Louisville May Become Latest City to Declare Racism a Public Health Crisis

The report also found that in 2016, the unemployment rate among Black residents was 11 percent, compared with 5 percent for white residents, and the mortality rate for Black infants was 2.5 times higher than for white babies, from 2011 through 2015.

“When someone doesn’t look at racism and equity every day like I do, it can be hard to connect those dots,” Mr. Boyd said. “So that’s why if we declare racism and racist attitudes and racist structures as part of this overall public health crisis, we can see how racism literally can kill people.”

Mr. Boyd said that the coronavirus pandemic and the recent protests for racial justice sparked by police killings of Black people — including Ms. Taylor in Louisville and George Floyd in Minneapolis — had given these centuries-old problems new urgency.

Ms. Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency room technician, was shot and killed on March 13 by Louisville police officers who entered her home using a battering ram while executing a search warrant. The police have said that they returned fire when Ms. Taylor’s boyfriend shot an officer in the leg. Several investigations into Ms. Taylor’s killing are underway.

One Louisville officer was terminated in June; two other officers have been placed on administrative reassignment.

On Wednesday morning, the mayor wrote on Twitter that he shared “the frustration at the pace of justice as we all await” the results of the investigations into Ms. Taylor’s killing.

Some residents on social media criticized the proposed declaration, responding to the mayor’s tweet and Facebook post about the news with calls to bring justice for Ms. Taylor’s family. Other residents saw the move as a distraction.