Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall doesn’t want to be outdone by the Lori Lightfoots or Gretchen Whitmers of the world so she has declared “racism” a “public health crisis.” Mendenhall and seven members of the city council have signed a joint resolution declaring racism a public health crisis.

“We are publicly acknowledging the existence of a grave inequity many in our community have long experienced” the Tuesday press release from the Mayor’s office reads. “A resolution to declare racism a public health crisis was initially proposed to the City by a group of community leaders who are in or working toward health-related careers, and it was reviewed and approved by both the City’s Human Rights Coalition and the Commission on Racial Equity in Policing.”

“This is an important declaration for us to make as a city” Mendenhall was quoted in the press release. “Not only are we publicly acknowledging the existence of a grave inequity that many in our community have known and experienced for so long, but we are also committing ourselves to the creation of policies and ordinances that are anti-racist.”

Here’s how the press release attempts to explain the connection between racism and health:

Racism directly impacts access to numerous everyday resources, including education, housing, employment, and healthcare. The cascading effects are known to result in negative outcomes for physical and mental health.

Over the course of the pandemic, the impacts of racism on public health and the heavier burden on the City’s communities of color have been well documented.

At the height of the pandemic, odds of infection were three times more likely in Glendale and two times more likely in Rose Park, where there are high percentages of Latino and nonwhite residents.

Additionally, Latino communities account for 14.2% of Utah’s population, but 40% of the state’s COVID-19 cases, and American Indian and Alaskan Native communities in Utah had a case fatality rate that is roughly three times higher than the state average.

President Joe Biden’s senior adviser Cedric Richmond made an asinine comment over the weekend, claiming it’s Republicans who “defunded the police.” Appearing on “Fox News Sunday” with host Chris Wallace, the Biden adviser said guns and the Republican party are to blame for violent crime surges and defunding law enforcement.

“Part of it is a plethora of guns that are flooding the streets of this country, and that’s something that the president wants to deal with” said Richmond in response to being questioned on continuously rising crime rates.

Blaming guns, Richmond said Biden “knows the toll that violence takes on families, and especially gun violence and what it’s doing over the last 18 months in this country.” Wallace played a clip of Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) blaming the “war on police” and decreased prosecution for an increase in police retirements.

Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images

Graham also criticized Biden’s dealing with the crime spike, to which Richmond responded, “Senator Graham doesn’t have a clue.” He then blames republicans: “Let’s talk about who defunded the police. When we were in Congress last year trying to pass…an emergency relief plan for cities that were cash-strapped and laying off police and firefighters, it was the Republicans who objected to it.”

“And in fact, they didn’t get funding until the American Rescue Plan, which our plan allowed state and local governments to replenish their police departments and do the other things that are needed” claimed Richmond.

“Republicans are very good at staying on talking points of who says defund the police, but the truth is, they defunded the police. We funded crime intervention and a whole bunch of other things” added Richmond.

As Daily Wire writes, “the ‘Defund the Police’ movement erupted last summer amid widespread protests and riots over the death of George Floyd. Black Lives Matter activists and Democratic lawmakers pushed for local governments to redirect funding money from law enforcement into social programs aimed at those living in poverty.”