WEST SEATTLE PROTESTS: Tonight & Saturday

First, thanks for the tips on this:

PROTEST TONIGHT: “Override/for Black lives’ was the chant of that group outside City Councilmember Lisa Herbold‘s house in Highland Park this evening. That’s a reference to a decision the council has to make soon – whether to override Mayor Jenny Durkan‘s veto of three recent bills, including the budget-rebalancing bill with Seattle Police budget cuts. Council President Lorena González noted earlier this month that the law requires the council to reconsider vetoed legislation, while saying that wouldn’t happen sooner than next Monday (September 21st). About a dozen people were gathered when we stopped by after reader tips.

The group sponsoring this, the Coalition of Anti-Racist Whites, is not the same group that visited Herbold’s house twice before as well as other elected officials in West Seattle and elsewhere in the city; that’s the Every Day March. That group does have a West Seattle event coming up this weekend:

PROTEST SATURDAY: If you haven’t seen this in our calendar (which we’re slowly reviving) – the Every Day March group has announced a Youth March on Alki this Saturday (September 19th), gathering at Alki Playfield/Whale Tail Park at 1 pm. From the announcement:

“We fight every single day for a better future for our youth. Which is why we’ve decided to do a kid-friendly march to get our youth involved! … We have planned the safest march down the Alki strip for the youth to lead.”

33 Replies to "WEST SEATTLE PROTESTS: Tonight & Saturday"

  • onion September 17, 2020 (8:53 pm)

    I consider myself progressive, but this group and their manifesto are a crock. All Seattleites need to have a say in how to move forward with police reform and social justice, not just a self appointed group.

    • GOP in WS September 17, 2020 (10:15 pm)

      I support Mayor Durkan’s veto of the city council budget. I support the recall of Kshama Sawant.

    • Rudy Harper September 18, 2020 (4:50 pm)

      I agree

  • Torn September 17, 2020 (9:06 pm)

    I’m really torn about protesting at people’s homes. I get it, it makes a statement and gets amplified (I’m talking about it now), but at the same time feels a bit dirty, and somewhat threatening. Maybe that’s the point? If so, she’s no billionaire hiding behind security in a gated community, and it seems she creates a lot of opportunities for public interaction. So is this the only way to get her attention? 

    • MB September 17, 2020 (9:43 pm)

      I think the most fair way to consider this is saying “how would I feel if someone I disagree with did the same thing?”I will give our council member props for handling this, but I don’t know how the headlines would read if, say, the 3%ers showed up on her doorstep (not to say the two groups are anywhere near equivalent, but I can’t think of an example off the top of my head at the moment)

      • AMD September 17, 2020 (11:29 pm)

        If Back the Blue went to Herbold’s house and engaged in dialogue with her from her front porch as these groups have been, I’d be fine with it.  Banging pots and all.  I think the dialogue part is why it doesn’t seem threatening to me.  If they showed up with tiki torches and were just shouting slogans and calling her names, that would be different.  

      • ScubaFrog September 17, 2020 (11:35 pm)

        Well-stated.

    • C September 18, 2020 (2:05 pm)

      Let’s face it.  Everywhere we look these days, more and more aggressive techniques are used to shut down alternative opinions as a method of “disagreement”.  Make it so uncomfortable that the opposing view hopefully thinks “why bother”.  I personally question whether this is how we prefer our free society to interact.  

      • Wsres September 20, 2020 (7:53 am)

        I agree with you. It is becoming less and less a civil society. And no gains are being made.  At 10pm one night the “night marchers” came through our neighborhood and it made some people in our neighborhood change their view about their cause. 

    • Christopher September 19, 2020 (12:33 pm)

      That is a good point. Plus, if this tactic proves to be somewhat effective, it will be used by other interest groups which will reduce the field of interested candidates, making it harder to get smart, hard working people into city council. 

  • Findlay September 17, 2020 (9:28 pm)

    Protesting at people’s homes is a very bad look.  Hopefully, this movement gains some maturity.  I haven’t seen it since the early days of the BLM Seattle protests.   These tactics will eventually backfire on them (if it hasn’t already)

    • Kadoo September 18, 2020 (7:40 am)

      I couldn’t agree more. BLM needs leadership. The antics of the spin off groups are off base. 

  • Lance September 17, 2020 (10:13 pm)

    What better place to protest? If you are a public servant you know that you open yourself up to this type of scrutiny

    • Allan September 18, 2020 (8:55 pm)

      Protest at their place of business. They are people who have a right to peace and privacy like everyone else. 

      • Mars Saxman September 18, 2020 (9:21 pm)

        Their homes *are* their places of business, during this covid-19 work-from-home era.

  • That SOB September 17, 2020 (10:47 pm)

    More than one reason to be thankful for all the rain we’re about to get

  • uncle loco September 18, 2020 (5:11 am)

    I can’t read everything that’s on the sign but I see a little stuffed pig hanging on it. That tells me all I need to know about this group.

    • wscommuter September 18, 2020 (9:20 am)

      @Uncle Loco … well said.  I fully support BLM and am in favor of greater scrutiny for police actions and examining the police budget as to spending … but these virulently anti-police protestors lose me, as does any protest that goes to anyone’s private home. 

    • ally cat September 18, 2020 (9:02 pm)

      If you are truly offended and turned away from the issues, because of a stuffed pig, you are just looking for an excuse to not be supportive, to continue being complacent in racism.

      The issues of unjustified brutality by police disproportionately towards people of color is undeniably important and worthy of all of our support. Period.

      By the way, it might be interesting to read about the history of the term ‘pig’ and its usage in anti brutality campaigns by the Black Panthers 1960’s. This protestors choice wasn’t juvenile, it has historic significance. This has been an issue for a long time.

      https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/seeing-police-brutality-then-and-now

  • Chris K September 18, 2020 (9:15 am)

    I’m ok with our public officials feeling a little uncomfortable as long as black people are being hunted by police in this country.  We must do better.

    • dftl September 18, 2020 (11:09 am)

      “Hunted by police”?

    • T Rex September 18, 2020 (1:07 pm)

      I will double down on DFTL’s statement.  Give me one example of people being hunted by the police. Please. 

      • zark00 September 18, 2020 (4:50 pm)

        Well, police target black people, especially black males, and are trained that a black male poses a higher threat risk than a white male.  They patrol black communities more heavily, they hold more black people both with an without official arrests made, and they routinely report charges against black people that are not reported with white offenders.  Loitering is a great example if you’d like to check up on the stats there.  That, coupled with the fact that black people are disproportionately killed by police, and that police respond with weapons drawn more often in cases involving black suspects, and with no additional information like the suspect is armed – one can pretty easily use the term ‘hunted’ and at the very least not be too far off base.  If you are white, and live in this country, and do not know this to be a truth of law enforcement, you either aren’t able to accurately observe and process information, or you are choosing to ignore reality because it’s more comfortable and support a world view you wish were true.

        • MS September 18, 2020 (7:28 pm)

          Zarkoo, please provide factual data to backup your assertions.

          Don’t assume police brutality is always a race issue. A family member was hogtied by police and left in a room with a dislocated shoulder at a police station only months after a man was killed in police custody at the same station. A few months after that, a family friend (with a clean record) ended up serving 30 days in jail because she questioned an officer (same police precinct) about why she had to get out of the car. She was in the passenger seat of a car being pulled over for suspicion of DUI and was already aware of the police issues.  All three individuals are white, but you’ll never see these stories get the press that similar stories involving black people will.

          There is no doubt racism exists in our culture. However, don’t confuse corruption issues for race issues. Don’t assume all police are racists and/or are corrupt. Don’t assume all people of color who are arrested are innocent. Don’t assume all white people are complacent. Don’t confuse rich privilege for white privilege. Don’t assume white people have an advantage over people of color. Only the 1% have the advantage. The rest of us are losing our jobs, homes, and loved ones alongside people of color.

      • ally cat September 18, 2020 (9:31 pm)

        https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/100000007198581/rayshard-brooks-killing-garrett-rolfe.html

        When an unarmed black man is running away, and a cop chases him and shoots him in the back multiple times, shouts ‘got em!,’ and then kicks him when he’s down, because he’s angry the guy got away with his taser… I’d say that’s hunting. 

        The taser had already been discharged. They knew he was otherwise unarmed. And this was a DUI stop.

        Hunting definition;

        verb (used with object)

        To chase or search for (game or other wild animals) for the purpose of catching or killing. to pursue with force, hostility, etc., in order to capture (often followed by down): They hunted him down and hanged him.

        • River September 19, 2020 (10:50 am)

          We have drunk driving laws in this country for a reason.  When you drink so much that you fall asleep in your car in the drive-through line, that indicates a level of impairment that puts the community at great risk for physical harm if you keep driving.  DUI stops are taken seriously because a vehicle becomes a weapon when controlled by someone who is sh**-faced.  When the police show up to apprehend you, my advice is to apologize for your poor choices and thank them for a safe ride to be station to be processed.  Fighting back in any way opens the door for violence.  This goes for all people of all races and creeds, etc.  Sad for all involved.

          • ally cat September 21, 2020 (4:03 pm)

            Yes, DUI is serious.

            No, the officers were not justified in killing this man.

            They also made mistakes in their handling of the situation leading up to him resisting and running.

            If you watch the video report I shared above, and do not feel empathy for him, and how the police handled the situation, especially when they shoot him while running away and then kick him while he’s down, I hope you will consider questioning why and look at that further.

    • Anne September 18, 2020 (5:43 pm)

      Hunted? Wow.

  • payattention September 18, 2020 (2:15 pm)

    T REX. You won’t hear from them because they have no examples.

  • Kimberly Valadez September 18, 2020 (7:44 pm)

    Data of officer involved shootings  by year and race by Statista2017 -457 white…223 black….179 hispanic2018- 399 white….209 black…148 hispanic2019- 370 white….235 black….158 hispanic2020- 242 white…..123 black….80 hispanic

  • Peter S. September 19, 2020 (4:17 pm)

    Apparently “We have planned the safest march down the Alki strip for the youth to lead.” includes (at least partially) blocking Admiral Way near at 60th / Admiral.  Cars busily taking side streets to avoid.   

    • WSB September 19, 2020 (4:54 pm)

      They were on Admiral for a while (we tweeted) and then on Alki. Should be gone now.

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