Washington

Native Candidates Win Big In Washington State Elections

November 9, 2015 Matt Remble, www.lrinspire.com Create! Elections, Native Americans, Washington

By Matt Remble for LRInspire - On November 3rd, Native American candidates won in several statewide races, included Debora Juarez (Blackfeet) who became the first Native American to win a seat on the Seattle City Council. Joining Juarez in another Seattle first, was the election of Scott Pinkham (Nez Perce) to the Seattle School board. Pinkham is believed to be the first Native American elected to serve on the school board. North of Seattle, in Bellingham, Roxanne Murphy (Nooksack) was re-elected to the Bellingham City Council. In 2014, Murphy sponsored the “Coast Salish Day” resolution to replace the Federal holiday Columbus Day for the city of Bellingham.

Cafeteria Union Workers Demand Restaurant Employees Get Better Pay

October 31, 2015 Clark Mindock, www.ibtimes.com Resist! D.C., Unions, Wages, Washington, Washington D.C., Worker's Rights

By Clark Mindock of IBTimes - U.S. Senate aides brown-bagged their lunches this week in support of cafeteria workers on Capitol Hill hoping to unionize. The aides were aligning themselves with a broader push by federally contracted workers to unionize and demand higher wages in one of the most expensive cities in the country. Senate cafeteria workers associated with the movement have alleged that the company contracted to provide meals in the underbelly of the Capitol has illegally retaliated against their organizing efforts. The workers are employed by private employer Restaurant Associates, which is contracted to run a subsidized business that feeds senators and their staff.

D.C.’s Public-Camping Ban Dooms Occupy Suit

August 29, 2015 Jack Bouboushian, www.courthousenews.com Resist! D.C., Occupy, Washington

By Jack Bouboushian in Courthouse News - Two Occupy protesters arrested for pitching their tent outside the offices of Merrill Lynch cannot sue the District of Columbia, the D.C. Circuit ruled. Samuel Dukore and Kelly Canavan were members of the Occupy movement in Washington, D.C. In February 2012, they were part of a group of about four dozen protesters who set up tents outside Merrill Lynch's office to "occupy" public space outside the wealth-management firm as a protest against financial inequality in the United States. D.C. law requires the mayor's permission, however, to "set up, maintain, or establish any camp or any temporary place of abode in any tent" on public property. Most of the protesters disassembled their tents when police threatened to arrest them, but Dukore and Canavan defied the officers' orders, reassembled their tent and continued their protest.

BLM Opposes DC Mayor’s Increase In Policing

August 28, 2015 Eugene Puryear & Sean Blackman, www.PopularResistance.org Resist! Austerity, Community, DC, Police abuse, Racism, Washington

By Eugene Puryear & Sean Blackman for Stop Police Terror - Mayor Muriel Bowser has released her plan addressing the spike in crime. Stop Police Terror and many others, have stated, she is headed in the wrong direction. In her framing she states the plan is “comprehensive.” Translated from politician-speak that means it contains “something for everyone.” Stop Police Terror has some serious concerns particularly about the massive increase in police presence and expansion of police powers. Much of what Bowser proposes is based on spurious information. Tougher penalties for crimes on public transit is a strategy that simply will not work. One of the principal studies on the effect of more severe penalties concluded: “the studies reviewed do not provide a basis for inferring that increasing the severity of sentences generally is capable of enhancing deterrent effects.” Stop Police Terror rejects this mass incarceration approach to criminal justice that has been proven by the academic and anecdotal evidence to be unsound.

Journey For Justice March From Selma To DC

August 5, 2015 Alvin Benn, www.montgomeryadvertiser.com Resist! D.C., Montgomery, Selma, Washington, Washington D.C.

By Alvin Benn in The Montgomery Advertiser - Protest marches have been part of Selma’s civil rights fabric since 1965, but an 860-mile trek to Washington had a minister leaning on the Bible for heavenly support Saturday. The Rev. Theresa Dear noted the magnitude of what lies ahead, but never doubted that the “40-day-and-40-night” march will be successful. “We are doing something of biblical proportions,” said Dear, just before a program ended in the shadow of the Edmund Pettus Bridge so that march could begin. Sponsored by the NAACP, “America’s Journey for Justice” is scheduled to extend through eastern seaboard states before ending in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 15. Saturday’s event in Selma drew political and religious leaders from around the country and, while the turnout didn’t come close to some predictions, organizers were still optimistic.

30,000 Teachers Walk Out In Protest Of Big Class Sizes

June 6, 2015 Mario Vasquez, www.inthesetimes.com Resist! Education, Seattle, Teachers, Washington

By Mario Vasquez in In These Times - On Tuesday, May 19, thousands of demonstrators marched through downtown Seattle to support a rolling strike by public school teachers across Washington state. The teachers are protesting what they say are unacceptably high class sizes and low pay, stemming from their state legislature’s failure to fully fund public education. Six thousand teachers and supporters from Seattle Public Schools and the nearby districts of Mercer Island and Issaquah shut down intersections for blocks in the largest coordinated action since the rolling walkout began on April 22. In total, at least 30,000 teachers in 65 striking school districts have participated in one-day strikes.

Mothers Going To Washington DC To March Against Police Brutality

May 7, 2015 John Zangas, www.dcmediagroup.us Resist! Mothers, Obama, police brutality, Racial Justice, Washington

Moms are coming to Washington DC to tell the Obama Administration a few things: their children are the nation’s children and they don’t want to lose any more of their sons and daughters to police violence. Over 50 mothers who have lost children to police violence plan to rally and speak at the Department of Justice to remind America their pain is her pain. Her healing can not come without an end to police killings. They are coming to say there should not be another mother to bury their child because of police brutality. The Million Mom March on Washington will walk from Mt. Vernon Square in Washington DC to the Department of Justice on May 9th, adding yet more authenticity to the Black Lives Matter Movement.

Charges Against Sawant Dismissed In #Fightfor15 Protest

May 3, 2015 Daniel Beekman, www.seattletimes.com Resist! Fight for 15, Kshama Sawant, Living Wage, Washington

A SeaTac city judge abruptly ended the disorderly-conduct trial of Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant and two others Friday, dismissing all charges against the three defendants, who were arrested during a minimum-wage demonstration. The defense didn’t need to call witnesses and the jury didn’t deliberate because Judge Ann Danieli terminated the trial moments after prosecutors rested their case. Danieli agreed with a defense lawyer, who argued the prosecutors had failed to present sufficient evidence that Sawant, the Rev. John Helmiere and airport worker Socrates Bravo engaged in disorderly conduct by intentionally blocking traffic. Testimony from police officers showed that it was police who blocked traffic on International Boulevard in the minutes before Sawant, Helmiere and Bravo were arrested, the judge said.

The 15-Dollar Minimum Wage & The Broader Struggle Against Capital

April 25, 2015 Eoin Higgins, www.medium.com Strategize! Living Wage, Politics, Washington

Across the United States, the campaign for raising the minimum wage to 15 dollars is gaining momentum. From cities such as traditionally left wing Olympia, Washington, to more moderate Atlanta, Georgia, activists are pushing for better wages- and they’re starting to win the debate. But will a higher minimum wage really change that much for the average American? It’s unlikely unless the struggle is broadened beyond the scope of the minimum wage in the United States. To explore this further, let’s start with a hypothetical future scenario of the results of the domestic struggle. Once the groundswell of activism in favor of the 15-dollar minimum wage becomes too great to ignore, the concept will begin to be taken seriously by leading pundits. Leaders from Socialist Alternative, such as Seattle’sKshama Sawant, will be ignored in the mainstream media.

Marijuana Activists Are Chaining Themselves To ‘Liberty Pole’

April 21, 2015 Perry Stein, www.washingtonpost.com Resist! D.C., Marijuana, Statehood, Washington, Washington D.C.

At the very deliberate time of 4:20 a.m. Wednesday, dozens of D.C. marijuana activists arrived at the Mall. They put on some music, constructed a 42-foot “liberty pole,” and chained themselves to it. “Chained to this pole, I feel more free than I have in my memory,” said protester David Keniston. “We are living democracy right now.” Led by the DC Cannabis Campaign, the organization that spearheaded efforts to legalize marijuana in the city, the nearly week-long vigil in which city activists decry congressional meddling into local D.C. affairs began Wednesday. The activists decided to start the around-the-clock protest on April 15, Tax Day, because, as the city’s license plates say, the District has “taxation without representation.”

Grassroots Activists In D.C. Take On A Corporate Titan

April 15, 2015 Joan Shipps, www.huffingtonpost.com Organize! D.C., Electricity, Grassroots, Washington, Washington D.C.

Exelon is America's largest producer of nuclear power. But its plants are several decades old now, and getting expensive to maintain. And the increasing cost competitiveness of solar means Exelon's nuclear offerings just aren't as appealing to consumers anymore. How's the owner of an aging fleet of nuclear reactors support to ingratiate itself to profit-hungry shareholders in the face of looming obsolescence? Buy up America's energy distribution network, piece by piece, and then sell itself its own power. Well, that was Exelon's initial plan, and it was working pretty well for a while. Over the last several years and without substantial opposition, Exelon expanded in size and geographic scope by acquiring several major regulated utility companies, including Baltimore Gas & Electric, Illinois' Commonwealth Edison, and the Philadelphia Electric Company.

Justice League NYC Begins March To Washington, D.C.

April 14, 2015 CBS New York, www.newyork.cbslocal.com Resist! Direct Action, New York City (NYC), police brutality, Washington

A group of activists calling for criminal justice reform began a 250-mile trek on foot from Staten Island to Washington, D.C., on Monday. Justice League NYC’s March2Justice is scheduled to culminate April 21 with a rally and concert at the National Mall. The goal is to deliver to lawmakers a package of proposed legislation aimed at ending racial injustice and police-related deaths like Eric Garner’s, CBS2’s Diane Macedo reported. “This is why we march. We march for Michael Brown. We march for Eric Garner,” Assemblyman Michael Blake, D-Bronx, told marchers. “We march ’cause Walter Scott was just trying to get awayand got shot in the back.”

Who Is Kymone Freeman?

January 26, 2015 Marsha Coleman-Adebayo, www.blackagendareport.com Educate! D.C., Ferguson, Racial Justice, Washington, Youth

Papi Kymone Freeman (guerrilla artist) is one of the leaders of #DC Ferguson, an organization devoted to exposing police terror in the Washington, DC area. Kymone, alone with Eugene Puryear, Salim Adafo and Kenny Nero have led non-violent demonstrations that have shut down major economic arteries in the nation’s capitol. Kymone is the director of the National Black LUV Festival that has since become the largest annual AIDS mobilization in Washington, DC. He has authored a collection of poetry entitled Blood.Sweat.Tears. Kymone is in the process of completing a one-man show called “Whites Only,” a show where, according to Kymone “white folks can witness an angry Black man in therapy from the sanctuary of their seat.”

Homeless For The Holidays – McPherson Park — Part I

January 1, 2015 John Zangas, www.dcmediagroup.us Educate! D.C., Holiday, Homelessness, Washington, Washington D.C.

They occupy alleys and benches, the side doorways of office buildings and dead spaces behind dumpsters. They hobble along sidewalks, looking for change, food and clothing. “Can you spare quarters, dimes, nickels?” A homeless man asks each night near McPherson Park. Others linger near the metro entrance waiting for the van from Martha’s Table to serve dinner. By the thousands, Washington, DC bears witness to the displaced who congregate in its parks and sidewalks. They wait for meals and clothing that are delivered by civic groups after the last of the rush hour traffic has dribbled back to the suburbs.

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