Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #EquityNOW
Most recents (20)
1/ BREAKING: Sean Goode (@WhyICHOOSE180) resigns from @MayorJenny's "task force" before it starts:
"The role...was not to bake the cake [or] identify the ingredients the community would like to be included but to merely put the icing on so it would be palatable to my people."
"The role...was not to bake the cake [or] identify the ingredients the community would like to be included but to merely put the icing on so it would be palatable to my people."
2/ "FIRST, any investment that does not align with a corresponding divestment in policing does not actually create the change we need.
Imagine Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center funding both cancer research and the spread of the disease. Sounds ridiculous, right?" #Right
Imagine Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center funding both cancer research and the spread of the disease. Sounds ridiculous, right?" #Right
3/ "Yet @MayorJenny plans to spend $100 million to resource BIPOC communities while continuing to spend several times as much on [policing systems] the very thing that perpetuates inequity throughout BIPOC communities."
We asked some of our coalition members, volunteers, and supporters why they wanted to join King County Equity Now. #TapIn #EquityNow
Here's what they said:
Here's what they said:
“We’re not asking any longer, we have the solutions, we have the coaches, we have the instructors, we have the facilitators, we have resources for you. The only thing you have to do is grab a hold of it.” - @commpassageways
"King County Equity Now is trying to wrap our arms around all the folks that are on the ground and give them an elevated platform."
"People have been working really hard toward a new normal rooted in equity for a really long time."
"People have been working really hard toward a new normal rooted in equity for a really long time."
Today, we and @DecrimSeattle are encouraged to see the @SeattleCouncil—emboldened by the support of tens of thousands of BIPOC community members (that's y'all!)—resist @MayorJenny ’s bullying tactics and anti-Black obstructionism.
Specifically, @SeattleCouncil upheld their decision to divest from the SPD by 3 million dollars—less than 1% of SPD’s annual budget—and invest modestly in Black communities.
As we head into the 2021 budget cycle, we expect @SeattleCouncil to maintain their conviction, elevate Black lives and uphold their public commitments to divest from policing and reinvest in Black communities.
1/ @CMLGonzalez pledging to divest from police & invest in community
“I think it’s important for me as an elected official, as an elected official who is a non-Black Mexican American in this country, to say that I take personal responsibility for every vote that I have taken...”
“I think it’s important for me as an elected official, as an elected official who is a non-Black Mexican American in this country, to say that I take personal responsibility for every vote that I have taken...”
2/ “...vote that I have taken that has contributed to the expansion of law enforcement and those legal systems at the expense of community based investments.
And I owe it to all of you to say that I am sorry for those votes.”
And I owe it to all of you to say that I am sorry for those votes.”
3/ “I now have an opportunity, and so do my colleagues, to reverse and correct those past votes. Those past choices. Because we know that the current public safety model does not produce safety for Black, Indigenous and Brown people.”
Remember that full block of predatory development in the Central District that y’all helped stop?
Read to learn more about the historic anti-gentrification project, “on track to empower and bring together communities of color” here: tinyurl.com/Keiroproject | @nwasianweekly
Read to learn more about the historic anti-gentrification project, “on track to empower and bring together communities of color” here: tinyurl.com/Keiroproject | @nwasianweekly
This will be a nation-leading community-owned, driven and designed collective model. We’re working aggressively to activate this space for immediate, culturally fluid housing and wraparound direct services to help replant folks in community.
This is “the beginning of a long process to try to mitigate hundreds of years of preventing Blacks and other people of color from gaining significant equity.”
So, take a moment in these wild times to celebrate some wins. We appreciate y’all's tenacity for equity.
#EquityNow
So, take a moment in these wild times to celebrate some wins. We appreciate y’all's tenacity for equity.
#EquityNow
"@KCEquityNow & @DecrimSeattle unified under the same mission: to improve conditions on the ground for marginalized communities."
Read the story by @M_Hellman for the @seattletimes:
seattletimes.com/seattle-news/p…
Read the story by @M_Hellman for the @seattletimes:
seattletimes.com/seattle-news/p…
The massive coalitions that consist of "Black, Indigenous and people of color led organizations" and "individuals ranging from data analysts to community builders and lawyers...developed a plan backed collectively by decades of research & community building.”
"@KCEquityNow’s platform centered around community ownership of land, along with acquiring funding to address the root of inequities."
"@DecrimSeattle consists of groups that had spent several years working on campaigns aimed at abolishing the incarceration system and policing."
"@DecrimSeattle consists of groups that had spent several years working on campaigns aimed at abolishing the incarceration system and policing."
(Thread) Systemic inequity is deadly. 
Failed policies and anti-Black action shorten Black lives.
Failed policies like the Seattle letting 47-acres of farmland—gifted to the City to host camps for inner-city kids—to sit vacant for over 7 years. All while Black neighborhoods remain food deserts.
Failed policies like the Seattle letting 47-acres of farmland—gifted to the City to host camps for inner-city kids—to sit vacant for over 7 years. All while Black neighborhoods remain food deserts.
Anti-Black action like the Mayor failing to invest in street-level violence prevention programs while community faces a gun violence epidemic. All while, in 28 days we've had over 40 shootings.
READ:One City. Two Neighborhoods. A 30-year difference in life expectancy.
"Babies do not choose where they are born. But their parents’ ZIP code has a shocking bearing on the quality and length of life they can expect to live."
nytimes.com/interactive/20…
"Babies do not choose where they are born. But their parents’ ZIP code has a shocking bearing on the quality and length of life they can expect to live."
nytimes.com/interactive/20…
"Streeterville is a neighborhood of mostly white, affluent, college-educated families living in townhomes and high-rise condominiums along the shore of Lake Michigan. A baby born there in 2015 could expect to live to 90.
In nearby Englewood, a poor, predominantly Black neighborhood of low-rise apartments in the shadow of Interstate 94, a baby born in 2015 could not expect to reach 60."
A 30-year difference in life expectancy.
A 30-year difference in life expectancy.
Featured Member Organization: Wa Na Wari
“The whole premise of @KCEquityNow is in the name: equity. People talk about equity as if it has to do with equality but equity has everything to do with ownership.
(Continued in thread) #Unity #FreeTheLand #EquityNow #BuildAfricatown
“The whole premise of @KCEquityNow is in the name: equity. People talk about equity as if it has to do with equality but equity has everything to do with ownership.
(Continued in thread) #Unity #FreeTheLand #EquityNow #BuildAfricatown
“It has everything to do with the inherent value of agency, of being able to be self-determined. That’s what Wa Na Wari is about. It’s about ownership. It’s about self-determination, it's about agency. It’s about being able to imagine the future we want and actively creating it.
“To join a coalition that embodies that those values in communities, none of this is doing this work alone. We’re more powerful together…We don’t want to be alone out here doing what we’re doing.
When your City's baseball team takes more action on police brutality than its Mayor (@MayorJenny)
Translate all energy into action. Your representatives have the power to - though have mostly actively resisted - make real change for Seattle's Black community right now.
Do not settle for empty gestures. Structural, transformative change. 2% does not cut it. #EquityNow
Do not settle for empty gestures. Structural, transformative change. 2% does not cut it. #EquityNow
Again: balls in your court @SeattleCouncil.
There's been a war waged against Black people since our ancestors were forced to this land in chains. But time is still young. We honor those that came before us and those that fight now. A better world is possible.
#EquityNow #BuildAfricatown #Glory
#EquityNow #BuildAfricatown #Glory
Video | Remington Wilcox, Juneteenth Freedom March
Artist | Josephine Howell, Umoja Day of Unity
Artist | Josephine Howell, Umoja Day of Unity
(Thread) CANNABIS EQUITY NOW kick-off!
ACTION 1: Tag, tweet, call, email your local weed shop to donate net proceeds from Black Aug to King County Equity Now towards a Black-led equity workgroup: us.commitchange.com/wa/seattle/afr…
ACTION 2: RT & get familiar w/ our full demands below...
ACTION 1: Tag, tweet, call, email your local weed shop to donate net proceeds from Black Aug to King County Equity Now towards a Black-led equity workgroup: us.commitchange.com/wa/seattle/afr…
ACTION 2: RT & get familiar w/ our full demands below...
EXPUNGE all cannabis-related offenses including felonies, and RELEASE all prisoners.
In WA, approx. 80% of all cannabis-related arrests ended in felonies for Black men between the years 1990 and 2017. That is shameful, foul and unacceptable. @GovInslee, time to move different.
In WA, approx. 80% of all cannabis-related arrests ended in felonies for Black men between the years 1990 and 2017. That is shameful, foul and unacceptable. @GovInslee, time to move different.
IMPLEMENT cannabis tax-funded reparations for people who were or are incarcerated for cannabis-related crimes, & their children—to promote generational wealth & educational access.
Reparations are just one step towards addressing racist cannabis policing harms. #PayTheFee
Reparations are just one step towards addressing racist cannabis policing harms. #PayTheFee
Black Education Event: Young Black queen is asked about current school lunches, she responds:
"Sometimes kids throw it away, or throw it on the ground because it's really hard to chew."
We need natural, enriching, & healthy public school meals. #EquityNow #NurturingRoots
"Sometimes kids throw it away, or throw it on the ground because it's really hard to chew."
We need natural, enriching, & healthy public school meals. #EquityNow #NurturingRoots
Black Education Event: "We will no longer stand by while teachers don't teach our children what they need to know but are more than happy to shepherd Black kids into the school-to-prison pipeline. We need to invest in our children and our schools because they are our future."
Black Education Event: "In 1998, my brother was murder on the streets of Seattle...10 years later upon reflection, I know now that the first knife that went into my brother's heart was Seattle Public School Education. It failed him." Community builder Ms. Sabrina Burr
(Thread) King County Equity Now calls to reinvest SPD funds into pro-community, public safety initiatives that actually work.
Our communities deserve safety. We deserve to be safe. Public safety comes from investing in communities—not policing them.
capitolhillseattle.com/2020/07/king-c…
Our communities deserve safety. We deserve to be safe. Public safety comes from investing in communities—not policing them.
capitolhillseattle.com/2020/07/king-c…
Safety comes from investments in housing & land ownership that builds wealth, opportunity, and economic security/stability.
Safety comes from investments in equitable education for our children & youth—in interventions that cultivate their brilliance & honor their identities.
Safety comes from investments in equitable education for our children & youth—in interventions that cultivate their brilliance & honor their identities.
The Seattle Police Department has failed to keep us safe. They have not, will not, and do not prevent violence from occurring in our communities.
We know this because we are not safe from violence today. Seattle's Black community faces tremendous violence and loss RIGHT NOW.
We know this because we are not safe from violence today. Seattle's Black community faces tremendous violence and loss RIGHT NOW.
(A thread) Read our latest Black Joy Newsletter: mailchi.mp/7a8f65cba7f1/k…
"It is critical—particularly now—to properly engage with anti-Black racism to upend the current permanent racial caste system.
So, how can you do that?
First, become reacquainted with “racial realism."
"It is critical—particularly now—to properly engage with anti-Black racism to upend the current permanent racial caste system.
So, how can you do that?
First, become reacquainted with “racial realism."
"Racial realism" is the understanding that with current legal and societal structures, Black folx will never reach full equality in America. Said differently: the moral arc of the universe does NOT bend toward justice...
...and there is no magical moment in the future where whites and Blacks converge—as evidenced across many metrics, most notably the immutability of the wealth gap...
ICYMI: Takeaways from the 7/15 @DecrimSeattle & @KCEquityNow budget meeting with @SeattleCouncil (a thread)
For the full detail, check out the 13-page blueprint here: documentcloud.org/documents/6989… #DefundSPD
For the full detail, check out the 13-page blueprint here: documentcloud.org/documents/6989… #DefundSPD
"This is about broadening the number of tools that we offer to community and investing upstream…to protect our community as well as investing in their health.” @CMTMosqueda
Calling for cuts to the 2020 SPD budget beyond the $20M already identified. 50% cut will be taken from the remaining Summer/Fall SPD budget and will be phased in over time. Redistributing 2020 budget now will empower the community to fully re-envision 2021 budget.
Political Education of the Day, a thread:
Check the racist paradigm of experts v. so-called "non-experts."
Entrenched power, when threatened, will appeal to its inherent "expertise" – which is often a veiled dog whistle for white supremacy...
Check the racist paradigm of experts v. so-called "non-experts."
Entrenched power, when threatened, will appeal to its inherent "expertise" – which is often a veiled dog whistle for white supremacy...
For example, the Mayor's office current posturing:
"how on earth could these Black communities possibly repurpose the bloated SPD budget into pro-community initiatives?! Its so complicated! I mean, golly, I guess they do include esteemed educators & community healers…
"how on earth could these Black communities possibly repurpose the bloated SPD budget into pro-community initiatives?! Its so complicated! I mean, golly, I guess they do include esteemed educators & community healers…
national experts…and technical wizards….brilliant visionaries…generational activists...and the collective wisdom of their elders."
So, to be clear: what would we do without the City's failed leadership and policies, and SPD’s "expert" oversight?...
So, to be clear: what would we do without the City's failed leadership and policies, and SPD’s "expert" oversight?...
KCEN’s efforts are grounded in a love for Black peoples, and include: reintegrating folx preyed on by the carceral criminal punishment system, caring for & nurturing at-risk youth, developing affordable housing, driving City-wide anti-gentrification efforts...
...cultivating artistic expression & providing resources for creative development, or simply finding time and space for the Black community to fellowship, heal and thrive in place—to name a few.
We reflect thousands of Black folx.
The member organizations standing behind KCEN know each other well, through a myriad of community relationships and shared history of service, frontline work and accountability to local Black communities....
The member organizations standing behind KCEN know each other well, through a myriad of community relationships and shared history of service, frontline work and accountability to local Black communities....
A thread:
"Black study and resistance must begin with love.
To love all is to fight relentlessly to end exploitation and oppression everywhere, even on behalf of those who think they hate us.
To love this way requires deep study and relentless struggle."
"Black study and resistance must begin with love.
To love all is to fight relentlessly to end exploitation and oppression everywhere, even on behalf of those who think they hate us.
To love this way requires deep study and relentless struggle."
According to Black legal scholar Robin D. G. Kelley, Black resistance involves an endless cycle of love, study, & struggle. But we think it's equally important—as we toil for liberation—to pause intentionally and revel in the small and large moments of celebration...
Today is one of those moments.
Its been reported that a veto-proof majority of Seattle City Council publicly pledged to repurpose 50% of the Seattle Police Department (SPD) budget for pro-community initiatives, in support of @DecrimSeattle & our joint budget proposals.
Its been reported that a veto-proof majority of Seattle City Council publicly pledged to repurpose 50% of the Seattle Police Department (SPD) budget for pro-community initiatives, in support of @DecrimSeattle & our joint budget proposals.
FACT: In the legal field, there is the very basic concept of an "indispensable party." Basically, an indispensable party is so essential to an issue that if you leave them out, you can’t reach a real resolution...
...Think of it like this: you and your neighbor are fighting. To resolve the issue, you must engage your neighbor in the dialog...
NOW, in Seattle, @DecrimSeattle & KCEN—coalitions representing the support of 100s of community groups & 10s of thousands of community members—have been spearheading the call to defund SPD by at least 50%.
