SLU study finds racial equity tools can affect public policy
In the wake of Michael Brown’s death in 2014, and again after the 2020 murder of George Floyd, cities and counties across the United States pledged to do more to address systemic racism.
Many used tools to help them view policy changes through a racial equity lens of how they might affect minority communities. Now, a new study from St. Louis University finds two of those tools, Government Alliance on Race and Equity and PolicyLink, seem to have led governments to adopt policies that could help undo some of the effects of centuries of racism.
Sidney Watson, a law professor at SLU and director of the law school’s Center for Health Law Studies, said the decision by cities and counties to use the tools shows they are taking racial equity seriously.
“Making the decision to work with a racial equity tool is a commitment at the city level or the county level to do the work around racial equity,” she said. “It’s both a symbolic point, but also getting down and rolling up your sleeves and doing the work.”
https://news.stlpublicradio.org/government-politics-issues/2021-12-27/slu-study-finds-racial-equity-tools-can-affect-public-policy