Kenosha County panel on race and equity debates racism as a public health crisis two years after civil unrest

BRISTOL - Racism is still deemed a public health crisis in Kenosha County, but that might change soon due to a push by some members of the Kenosha County Racial and Ethnic Equity Commission.

The county passed the declaration of racism as a public health crisis on an 18-1 vote on Aug. 4, 2020, partially in response to the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police that triggered nation-wide protests. Kenosha experienced its own unrest later in August 2020 when Jacob Blake was shot in the back by a Kenosha police officer. Days of protesting and rioting followed, including the fatal shooting of two protesters by a teenage gunman, Kyle Rittenhouse.

Now, some leaders want to reverse that declaration, and one member suspects a move underway to dissolve the commission.

A meeting Thursday featured frustration and infighting, and showed that the division and rancor around racial injustice in the county has not meaningfully changed in the two years since Blake was shot.

"We can all say that we want infants to live. We want children to have opportunities and we want Kenosha County to be a leader and not a loser in this area," said Mary Kay Schleiter, 74, urging commissioners not to rescind the declaration.

More than 75 attendees filled the seats of the Kenosha County Center to watch the debate.

65 seconds that tore a community apart: Authorities detail fraught moments when Kenosha police responded to 911 call about Jacob Blake

Xavier Solis — the recently appointed chair of the commission and a Kenosha attorney who represented the group that posted Rittenhouse's bail — commented that “more people here than collectively have been at one of these meetings for almost two years.”

The commission stopped short of rescinding the racism declaration. Instead, it approved a resolution from Supervisor Brian Thomas to gather “all reports, research, data and minutes from meetings” that went into the initial decision to declare racism a public health crisis.

The resolution passed 5-2. Along with Thomas and Solis, Commissioners Duane O’Keefe, Cortney Marshall and Elizabeth Garcia voted for the resolution. Andy Berg and Justin Crosby opposed the measure, while Alayna Arrington abstained.

“I feel like this is an attempt to discredit the work that was done behind us,” said Berg, who is also a County Supervisor.

Thomas said the purpose of his resolution was to help the commissioners get better educated on the work of their predecessors, as most of them were new to the commission.

He indicated that he hoped to see the commission dissolved, though not until its work was completed.

“The purpose (of the commission) wasn't to be an ongoing type of thing,” he said.

After the meeting Berg said he saw the resolution as a first step in a plan to dissolve the commission.

Since it is an advisory body, the commission can only recommend matters such as its own dissolution. The issue would have to be taken up by the Kenosha County Board of Supervisors. But Berg thought it was possible, saying “they have the votes.”

Commission implored not to change declaration about racism

During the public comment period, more than a dozen individuals implored the commission not to change the racism declaration, arguing that the stark racial disparities that existed in Kenosha County in 2020 have not been erased, and in many cases have worsened.

Among the speakers was County Supervisor Laura Belsky, who authored the original declaration. She said the information sought by the Thomas resolution was readily available.

“What's great about our website is it contains all of the data you're looking for, nobody needs to print it off.” Belsky told the commission.

Adelene Greene, a retired county employee and Kenosha resident, described the “abysmal health and economic outcomes for people of color in the county.”

She noted that the Black infant mortality rate was more than four times the rate for white mothers, that white Kenoshans were more than four times as likely as Black Kenoshans to own a home, and described similar gaps in the unemployment rate and the high school graduation rate.

More: Why is the Black infant mortality rate in Wisconsin still three times higher than the white rate?

“My question to you is this, what research have you done, and what evidence do you have to support rescinding this resolution?” Greene said.

One of the two people who spoke in support of rescinding the declaration was Pamela Mundling, 66, who is also a Kenosha resident. Mundling described growing up in the Deep South during Jim Crow segregation, saying that time was a public crisis.

In the present day though, she was more skeptical of the language behind the declaration.

“Yes, there are problems, but to call it a crisis, I’m not sure it is appropriate,” she said.

Troy Landry, 36, another Kenosha resident and supporter of the declaration, spoke about how his parents had trouble finding a house because people did not want to sell to an interracial couple.

He also described how his Black father, now 80, was pulled out of his home by Kenosha police after being mistaken for a 35 year old white man who police were searching for as part of a criminal investigation, provoking gasps from the crowd.

“He endured many bouts of racism right here in the middle of Kenosha County,” Landry said. “The simple answer to the question ‘is racism a public health crisis in Kenosha County?’ is a resounding yes.”

An explosive week for the commission

The commission meeting followed an acrimonious session on July 13 when Berg and Albert Gonzales —  another commissioner and former police officer who fatally shot Michael Bell Jr. in 2004 — got into a heated argument over whether an attendee was allowed to speak about issues not on the agenda that night.

More: Michael Bell wants the bullet Kenosha police fired at his son during a fatal 2004 shooting

After several minutes of yelling, the commissioners eventually stopped when Solis threatened to shut down the meeting.

Berg was subsequently removed from his Chair of the Commissions’ Health Subcommittee, and barred from serving on any subcommittees by Solis. On Facebook, he claimed he received no explanation for this action.

After the July 13 meeting, Solis accused Berg of posting the contact information of the commissioners on Facebook in a violation of their privacy.

Also at issue was Solis’s decision to move the Thursday meeting from a county building in downtown Kenosha, where the commission had always met, to west of Interstate 94, traditionally the dividing line between the more liberal and racially diverse city to the east and the more conservative and white towns to the west.

Solis described the previous meeting site, at the Kenosha County Job’s Center, as a “disaster” because of issues with the microphones.

“I think it's a reaction to what happened last Thursday,” Berg said of the move, referencing his shouting match with Gonzales. He described the move of the meeting location, along with his removal from a commission subcommittee as “retaliatory.”

Anthony Kennedy, an alderman in Kenosha, organized transport through Facebook to bring Kenosha residents to the meeting.

“They thought if they changed the location we will not show up. Prove them wrong!” he wrote.

The commissions next meeting is August 17th at 6 p.m.

Nathaniel Rosenberg can be reached at NRosenberg@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Kenosha County panel on race and equity debates crisis of racism