Hundreds of Black Lives Matter protesters gathered at Seattle Central Sunday night and marched to the Central District on the anniversary of the August 9th killing of Mike Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.
“Since Mike Brown was killed August 9th 2014– Hundreds of Unarmed Black people have been killed by police in 2015 already,” organizers wrote. “THIS HAS TO STOP-TIME TO MARCH FOR FREEDOM AND PUT A END TO the POLICE BRUTALIZING PEOPLE AND The police MURDERING PEOPLE AND TIME TO END Racism and anti blackness.”
The rally and march followed Saturday’s effort by activists to disrupt the appearance of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders in a Social Security rally at Westlake. Sanders later spoke at a fundraiser held at Pike/Pine’s Comet Tavern Saturday afternoon before his campaign rally in front of thousands at the University of Washington.
Sunday night’s protest wound its way through the streets of Capitol Hill by the East Precinct at 12th and Pine and on to the Central District. At 23rd and Union, the large crowd stopped to speak against I-502 pot shop Uncle Ike’s.
A heavy police presence accompanied the march. There were no reported arrests.
At seattle central rn #BlackLivesMatter #seattle pic.twitter.com/SN8uQO4758
— cwtcwtcwtcwtcwt (@caleb952) August 10, 2015
#BlackLivesMatter activists in Seattle March through Capitol Hill. Now at 15th and Pine. @jseattle pic.twitter.com/9To3qVy5AQ
— Alex Garland (@AGarlandPhoto) August 10, 2015
If Black Lives Matters wanted to put their movement in a positive light they sure are doing it in a crazy way.
This is the reincarnation of OWS.
A silly group with a silly message that has to use Bernie’s crowd because they can’t get one of their own.
I guess I’m not seeing the connection between legalizing marijuana and killing young unarmed black men. Without that prohibition, seems like there would be at least that one fewer reason for having a police conflict….? (Not counting the guys selling pot at the bus stop in front of Ike’s of course).
OK, Let me get this straight. Marijuana, which puts a disproportional number of black people in jail is bad when legalized, and It’s Ike’s fault? And, Bernie Sanders, who had a crowd of thousands there to hear HIM speak, and is the most outspoken critic of the wealth gap, private prisons and police violence against people of color is also bad? But the church next to Ike’s seems to have the right to park on anyone’s lot in the neighborhood while puting up barriers on their own lot. These guys are not winning over anyone with these confusing and divisive tactics.
I agree. It is shameful that two attention-seeking women were allowed to shut down a speech by a presidential candidate, which thousands of people came to hear. They should have been immediately arrested and hauled away, but of course that would have not been “Seattle politically correct.”
Arrested for what exactly? Being rude?
The other candidates would have had security. That security would have prevented their access to the stage. To push though that security would have been assault. That would have resulted in arrest. As annoying at this interruption was, it was Bernie’s fault for being so accessible.
“Disorderly conduct”, maybe? Or even “inciting a riot” as there were plenty of angry people there who came to hear Bernie Sanders speak. Weren’t his First Amendment rights violated?
I’m glad they weren’t arrested, because no law was broken, and what they had to say is important. However, I do think it is important to note that they would have been taken away by security for any other presidential candidate. I would support this kind of disruption at any GOP candidate’s rally, because they are actively racist and promoting racist agendas, but Bernie Sanders is the number one presidential candidate by leaps and bounds when it comes to racial justice.
If they had been pushed out it would’ve looked really bad. Sanders was in a no-win situation here and I think he responded the best way he could’ve.
All these loudmouth protesters are suffering from oppression envy. They have pretty good lives, seems to me. The cops here are handing out safe stickers and lollipops, not brutalizing people.
I happened upon the rally and stayed and listened for about 45 minutes (but did not march). There is a lot of anger and frustration toward white liberal Seattle, and the comments above exemplify why. The actions on Saturday were rude and disruptive – and I have no doubt were a large part of the changes Bernie Sanders made to his campaign. That was some effective activism, and the reactions to two black women demanding that their voices be heard has been appalling.
I struggle a bit with the connection between racial inequity and pot legalization, but after listening to people speak, I understand. Minorities continue to be the most negatively impacted, and white people are getting wealthy off it.I didn’t hear anyone speak specifically about Ike’s, but I would guess that was the focus of their protest.
I continue to support Black Lives Matter, now more than ever. This issue isn’t going away, and we’re not immune to it here in the Northwest.
One thing is that I don’t think that it is a coincidence that one of the few locations where a pot store can be located is in a majority-black neighborhood. Not that this was by design in I-502, but is due to historical/racist patterns of how facilities that the pot stores are not allowed near are located.
I should probably keep my mouth shut but thought I would correct a few inaccuracies. Is the CD predominantly African American? I actually think it has gotten a lot more diverse and reflects a city that is moving away from segregation. More importantly, your coincidence of pot shops having to be located in the CD is just wrong. I think currently there are 19 I502 adult use pot shops in Seattle. They are mainly clustered in the North end and Sodo. Many of us initially voted for I502 because of the social justice aspects and the impact of BS drug laws have on mass incarceration. I don’t get targeting Sanders and Ike’s.
The CD becoming more “white” does NOT reflect a city becoming more diverse. That shows your total lack of understanding of just exactly what’s going on. Wells Fargo reverse redlined and suckered the African American community with subprime loans, subsequently taking these generationally owned African American family homes through unlawful foreclosure. Then, once the property is unlawfully obtained, the banks are off-loading the properties to developers who build properties that price out the African American community. Therefore the CD has been not diversified, it has been gentrified. There is a HUGE difference. And the African American community has been busted up and sent to Federal Way, Renton, Kent and such.
Seattle is hardly a “diverse” cultural community. It is predominately WHITE.
No one reads your screeds.
White people are getting wealthy off of it because, due to the racist history of our country, it is easier for white people, mostly men, to gain the capital necessary to start a business. Uncle Ike’s is far from perfect, but I think (based on personal observation only), they have hired many people of color. . Certainly, legalization has introduced many jobs, but unfortunately the stigmatization doesn’t allow for these jobs to be seen as legitimate. Furthermore, tax money from sales goes to infrastructure (though I wish more of it went to education, hospitals, etc.) instead of the pockets of drug dealers. I think a lot of members of the religious community have had an issue with marijuana, but I would implore people to look at all of the positive effects that it can have on otherwise targeted communities, including the number one reason–fewer arrests and incarceration.
“White people are getting wealthy off of it because, due to the racist history of our country, it is easier for white people, mostly men, to gain the capital necessary to start a business.”
This is undoubtedly true. But it applies to every business, not just retail pot sales. So why not protest every business? Why pick on pot? And if Ike’s closed up shop tomorrow, what would improve? No minorities would suddenly have greater access to capital, and the resultant lack of legal sales would then push people back to buying from illegal pot dealers which would then send more minorities to jail. No matter how you look at it, this unfocused anger aimed at pot selling didn’t produce anything but a showcase for resentment.
I502 is actually pretty diverse in terms of race, gender etc. Probably far from perfect, but I imagine better than most industries. The State has really gone to great lengths to maintain a grass roots type of industry by having a lottery for retail licenses, and limiting ownership and canopy sizes to prevent big business form taking over like with booze.
I was there, too, last night, Genevieve, at the beginning of the rally at Seattle Central, through the speakers by the East Precinct (2 hours is kind of my limit after a day at work!) and I also heard the speakers’ frustration at white liberal Seattle. I believe what I heard them tell us (at that point, and maybe for the rest of the evening, it was a largely white crowd): we need to educate ourselves about the true history of our country, we need to listen to what people of color are telling us about their reality and we need to speak up against the racists in our workplace, friends and families (and neighborhood blogs). The volume of the white Seattle liberal voices against Black Lives Matters that I’ve heard in the past 2 days is frankly devastating/embarrassing. At one point in the rally last night, I heard the white woman next to me cry out, “I feel like you’re personally attacking me!” Then I looked over and saw that she was carrying a sign that read, “White People Wake Up!” Hoo boy. We have got our work cut out for us.
Emphasizing division between people may be a favorite tactic of radical activists but it serves no constructive purpose. We are on the way to the largest demographic being Hispanic. Do you think they care to be insulted by fringe radicals any more than people who are not racist who happen to be white?
Yeah, some of the reactions of friends have been eye-opening, although I was pleased to see willingness to reconsider their position.
The best thing a person with privilege can do when being told they are part of an oppressive majority is say “what can I do?”. Unfortunately, the reaction is usually “But I’M not like that!!!” and general defensiveness. I have to fight that reaction too, sometimes. Change is uncomfortable.
Before you project the concept of “privileged” onto lots of people you don’t know and have never met remember most people do not have an Easy button they are hiding from people of color. Lets talk about the middle class hit by the recent downturn and losing houses and moving in with family, visit some of the poorest zip codes…they are not all people of color. Be careful what you buy into that has been invented by academics and radicals.
Thoughtful comment, Genevieve. But I take issue with your statement that the women’s disruptive action had anything to do with the change made to Bernie Sanders’ campaign…..his spokesman is on record as saying that the changes have been in the works for quite awhile.
It’s really inappropriate that the activists chose to prevent Bernie from speaking…he is the most liberal/progressive presidential candidate out there, by far.
“Hundreds have been killed?” Where do these people come up with numbers like that?
The far left (who are illustrated by the people who disrupted the Sanders appearance at Westlake) suffer from undercutting important messages by accusing everyone of racism and distilling important discussions into some “demands” that are never going to happen. They alienate most people and I know black people who don’t like the Black Lives Matter attention seekers. I don’t see them crossing the finish line with the rest of us on any progress in societal matters. As for Ike’s, most people under 30 have no frame of reference on the CD as an African American neighborhood, or the history of whites coming to black neighborhoods to buy their drugs, or want to talk about how 23rd and Union resembles the drug corner it was years ago with people milling around outside on the street trying to get money to buy pot, selling pot, or otherwise loitering like…well, a drug corner. How much of this new found pot wealth is benefiting African Americans? Los Angeles had backlash from community members once they saw what they were going to have to live with having one or more pot shops in their neighborhoods.
Oh wow. Outside Agitators (where the girls are from) website states that they are at war with the Democratic Party itself. “To succeed, the Black Lives Matter Movement must transform the politics of Black America. By definition, that means declaring war on the Democratic Party, and forcing Black politicians and activists to choose between the Party and the people’s struggle.” http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/08/09/1410408/-Seattle-s-Outside-Agitators-206-why-they-want-to-drive-a-wedge-between-BLM-and-Democrats
FYI
THE ISSUE IS NOT “ABSTRACT / NO DEFINITION “RACISM” BUT EUROPEAN COLONIAL SETTLER “JUDEO-CHRISTIAN” TERRORISM. EUROPEAN “BOAT PEOPLE” HAVE GENOCIDED NATIVE PEOPLES WORLD WIDE PARTICULARLY IN THE AMERICAS, AUSTRALIA AND NOW PALESTINE. THEY ALWAYS HIDE BEHIND FAKE RELIGIONS OF LOVE WHILE PRACTICING GENOCIDAL HATE??? JUST READ THE HISTORY OF “CHRISTIANIZED” NATIVE AMERICANS, THE ORIGINAL BLACK AUSTRALIANS AND NOW PALESTINIANS???
US “HITLER HEROES” GEORGE WASHINTON AND THOMAS JEFFERSON CLAIMED TO OWN 300 PLUS CHRISTIANIZED AFRICAN “SLAVES”??? HOW MANY “SLAVES DID HITLER CLAIM TO OWN IN HIS OWN NATIVE LAND???
BY THE WAY ASK THE ALL AMERICAN IAN “GANGSTER” EISENBERG WHY DOESN’T HE GO BACK TO HIS NATIVE GERMANY AND OPEN UP DOPE STORE NEXT TO A SYNAGOG AND GET OFF THE NATIVE AMERICAN’S LAND THAT HE CLAIMS TO NOW OWN??? WHAT A EUROPEAN COLONIAL SETTLER “JUDEO-CHISTIAN” HYPOCRITE??? Omari
Website: OmariForCityCouncil
Website: AFRICATOWN / CHINATOWN NEWS DIGEST
Making your post in all CAPS does not make your message better, more important, more easily understood or any other superlative. It’s considered shouting in on line circles. I do not like to be shouted at.
I agree, Joseph, but it’s a lost cause. Omari is going to keep on doing this no matter what anyone says. He’s best ignored.
I’m getting the impression that just deleting anything posted by him is the way to go.
FYI
AS REFUGEES FROM EUROPEAN COLONIAL SETTLER “JUDEO-CHRISTIAN” TERRORISM (MIS NAMED “AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE”) WE SUGGEST YOU GO AND VISIT YOUR RELATIVES IN YOUR EUROPEAN “HOMELAND” AND DON’T COME BACK??? YOUR SENSATIVE EARS WIIL NOT HEAR THE TRUTH BEING SHOUTED AT YOU COLONIAL CAPITALIST “JUDEO-CHRISTIAN” GENOCIDAL TERRORIST / HATERS (IE EUROPEAN COLONIAL SETTLER CANCER)??? Omari Tahir-Garrett, VIETNAM VETERAN, WORLD TRAVELER. SOCIAL HISTORY “TRUTH” TEACHER AND CANDIDATE FOR “CHIEF SEATTLE” CITY COUNCIL
WEBSITE: OMARIFORCITYCOUNCIL
WEBSITE: AFRICATOWN / CHINATOWN NEWS DIGEST
Why do you continue to shout at us?
PLEASE RE-READ YOUR HISTORY, THHEN LOOK IN THE MIRROR??? NOW GO TO THE NEAREST NATIVE AMERICAN “RESERVATION” / “CONCENTRATION CAMP” / “BANTUSTAN” AND ASK THIS QUESTION TO NATIVE AMERICANS??? YES, NATIVE AMERICAN LIVES, LAND, HISTORY AND INSTITUTIONS MATTER??? DO “BLACK LIVES MATTER”??? YES BUT ONLY IN AFRICA??? EUROPEAN COLONIAL SETTLER “JUDEO-CHRISTIAN” TERRORISM WAS / IS LIVE IN WESTLAKE “PARK” (“INDIAN COUNTRY”)??? PLEASE RESEARCH “COGNATIVE DISSONANCE”, CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, CORTEZ, GEORGE WASHINTON, THOMAS JEFFERSON, BOTH GEORGE BUSHS………………??? Omari Tahir-Garrett, VIETNAM VETERAN, WORLD TRAVELER, HISTORY TEACHER AND CANDIDATE FOR SEATTLE CITY COUNCIL.
WEBSITE: OmariForCityCouncil
WEBSITE: AFRICATOWN / CHINATOWN NEWS DIGEST