The first black chairman of the Linn County Board of Supervisors is calling on more leaders to address racial disparities. In the annual State of Linn County address, Supervisor Stacey Walker focused on equity and access in the state’s second largest county.
Speaking to a room of local elected officials, business owners and community leaders on Wednesday, the first black man to lead Linn County said the burden of highlighting institutional racism in the community shouldn't just fall on people of color.
“It is regretful that pointing out the obvious on these matters typically falls to the few leaders of color in our community,” Walker said. “May God speed the day when more of leaders will find the courage to help carry this load. But until then I will be a broken record agitating for change.”
In his speech he said many people of color in Linn County live a starkly different reality than much of the rest of the majority-white community, facing “institutional harms” that leave them poorer and more vulnerable.
“We must all push back against the notion that we have somehow entered a post-racial society, or that economic hardship is proportionately distributed, or that our justice system is without blemish,” Walker said. “We have a long way to go on these issues. And I know this to be true because no person in this room would enthusiastically trade places with any black person in our community.”
According to a state analysis of Census data, the poverty rate among African Americans in Iowa is more than three times the rate among whites.
Records from the state Department of Public Health show the leading cause of death for African Americans aged 15 to 44 years old is “homicide and legal intervention” (killings resulting from interactions with law enforcement officers).
Walker spoke of a young man he met who he said struggled to build a better life for himself and his family, because of a criminal record. The young man was facing an attempted murder charge, but Walker said the man insisted he was innocent, though he couldn't name the perpetrator because of the "street code."
"He talked to me about wanting to get a better job so that he could earn enough to move away from the trauma and chaos that had consumed his life. He wanted better for himself but a criminal record had stymied his social mobility. A member of our staff played with his young son while we chatted," Walker said. "He died just yesterday from complications of a gunshot wound."
Walker is calling on the county to be “brave," and dedicate more resources to breaking cycles of poverty and violence, including helping residents with criminal records re-enter society, improving community relationships with law enforcement officers, reviewing discriminatory policing and sentencing practices, diversifying job applicant pools, and incorporating restorative justice and diversion programs into the local criminal justice system.
