PHOTOS: Hate-Free Delridge ‘standing for peace’ on overpass

4:48 PM: On the Delridge Way pedestrian overpass at SW Oregon, Hate-Free Delridge is keeping its promise of “standing for peace.” The photo above shows the signs and their holders facing southbound traffic; several are facing the northbound lanes too, with signs including “Words Not Warheads” and “Peace and Justice on Earth.” Their plan, as first announced Sunday – with the explanation “We need to be heard. We need to speak out” – is to be here until about 6 pm, and you’re welcome to join them. Lots of honking from passing drivers so far.

(added) Susan Lebow of HFD explains what it’s about:

5:08 PM: More people continue arriving to join the demonstration, all ages including a family with two kids who just walked up.

Added above, a photo of the side facing northbound traffic (some of the signs, political and festival, were hanging on this side long before the event).

5:36 PM: The signs span many sentiments – now from left to right on the NB-facing side, No H8, Peace and Love, Enough!, Black Lives Matter, Abolish Nuclear Weapons, Respect Indigenous Rights, (“no” symbol) Naz, No War No Hate, Words Not Warheads, Hate-Free Zone, “Sure He’s An Ignorant Bigot, But He’s Our Ignorant Bigot, Support Bigot Trump,” No War, Build Unity, Peace and Justice on Earth, and a few with lettering just out of our reading range. The only sound of dissent we’ve heard, hanging out here by the overpass for 45 minutes – someone in a dugout at Delridge Playfield behind us yelled “Trump all the way!” likely out of earshot for those up on the overpass.

6:01 PM: This was scheduled to end about now, but demonstrators are still up on the overpass, and new signs have continued to appear. One that we just noticed says, “We Love You, Heather,” in remembrance of Heather Heyer, the woman killed by the driver who plowed into the counter-demonstrators at the white-supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, last weekend.

6:07 PM: It’s now breaking up. If you’re wondering “what’s next?” we’ve just been told that Hate-Free Delridge and other groups will join West Seattle Neighbors for Peace and Justice in The Junction on Sunday, noon-1 pm, and you’re invited to that gathering too – bring a sign if you want to.

32 Replies to "PHOTOS: Hate-Free Delridge 'standing for peace' on overpass"

  • Smittytheclown August 16, 2017 (5:56 pm)

    Yes, I’ve seen all your tweets.  Are you reporting or promoting?  What would Murrow say?

    • JanS August 16, 2017 (7:18 pm)

      smittytheclown….asking you the same question, or part of it. Are you supporting? Or are you on the other side?

      I see it as reporting. But you know, if you aren’t with the alt-right, you’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t…sigh

      • Smittytheclown August 16, 2017 (8:00 pm)

        Has nothing to do with choosing sides.  Just asking if they are reporters or promoters.  Multiple tweets about the same event.  If felt like promotion of an upcoming event to me Is all.

        • miws August 17, 2017 (5:33 am)

          smittytheclown, if you are the same guy who has posted here for years as “Smitty”, and only more recently as “smittytheclown”,  then you are familiar with how WSB operates, and you know they were simply reporting. 


          Mike

    • seaopgal August 16, 2017 (11:31 pm)

      It’s called live coverage of an ongoing event, surely you’ve seen it here before: for fires and other emergencies, community meetings, Summerfest, the big garage sale thingy, marching band contest, etc. There’s often more than one tweet and/or update, which is great since it gives a much better sense of the overall event rather than just a one-time snapshot.

    • MSD August 17, 2017 (1:09 am)

      I see they’re promoting (not reporting!) the car show as well.  Sad!  Fake news.

      /s

  • West Seattle Hipster August 16, 2017 (6:20 pm)

    100% SUPPORTIVE!

    Wonder what would have happened if they tried that on the Fauntleroy Overpass.  That used to be a great place to show community spirit until some uptight locals got bent out of shape……

  • R WS August 16, 2017 (6:36 pm)

    Can someone PLEASE stop at the park with the statues that people put t-shirts on as you come over the WS bridge up Fauntleroy and take off the Trump t-shirts? I was in the left lane and couldn’t get over once I noticed them. Thank you!!!!!

    • WSB August 16, 2017 (6:45 pm)

      Someone just called us about that. We’re going over to look. By the way, if you’re looking for permission to “dress” the statues – or who to contact if you suspect something awry – it’s now the Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association, no longer the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce, we found out recently. – TR

      • WSB August 16, 2017 (7:11 pm)

        As of 7:05, when we pulled over to look after heading across the bridge and back, nothing on the statues but Nature Consortium/ Arts in Nature Festival promotional shirts and banner. Likely sanctioned since those are DNDA projects – TR

  • Tolerant left August 16, 2017 (6:38 pm)

    Not entirely hate free. There’s a sign calling Trump a bigot, facists. The sign has a pejorative term for Jewish people.

     Ironically espousing hate free but they hate different points of view, republicans, etc. Same ol’ West Seattle.

    • Notsotolerant Right August 16, 2017 (8:45 pm)

      I guess we shouldn’t hate NAZIS…..as it is a different point of view. Shame on you lefty West Seattle. Be more tolerant of those NAZIS! Shame on you for promoting love and peace. Hate and war is just a different point of view. Ironic how you shame it.

    • Mr E August 16, 2017 (10:59 pm)

      Trump does not disavow white supremacists that routinely amplify his statements and tweets. Your dude is as racist as they come, and the rest of his team are saying nothing. The GOP needs to own your racism and anti-semitism.

      • Rusty August 17, 2017 (3:01 pm)

        Wow, I guess you haven’t been paying attention – here’s the link for his last 2 press conferences, where he specifically called out racists, neo-nazis, and white supremacists:

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQYZ-bMpoXU  (8/15 statement) and

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ix3764QIBIc (8/17 statement)

        I don’t know anyone who supports the nazi white-supremacist clowns. I do know lots of folks that support the violent antifa thugs who feel violence is ok – as long as it’s against people they think are nazis. If we can’t condemn ALL violence in response to any speech, whether we deem it ‘hateful’ or not, we are doomed as a free country.

    • Katie August 17, 2017 (2:25 pm)

      Well yeah. In order to spread love and tolerance, once must hate evil (e.g. bigotry, selfishness, greed) and intolerance. Isn’t that kind of obvious?  

      • Rusty August 17, 2017 (7:19 pm)

        So….. obvious. In order to fight hate you have to hate. In order to fight intolerance you must be intolerant…. I hope you see where that is going. Dr. King and Gandhi were way off base with the whole ‘peaceful resistance’ thing….. The best way to show those things for the bankrupt ideology they are is NOT to engage in them yourself, but to rise above it with love and dignity – only then is the choice made plain and obvious.

        • ScubaFrog August 18, 2017 (2:37 am)

          There’s nothing peaceful or tolerant about me Rusty.  Your kind’s going around grabbing our children, throwing them down and calling them “commies”…  That’s something I can’t abide by.  

          If you want to side with Nazis, the KKK and white supremacists, that’s your choice.  Don’t tread on our rights though rusty, don’t drive cars into crowds of people (like ISIS), and don’t you dream of touching our kids.

          • Rusty August 18, 2017 (10:02 am)

            Scuba –

            ‘Your kind’…. ‘side with nazis, kkk and white supremacists’….’your kind… grabbing kids, throwing them down and calling them commies’….. listen to yourself for a minute. What the hell are you talking about, man? You are trying to say that i support these groups, which is patently ridiculous and intellectually lazy. Instead of having an honest discussion – which would include the crazy amount of violence perpetrated in the last year by alt-left groups, you start throwing out wild, spurious and dishonest slander. You are trying to combat hate (legitimate, ignorant hate by despicable racist morons) by throwing out more hate – against anyone willing to actually talk about it. Good luck with that – doesn’t ever end well, but maybe you’re the guy to turn that historical record around.

  • Lolly August 16, 2017 (6:43 pm)

    Thanks for getting out there HFD!  

  • alkistu August 16, 2017 (7:01 pm)

    Actually TL that was a President Trump support sign if you read it to the end. We did not want to hog this public area for our selves. The rest of the signs were about peace and tolerance which is same ol West Seattle. I don’t hate the persons of the Alt right and the people of power that are in a position to speak out against what you are calling bigotry and fascism but don’t. I and others are concerned enough about the safety of our neighbors and others beyond when these aspirations of intolerance effect our conscious and our souls  to join this (righteous action). Come and join Hate Free Delridge if you do not know what we stand for. Then you can say more clearly what we are all about. Peace and love to you and yours.

    • Leigh August 16, 2017 (7:59 pm)

      Alkitsu, how do you go about joining Hate Free Delridge? I’m very interested! 

  • alkistu August 16, 2017 (7:03 pm)

     A video from Sustainable West Seattle

  • molly seaverns August 16, 2017 (9:34 pm)

    so proud to say hate has no home here. stand together and resist racism

  • Sonny August 17, 2017 (1:21 am)

    Thank you West Seattle! West side of the river is the best place to be! 

  • sbre August 17, 2017 (7:15 am)

    People are like M&M’s;   I don’t care what beautiful color they were dipped in, it’s the goodness on the inside that I’m after!

    It’s past time we become color-blind!!! 

    • KBear August 17, 2017 (10:50 am)

      It’s time to stop using the phrase “color-blind” as though it were some sort of free pass around the problem of racism. You are not “color-blind”. You have prejudices. We all do. Claiming to be “color-blind” is a way of saying, “I’m not the problem, so it’s not my responsibility to help fix it.”

      • KM August 17, 2017 (1:13 pm)

        I don’t think SBRE is claiming to be color-blind.

  • Sara August 17, 2017 (1:06 pm)

    Frankly, I think the attention being paid to hate groups is actually contributing to their growth.  I also want to point out that it’s much easier to track hate groups when they are allowed to operate in the open vs. driven underground.  I’m pretty sure some of the elders (those who survived the Holocaust and their children) in organizations that track anti-semitism will agree.  

    Also, if the goal is to change people, rather than amplify their hate and hate messages, then non-confrontational ways of challenging beliefs are some of the strongest and most compelling.  My personal hero is Daryl Davis, a blues musician and black man, who has convinced over 200 Ku Klux Klan members to leave the organization by befriending them.  Davis is an extraordinary man.

    • ScubaFrog August 18, 2017 (3:23 am)

      Yeah, just let them keep doing their thing.  If a few more of my black brothers get beaten?  Meh.  Just ignore it.  Cars into crowds? It’ll go away.  Nazis marching by the thousands?  No biggie!  They’ll wear themselves out.  The rascals.

  • CMT August 17, 2017 (1:11 pm)

    I only wish that people had been “color-blind” throughout the centuries.  Since they were not, however, I believe we must acknowledge and try to understand the implicit bias that we all have.  We are not bad people because we have implicit bias, but the only way we can become better people and a better society is to recognize it in ourselves and seek to not allow it to influence our actions and judgments.  

  • Atomicoven August 17, 2017 (8:54 pm)

    My heart aches that we still have to have gatherings like this in 2017. My heart aches that we are not where we should be in our evolution as humans. My heart aches that we cannot accept others as our siblings. My heart aches….

    • JC August 17, 2017 (11:17 pm)

      Well said Atomicoven, I couldn’t agree more….

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