Republican tries to strike word 'racial' from commission that addresses racial disparities
A Republican lawmaker, who came under fire earlier this month for sending an email to an Asian American woman calling COVID-19 the ‘China virus,’ attempted to remove the word “racial” from a legislative panel set up to address racial disparities.
Freshman state Rep. Michael Lemelin, a Republican from Chelsea, is a member of the legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee. During a work session earlier this month, Lemelin caused confusion among his colleagues on the committee when he made a muddled attempt to change the purview of the Permanent Commission on the Status of Racial, Indigenous and Maine Tribal Populations.
The panel, signed into law in 2019, is tasked with understanding where and how the state’s existing policies exclude or reinforce the economic disparities seen in communities of color, including Indigenous and new immigrant populations, and then advocate for policies that center those communities.
On April 13, the committee was considering a resolution proposed by state Sen. Anne Carney (D-Cape Elizabeth) that would direct the permanent commission to study racial disparities in access to prenatal care in Maine.
Read more: https://mainebeacon.com/republican-tries-to-strike-word-racial-from-commission-that-addresses-racial-disparities/