Hillsborough County Commission reported in 2022 that many Tampa residents believe that the overall health of the minority population is negatively affected by public policies.

The Hillsborough county commission initially declared racism as a #publichealth crisis in a unanimous vote on September 16, 2020. The action was highly contested at the time, and public opinion is still divided on the matter.

Chairman Les Miller, Jr., the only black member of the commission, said, "it appears to be a political move… and that's not right," stating that "this should not be about politics." The resolution was suggested to Commissioner Pat Kemp by the congregants of the Bible-Based Fellowship Church (BBFC) in Carrollwood, and their Reverend Anthony C. White said that he was "not aware of any role of politics in this."

The resolution came with a ten-item action list to promote equity through all commission-approved policies. This led to Hillsborough's Office of Health Equity releasing the first Hillsborough County Health Equity Profile in July 2021 to discuss disparities in residents' health based on their racial identities. Plan Hillsborough released a 302-page Nondiscrimination and Equity Plan in August 2021. However, after one year, Antoinette Davis (Director of the Justice Ministry at BBFC) believed that more progress needed to be made. She stated that "we can celebrate when actual change comes."

Some people favor racism being classified as a public health crisis and believe it will take a community-wide response to address inequities in health across different racial categories. Opponents argue that while racism is a critical issue, the department of public health should not be in charge of addressing it.

The question up for debate is: Should #racism be categorized as a #publichealthemergency?