Bill Text: CA ACR37 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 60-0)
Status: (Passed) 2023-09-14 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Res. Chapter 165, Statutes of 2023. [ACR37 Detail]
Download: California-2023-ACR37-Chaptered.html
Assembly Concurrent Resolution
No. 37
CHAPTER 165
Relative to racial discrimination.
[
Filed with
Secretary of State
September 14, 2023.
]
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
ACR 37, Jackson.
United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
This measure would recognize March 21, 2023, as the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, declare racism as a public health crisis, and make antiracist literature available to member offices for distribution to constituents.
Digest Key
Fiscal Committee: NOBill Text
WHEREAS, The United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is observed annually on the day the police in Sharpeville, South Africa, opened fire and killed 69 people at a peaceful demonstration against apartheid in 1960; and
WHEREAS, In 1979, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a program of activities to be undertaken during the second half of the Decade for Action to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination; and
WHEREAS, On that occasion, the United Nations General Assembly decided that a week of solidarity with the peoples struggling against racism and racial discrimination, beginning on March 21, would be organized; and
WHEREAS, Racist acts have created dramatic physical, emotional, and mental harm in millions of residents of California through historical trauma; and
WHEREAS, This harm has contributed to racism, racial stress, racial microaggressions, psychological trauma, historical trauma, and internalized racism; and
WHEREAS, Communities of color are disproportionately impacted by social determinants of health, such as increased exposure to lead, poor air quality, lack of safe places to walk, bike, or run, and inadequate health education; and
WHEREAS, Race is a social construction with no biological basis; and
WHEREAS, Racism is a social system with multiple dimensions, including individual racism, which is internalized or interpersonal, and systemic racism, which is institutional or structural, and is a system of structuring opportunity and assigning value based on the social interpretation of how one looks; and
WHEREAS, Systemic racism unfairly disadvantages some individuals and communities, unfairly advantages other individuals and communities, and depletes the strength of the whole society through the waste of human resources; and
WHEREAS, Racism causes persistent racial discrimination in housing, education, employment, transportation, and criminal justice, and an emerging body of research demonstrates that racism is a social determinant of health; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate thereof concurring, That the Legislature recognizes March 21, 2023, as the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination; and be it further
Resolved, That the Legislature declares racism a public health crisis and will actively participate in the dismantling of racism; and be it further
Resolved, That the Legislature make antiracist literature available to member offices for distribution to constituents; and be it further
Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.
