Governor Gavin Newsom announced his appointments to the first Racial Equity Commission for the State. Among his appointments is Bakersfield’s local, Traco Matthews. Matthews is the Chief Health Equity Officer at Kern Health System, a pastor, and a community advocate.
“At this moment of national reckoning on racial justice, I’m proud to appoint these diverse leaders to advise our ongoing work to ensure that all our communities have a fair shot at achieving the California dream,” said Newsom in the press release.
According to the release, the plan of the commission is to advance racial equity, address structural racism and provide assistance to governments.
Kern Sol News spoke with Matthews about his position on the commission and what it means to him.
- What does being a part of this racial equity commission mean to you, and can you discuss the importance of having central valley representation on this board?
- I’ll give two responses. It is, to me personally, just incredibly meaningful and significant and important. And part of the reason is because just the establishment of a Racial Equity Commission, I think it may possibly represent the first time, not just in Californian history, but in American history, that those two words, race, and equity, have been formally recognized and acknowledged by a government, state government, or federal government. So, just to know that the state of California, before we’ve gotten any outcomes or done any research or any work in this space, they set aside money, dollars. To me, that’s a testament to them putting their money where where Governor Newsom’s mouth has been for the last few years… and that’s often the first step toward sustainable change…I think of the struggles that my great-grandfather went through fighting in World War I, but then coming back and living the rest of his life in a nation that did not pursue equity and really a false sense of equality.I think of my grandfather, who fought World War II and won freedom for many people across the pond in Germany but then came back and couldn’t vote for 20 years and was part of the first civil rights movement and, throughout that process, experienced many macro and microaggressions. No one ever talked about equity. No one ever said anything. A lot of times, even really about equality. We had to fight for both.
- Now, for the Central Valley, I think there’s a whole additional slice and angle because I think in a state where we are really just a minority in terms of population, often the resources that are shared are prioritized for areas that have more people, not for us. We don’t get first dibs on most of the different things and resources that the state is handing out. That’s really kind of a double hit for minorities in the Central Valley. Whether it’s black folks, whether it’s immigrants, farm workers, Latinx folks, or people in the LGBTQ+ community. No one really thinks about us. So, you end up kind of being this double minority just by virtue of our region. In addition to, sometimes your race or your sexual orientation, gender identity, or whatever else might make you kind of less privileged and not have as much power… So, the fact that they would look at the south part of the Central Valley is unique, significant, and meaningful to me.
- Now, for the Central Valley, I think there’s a whole additional slice and angle because I think in a state where we are really just a minority in terms of population, often the resources that are shared are prioritized for areas that have more people, not for us. We don’t get first dibs on most of the different things and resources that the state is handing out. That’s really kind of a double hit for minorities in the Central Valley. Whether it’s black folks, whether it’s immigrants, farm workers, Latinx folks, or people in the LGBTQ+ community. No one really thinks about us. So, you end up kind of being this double minority just by virtue of our region. In addition to, sometimes your race or your sexual orientation, gender identity, or whatever else might make you kind of less privileged and not have as much power… So, the fact that they would look at the south part of the Central Valley is unique, significant, and meaningful to me.
- If you had a magic wand with three wishes to directly impact racial equity in the central valley– what would they be?
- So the first one, of course, is it’s part of my job, so it would be health care if I could tomorrow fix all of the racial inequities and disparate outcomes for minorities in Kern, the entire Central Valley, or the state. My God, I sure would. I would certainly do that right away. I certainly believe that a lot of the work that we will do will be in that space. So, I’m honored that I get to work in that space every single day, at least for residents in Kern County who need help the most.
- The next one, I would say, is education. I worked at the county Office of Education for some years because that was my passion. I want to see those gaps [racial inequities] closed. Here in Kern County and in Bakersfield, but across the state. Dr. Barlow, who was a good friend of mine, one of the things that she did in 2019, and I was very pleased with it; she launched the Equity Symposium. It was actually kind of seen as bold and brazen and innovative at the time just because of where we happened to live…She would always say your zip code should not be a factor in the quality of education that you get and, ultimately, your educational outcomes. I believe in that 100%. But we know that because of different resourcing and different levels of funding, that is the reality today. So, for too many impoverished kids who are struggling with food insecurity or lots of other social drivers of health issues and challenges, they just don’t have the same opportunities as students who live in other places.
- The final one, which for me is a lifelong goal, comes to economics, social economics. The one singular thing that I see across all sectors, so you know really if you look at it, it is poor people that struggle with social determinants of health on and can’t get well on whether they’re Black, Hispanic, farmworker, whatever, they’re just poor, and that’s the issue. When it comes to education, they’re poor, and they go to poor schools, under-resourced schools. It’s not their fault that the funding formulas and the way that everything works. Nobody says I want to grow up in a poor household or in a poor family. As you move into the workplace, I’ve seen it as well. Wealth begets wealth. There are many entrepreneurial opportunities and economic opportunities that Black folks, Hispanic folks, and poor folks just don’t have the opportunity to take advantage of or leverage just because they’re poor. So to me, if I could find a way to equalize through equity in socioeconomic outcomes and in wealth, that would be a glorious day in my book.
- Many businesses in recent years have adopted a DEI board. However, those boards are not always put to use. Ideally, what is the role of a DEI board, and how can businesses keep the integrity of those boards?
- I think the role of a DEI board or equity commission or whatever is first really to bring awareness to the fact that despite best intentions, often despite best efforts, there are still huge disparities. You know, not everyone is doing okay; some people are really, really struggling. The assumption is that when those disparities are brought to light, then everyone, because they do care about all the folks in their place of work or all of the people in their community, in their city, in the ward, it should drive action. To say oh my goodness, these people don’t have food; how is this possible? How do we get them food? How do we get them healthcare? How do we get them education? How do we make sure that they are able to leverage the economic opportunities that are so abundant here in this region or in this workplace? We make good money; let’s make sure everyone gets part of that good money. So, that’s what the role should be is an awareness that drives and triggers heart change in organizations. And sometimes policy change because sometimes that awareness also brings to light, oh my God, our laws are doing this to us. So maybe we need to change some of the laws, maybe we need to change some of the regulations so that they are more equitable and ultimately bring about stronger equality.
- The second piece is, in my opinion, the reason that often they’re not super effective is because a lot of times there’s not really a whole lot of accountability. You can see that because often you know there’s not really a high level of prioritization, and you can tell the level of prioritization from almost any organization or any entity by how well it’s resourced. So what you think is important that’s what you pay for. So, if folks aren’t paying for DEI fidelity and integrity, then chances are it’s not a super high priority. Therefore, it’s one of the first things to fall by the wayside when things get scrunched, when things get tight, when other priorities come crashing like they always do; conflicting priorities, DEI usually ends up not being the one that rises to the top.
- While California and the central valley are very diverse, racism and discrimination are still very prevalent in many people’s everyday lives. While working with this commission and as a community, what do you think it would take for people not to have to worry about these issues as much, especially in the workplace?
- I think it will take a different organizational culture for most organizations, corporate companies, non-profit organizations, and government entities. A lot of folks take a lot of action, and they like to give themselves kudos because they have a DEI charter, or they have a DEI program, or they might even have a DEI officer. The analogy that I used (when speaking at events) I said that’s not good enough anymore; it has never been. What is good enough is, do your people feel it? Freedom is only freedom when it’s realized, and DEI is only effective when people feel a stronger sense of belonging. When Black and Brown folks in the Central Valley who have for generations experienced racism or marginalization or just invisibility, they haven’t been seen. It’s going to take the courage of organizational leaders and elected officials and everybody else to come out sometimes and just say ‘We see you and we want you to feel a sense of belonging’.
- What does racial equity look like to you?
- Racial equity looks like belonging across every sector of society, for every resident, for every individual, for every person. Some people call it the American Dream, and some people call it a house, a good job, or middle-class income. The word that I have used for the last seven years for myself is just inheritance. That means wherever I go, I feel that people actually want me to belong, want me to be successful, and are doing that from a place of choice, not because the state forced them to. They actually love me, they care about me, and that’s what that inheritance looks like to me. I think that systems can do it just like individuals can do it. I think that the state can say to every Black person who lives here today or has ever lived here, ‘we do love you, we see the pain that you’ve gone through, and we’re going to make it right. We care’… To me, that’s what racial equity looks like. It means every person has the opportunity to achieve that inheritance in the great state of California.
