Bellingham, Whatcom councils get first looks at possible racial equity commission
A new Whatcom County Racial Equity Commission would be an advisory group composed of elected officials and appointed members who speak for a variety of community interests, including representatives of business and social justice organizations, according to a group that has been laying the groundwork for its formation.
Such a racial equity panel could be modeled after the Bellingham-Whatcom County Commission on Sexual and Domestic Violence, members of Bellingham City Council and the Whatcom County Council learned in separate presentations Monday, July 25, and Tuesday, July 26.
It was their first look at the work of a team from the Chuckanut Health Foundation that has been meeting for nearly two years with community members to develop a framework for a panel to address racial equality as part of a request from County Executive Satpal Sidhu and Bellingham Mayor Seth Fleetwood.
“It’s done nothing but instill growing confidence in that effort,” Fleetwood said in a Monday meeting of the council’s Committee of the Whole.
The group’s work started amid the 2020 summer of racial justice activism that followed the murders of George Floyd and other people of color at the hands of police and vigilantes.
Shu-Ling Zhao of Bellingham gave the presentations, which explained how the committee collected information and developed its proposal after 12 meetings that included Whatcom County residents from every walk of life.
“The end goal ... is that people of all races in Whatcom County live, thrive and belong for who they are, as they are, every day, without fear every day, and that’s the vision of this commission,” Zhao said Monday.
Zhao worked with Heather Flaherty, executive director of the Chuckanut Health Foundation, and Kristina Michele Martens, who is the first Black woman elected to the Bellingham City Council.
She said that such a panel could help change policy to challenge systems of inequity in the public and private sectors, and also help raise awareness about racial injustice in general.
If the proposal for a racial equity commission moves forward, it will need formal approval from the Bellingham and Whatcom County councils, along with an interlocal agreement among Whatcom County’s governing agencies, including its small cities.
“I know it’s taken a long time to get to this point in time, but I think it’s worth it,” Bellingham Councilman Dan Hammill said. “The considerable amount of community feedback and involvement of so many people was really worth it.”
Even though the commission would have no governing authority, Zhao said it could influence those who have the authority to effect change.
For example, she said the commission could examine racial disparities within the Prosecutor’s Office as a “community partner “ or help businesses recruit a more diverse workforce.
“Our advisory bodies, our boards, task forces and commissions can’t legislate but we’d love to create an entity that could be a thinking partner on budget priorities, on policy recommendations, on maybe new policies or modifications to existing policies,” Zhao said.
Bellingham Councilman Michael Lilliquist praised the way that the Chuckanut Health Foundation reached out to a broad range of Whatcom County residents.
“I think this will be a success,” he said. “I do not really see anything in the way. A critical factor is getting buy-in and I think the way you’ve gone about this, community-led and community-owned, you’ve created that buy-in early in the process.”
