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Seattle: The Demands Of Collective Black Voices At The CHAZ

June 13, 2020 Free Capitol Hill, Medium. , , ,
In credit to the people who freed Capitol Hill, this list of demands is neither brief nor simplistic. This is no simple request to end police brutality. We demand that the City Council and the Mayor, whoever that may be, implement these policy changes for the cultural and historic advancement of the City of Seattle, and to ease the struggles of its people. This document is to represent the black voices who spoke in victory at the top of 12th & Pine after 9 days of peaceful protest while under constant nightly attack from the Seattle Police Department. These are words from that night, June 8th, 2020. For ease of consideration, we’ve broken these demands into four categories: The Justice System, Health and Human Services, Economics, and Education.

The Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, Where Seattle Protesters Gather Without Police

June 12, 2020 By Evan Bush, Seattle Times. , , ,
Welcome to the CHAZ, the newly named Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, where most everything was free Tuesday. Free snacks at the No-Cop Co-op. Free gas masks from some guy’s sedan. Free speech at the speaker’s circle, where anyone could say their piece. A free documentary movie — Ava DuVernay’s “13th” — showing after dark. A Free Capitol Hill, according to no shortage of spray paint on building facades. And perhaps most important to demonstrators, the neighborhood core was free of uniformed police. A new protest society — centered on a handful of blocks in Seattle’s quirky, lefty Capitol Hill — has been born from the demonstrations that pushed the Seattle Police Department out of its East Precinct building.

A Report From The Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone In Seattle

June 12, 2020 It's Going Down. , , ,
The other day, the police announced that they were gathering their things and leaving their precinct. What do you make of this?  This, to be very honest, is anyone’s guess. There are many theories around why they abandoned the precinct. Some feel that they ran out of resources, some feel that it was a politically expedient move on the Mayor’s part. From my perspective-this was a “good” move on the city’s part. They were getting hammered in the press for the nightly tear gas barrages and street clashes, and the crowds never really got smaller. When an active shooter was on the scene, people rushed to the neighborhood to give support.

Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone Forms Around Emptied East Precinct

June 11, 2020 Jake Goldstein-Street and Alex Garland, CapitolHillSeattle.com. , , ,
The first night in the so-called Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone that has formed in the wake of police giving up the week-long blockade of the East Precinct was rainy and peaceful and full of speeches from activists, agitators, poets, and socialist city council members. “I guess whatever the fuck we’re doing is effective,” one organizer identified as Magik said over a megaphone early in the night as police were still clearing the area. “They are going to move up. They are going to get everybody out of here and we are free to move through these streets and protest and march.” “Yesterday we were on 11th and Pine. Today we have victory on 12th and Pine. They tried to stop us!,” another exclaimed.

Elderly And Disabled People Win Victory Against Veolia

November 25, 2019 By Jim McMahan, Stopveoliaseattle.wordpress.com , ,
Disabled and elderly paratransit riders in Seattle have won a victory over the corporate criminal, Veolia corporation, which for years has delivered negligent service to the disabled riding public. King County Metro Transit, which controls the Access Paratransit, just got rid of its contractor, Veolia, after years of public pressure and organizing.  The Stop Veolia Seattle organization worked in solidarity with Access drivers and also had the support of the Boston School Bus Drivers union, United Steelworkers Local 8751.

The Battle Of Seattle, 20 Years Later

November 15, 2019 John Tarleton, Indypendent.org , ,
Early on a cold gray morning 20 years ago this month, a modest procession of people left a church in downtown Seattle heading for the nearby convention center. There were about 80 people in the group. They walked quietly, each person lost in a moment of personal reflection. Above them were bobbed several brightly-painted paper mache monarch butterflies attached to long metal wires, a visual cue for anyone who became separated from the group. The rain-soaked streets were empty yet everyone waited patiently for the lights to turn green so they could cross together.

What Would A City-Level Green New Deal Look Like? Seattle’s About To Find Out

August 17, 2019 Kristoffer Tigue, Insideclimatenews.org , ,
City leaders launched Seattle on the path to a Green New Deal this week, passing a resolution that starts laying out an ambitious plan for how the city can cut its greenhouse gas emissions in ways that protect the climate and improve the lives of its residents. It's a nonbinding resolution, and like the national Green New Deal manifesto that's being promoted by Democrats in Congress, presidential hopefuls and the young activists in the Sunrise Movement, it's still mostly aspirational.

Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee Chapter Starts In Seattle In Wake Of National Prison Strike

November 27, 2018 Seattle IWOC, Itsgoingdown.org , , , ,
This summer we witnessed a prisoner-led struggle for justice on a scale never seen before. Catalyzed by a massacre at Lee Correctional Institution in South Carolina that took the lives of at least seven prisoners, prisoners in seventeen different states went on strike. Participating in work stoppages, hunger strikes, and boycotts, they made a wide range of demands including the abolition of prison slavery, more access to rehabilitation programs, and an end to racist over sentencing and gang enhancement laws. With the boldness of their tactics, they scared prison officials into offering concessions and attempting to contain the resistance through severe, ongoing repression.

94% Of Indigenous Women In Seattle Have Experienced Sexual Violence. We Need To Tell Their Stories.

October 29, 2018 Andrew Schwartz, Inthesetimes.com , ,
Abigail Echo-Hawk came across an unpublished study in 2016, shortly after becoming director of the Urban Indian Health Institute (UIHI). It showed that, of American Indian and Alaska Native women living in Seattle surveyed in 2010, 94 percent reported they had been raped or coerced into sex. More than half were without permanent housing at the time. Some within UIHI were concerned about how the public would receive the data, but Echo-Hawk pushed for a report. It was released in August. Why were some people worried about releasing this data? In the media—whether it be print, TV, movies—Native people are often portrayed as victims, as vanishing. And so there was some hesitancy that this kind of information would just add to that.

Domestic Workers In Seattle Win Most Comprehensive Bill Of Rights In The US

July 30, 2018 Sheila Bapat, Truthout.org , , ,
On July 27, Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan signed into law the city’s domestic workers’ bill of rights. The ordinance, which passed the Seattle City Council unanimously on Monday, establishes protections for the city’s more than 30,000 nannies, caregivers and housekeepers, who have historically been excluded from labor laws. Seattle is now the only city in the United States with a comprehensive domestic workers’ bill of rights. The city joins eight states that have adopted a domestic workers’ bill of rights. Against a grim national backdrop in which traditional labor unions are being drained of any remaining power, the persistence of the domestic workers’ movement throughout the country is indicative of how labor organizing may continue to evolve, incorporating workers’ efforts to exert pressure directly on local policymaking bodies.

Activists Calling For The Abolition Of ICE Blocking Seattle Streets Outside Of Homeland Security Building

June 6, 2018 NWDC Resistance, Thenorthstar.info , , , , , , ,
Seattle, WA – Early yesterday morning, activists with Northwest Detention Center Resistance and Mijente locked down outside of 1000 2nd Avenue in downtown Seattle, Washington, calling attention to the building’s role as Washington State’s deportation epicenter. The building, owned by billionaire developer Martin Selig, houses regional offices for ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations and Office of Chief Counsel, regional offices for Customs and Border Protection, and the Department of Justice-controlled Seattle Immigration Court. The lockdown is part of the launch of the “Chinga La Migra” organizing tour to tell the story of what the deportation crisis under President Trump looks like in real time, and amplify the efforts and stories of resistance.

Ethnic Studies In Seattle: A Look Inside The Classrooms Of Antiracist Educators

May 24, 2018 Jesse Hagopian, Iamaneducator.com , , ,
The Seattle Public Schools recently wrote the below article about the powerful pedagogy of local educators who are piloting a new Ethnic Studies program.  The Ethnic Studies initiative in the Seattle Public Schools is the result of an on going movement that was birthed from the Black Lives Matter At School action last school year.  Building on that action, the Seattle NAACP teamed up with teachers, parents and students to lead a campaign to integrate Ethnic Studies across the school district. The below article highlights the work of several educators in Seattle including Tracy Gill, one of the lead organizers of the movement for Ethnic Studies, and Donte Felder,  head teacher at Orca K-8, who are piloting the new program. My classroom is also featured, the first standalone Ethnic Studies class in the Seattle Public Schools. 

Seattle: Diverse Coalition Emerging Around Public Banking

January 10, 2018 Staff, Publicbankinginstitute.org , ,
Activists as diverse as Black Lives Matter, local tribal members of the Standing Rock Coalition, 350.org, Democratic Socialists, and MLK County Labor council, as well as several experienced bankers, retired government officials and law school professors have coalesced along with Public Banking advocates in Seattle to pressure City Council to move forward on their newly approved $100,000 feasibility study. For those in the Seattle area, join the Seattle Public Banking Coalition here. The Seattle Public Banking Coalition is actively connecting these coalition members to communicate to City Council the urgency of moving forward with the feasibility study. They detail the gains the study would deliver including drafting of a mission statement, examining legal issues, and identifying sources of initial capital...

Seattle: Diverse Coalition Emerging Around Public Banking

January 5, 2018 Sarah Brink, Publicbankinginstitute.org , ,
Activists as diverse as Black Lives Matter, local tribal members of the Standing Rock Coalition, 350.org, Democratic Socialists, and MLK County Labor council, as well as several experienced bankers, retired government officials and law school professors have coalesced along with Public Banking advocates in Seattle to pressure City Council to move forward on their newly approved $100,000 feasibility study. For those in the Seattle area, join the Seattle Public Banking Coalition here. The Seattle Public Banking Coalition is actively connecting these coalition members to communicate to City Council the urgency of moving forward with the feasibility study. They detail the gains the study would deliver including drafting of a mission statement, examining legal issues, and identifying sources of initial capital...

Seattle Municipal Bank–A Future For US All

December 14, 2017 Matt Remle and Nikkita Oliver, southseattleemerald.com , ,
It was in early August 2016, as bulldozers desecrated grave sites and sacred lands along the Cannonball River on the Standing Rock Sioux reservation.  As private security unleashed attack dogs on water protectors, it became clear our efforts to stop the Dakota Access pipeline through our moral, Tribal and environmental arguments were less and less effective. Just one day before the mass desecration, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s historic preservation officer handed to a judge a detailed map of where these burial sites and sacred sites were located.  To Energy Transfer Partners, the Army Corp of Engineers and the State of North Dakota, the destruction of the bones of our ancestors, sacred sites, violation of Treaty rights and the contamination of our drinking water were simply not compelling enough reasons to not build the massive oil pipeline.
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