"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.
Now, we all know that there's a BIG difference between a public pledge & a vote-to-enact. But today's still marks an important inflection point—culminating decades of work and organizing efforts of entire communities to move Seattle towards a new normal rooted in equity...
So, take a moment this Friday to pause and reflect on this Celebration.
2/ Despite the current Mayor's cultish refusal to cut from the police dept., her current budget plan slashes the $30M Equity Fund created last year to "combat displacement & advance community equity."
3/ The Equity Fund was funded by the City's massive $143.5M sale of the "Mercer Mega Block" in South Lake Union.
ATTN: Sign up to tell the Liquor & Cannabis Board that it’s time to #PayTheFee and release 20 cannabis retail licenses for Black ownership in Seattle now. Details in thread below.
In Seattle, & across Washington, Black people have been excluded from ownership in an industry that was built on their backs – cannabis.
Of the 48 cannabis retail stores in a rapidly gentrifying Seattle, ZERO are Black owned.
Those with money & power want to keep things exactly the way they are. They want the illusion of inclusion with wall murals & Black security personnel, but they have no interest in real equity.
Communities most affected by policing brainstorm new ideas on how best/equitably to spend some of our taxpayer dollars. City residents put forward project proposals & EVERYONE in Seattle votes on them. Winning proposals get funded!
/3 The task-force is hand-picked by a wealthy white mayor to represent the entirety of Black interests in Seattle, against our explicit overwhelmingly supported demands.
The "task force" is, as @WhyICHOOSE180 puts it, just a Bootleg Rolex:
"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
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."
50 protestors who participated in BLM demonstrations—incl. family members of Summer Taylor—filed a major lawsuit against the City of Seattle & State of WA wrongful death, personal injuries, & civil rights violations by Seattle police.
"Protesters suffered...injuries from chemical agents, blast balls, flash bangs, batons, and rubber and plastic bullets. These weapons caused deep bruising and scarring, permanent hearing loss, bleeding, brain injuries and burns from chemical agents."
Police used "militarized tactics" against protesters during arrest and in custody, causing multiple neck, wrist, & "knee injuries, bone contusions, muscle injuries, damaged fingers, damaged hearing, bleeding in the ears, amputation of a thumb, and cardiac arrest."
On Tues, City Council—after tremendous pressure from 10s of thousands of community members—resisted Mayor Durkan’s anti-Black obstructionism & upheld their decision to divest from the SPD by less than 1% & invest modestly in Black communities.
Huge shout out to everyone who tapped in to make this organizing happen. To all who showed up, hit the streets, volunteered, donated, emailed/called & used your voice to defend Black lives: we see & appreciate y'all deeply.
It should not take such prolonged, sustained community efforts for this minimal change. But we acknowledge that the Council’s move to override the Mayor’s anti-Black veto marks an urgent break from decades of votes to expand racist policing.