grew tired of witnessing the disproportionate impact of gun violence on their friends and neighbors, explains Tiffany Iheanacho, Buncombe County’s justice services director, prompting county leaders to look for new solutions.