When Milwaukee County Executives made their decision to declare racism a public health crisis, it was made due to the significant health disparities for Milwaukee County residents along racial lines. This not only impacts those part of the racial lines but the community health overall (“Milwaukee County Passes Ordinance to Advance Racial Equity and Improve Health Outcomes").

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In 2020, the County Health Rankings had shown that Milwaukee County is ranked 71 out of 72 counties for health disparities in the state of Wisconsin. This could be due to 2019 data from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS), which found that a white person in Milwaukee County lives, on average, 14 years longer than a Black person (“Milwaukee County Passes Ordinance to Advance Racial Equity and Improve Health Outcomes"). This is over a decade difference, and an 8-year difference compared to the Wisconsin average (“Racism and the Wisconsin Idea"). The DHS data also showed that the infant mortality rate is nearly three times higher for Black infants than for white infants. This means that there is an average of 14.2 deaths per 1,000 births of a Black infant, compared to the rate of 4.8 deaths per 1,000 births for white infants (“Milwaukee County Passes Ordinance to Advance Racial Equity and Improve Health  Outcomes"). It was as well seen during the Covid-19 pandemic how real racial disparities are. During the pandemic, African Americans comprised 52% of Covid-19-related deaths, while making up 52% of covid related deaths, while making up only 26 percent of the County's population (“Milwaukee County Passes Ordinance to Advance Racial Equity and Improve Health Outcomes").

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These health disparities were the noted reasons why Milwaukee County Executives decided to declare racism a public health crisis, however, there can be other notable signs of racism in Milwaukee County. Those other signs are systematic, and they are incarceration rates, poverty levels, segregated housing laws, and evictions.