Friday morning’s vandalism echoed messages painted on Catholic churches like this Saskatchewan cathedral
Seattle’s St. James Cathedral on First Hill was vandalized Friday morning in property damage echoing a wave of protest following the discover of hundreds of unmarked graves at the site of the former Marieval Indian Residential School in Canada’s Saskatchewan province.
According to police, the 9th Ave Seattle cathedral’s large bronze door was found early Friday covered in red paint that read, “How could you? They were children,” vandalism causing “thousands of dollars” in damage and “consistent with what the church is seeing at several churches in Canada.”
Late last month, the doors of a Roman Catholic cathedral in downtown Saskatoon were splattered with red paint after the Cowessess First Nation announced the discovery of 751 unmarked graves at the former school. Earlier this year, remains of 215 children were found near the former Kamloops Residential School in British Columbia. Continue reading →
Antonio Mays, Jr. — his friends called him Rico (Image: Bandlab)
The Seattle Times has a new reportdetailing the deadly shooting at the CHOP camp early in the morning of Monday, June 29th that left 16-year-old Antonio Mays, Jr. dead in a bullet-riddled jeep and sent a 14-year-old boy riding with him to the hospital.
The report includes new details even as the Seattle Police Department has said little about the morning’s gun violence, suspect information and what led to the shooting, and its slow response. Seattle police detectives didn’t arrive at the 12th Ave scene of the 3 AM shooting until nearly five hours later, the Times reports.
“The shooting killed 16-year-old Antonio Mays Jr., left a 14-year-old boy in serious condition with gunshot wounds and effectively ended the city’s waning tolerance toward the protest zone known as CHOP,” it reads.
The new Seattle Times report also connects together some elements reported only by CHS in the first hours of the incident including our details of a man who suffered a pickaxe attack prior to the shooting. The Seattle Times reports it was that man who was jumped and attacked, and carjacked for the white Jeep Cherokee that camp security would eventually open fire on after it sped through the camp on a night of worry and stress over fears of drive-by shootings. Continue reading →
The City of Seattle has announced agreement with organizers at the Capitol Hill protest site that has sprouted around the boarded-up East Precinct that will consolidate the camp and demonstration area on the now art-filled E Pine and in Cal Anderson Park:
Minor changes to the protest zone will implement safer and sturdier barriers to protect individuals in this area, allow traffic to move throughout the Capitol Hill neighborhood, ease access for residents of apartment building in the surrounding areas, and help local businesses manage deliveries and logistics. Additionally all plans have been crafted with the goal of allowing access for emergency personnel including fire trucks.
Seattle Department of Transportation crews were busy Tuesday morning moving and replacing the many large barriers left behind by Seattle Police that camp organizers had used to cordon off the streets and block the area to vehicle traffic. The new setup includes heavy safety barriers used to create new lanes for traffic while protecting protest zones near the precinct. It includes many softer barriers to help direct activities — the new plywood will also add to the opportunities for painting, tagging, and art in the area. Continue reading →
After weeks of holding back on protests due to concerns about the impact of COVID-19 in its communities, the Black Lives Matter Seattle-King County chapter has called for a general strike Friday and will mark the day with a silent march across the Central District. Friday will also bring an event of a different flavor as leaders including Nikkita Oliver lead a march to Madison Park Beach for the Engage: Part One rally. Meanwhile, another youth march full of loud enthusiasm crossed Capitol Hill Wednesday as organizers continued to grow and improve the protest zone around 12th and Pine.
Friday, June 12th, the BLM chapter is asking people across the state to step away from work and “spend their time and energy on direct action for lasting structural change” —
If you can’t march, take this time as an opportunity to familiarize yourself with your local elected officials. This includes your mayor, city council, county executive, county council, county prosecutor, and state representatives. It helps if you collaborate with friends and neighbors, and reach out to people you know who are more familiar with the local issues. It’s up to you to make sure your local officials feel the pressure to improve police accountability and dismantle the structural racism that has been built into all of our institutions.
The planned silent march, meanwhile, will begin gathering at Judkins Park around 1 PM with plans to step off for Jefferson Park at 2 PM. The group is asking participants to maintain silence during the procession and not to initiate chanting or booing. “We encourage you to bring signs and other visual ways of making your voices heard during the protest,” they write.
Organizers are also hoping people will march in groups with friends or members of their households and try to maintain six-foot distance with others to help slow the spread of COVID-19. Please wear a mask. You can learn more at blacklivesseattle.org.
Things were louder Wednesday as hundreds of young protesters marched from Volunteer Park across Capitol Hill to rally outside the Seattle Police Department’s West Precinct. Continue reading →
Protesters have made their own riot shields emblazoned with the pink umbrellas that have become a symbol of the demonstrations
With reporting by Jake Goldstein-Street and Alex Garland
The first night in the so-called Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone that has formed in the wake of police giving up the week-long blockade of the East Precinct was rainy and peaceful and full of speeches from activists, agitators, poets, and socialist city council members.
“I guess whatever the fuck we’re doing is effective,” one organizer identified as Magik said over a megaphone early in the night as police were still clearing the area. “They are going to move up. They are going to get everybody out of here and we are free to move through these streets and protest and march.”
“Yesterday we were on 11th and Pine. Today we have victory on 12th and Pine. They tried to stop us!,” another exclaimed.
The night brought tense moments but compared to the previous week of blast balls and clouds of gas and pepper spray, Pike/Pine was calm if not quiet — the county sheriff’s helicopter stayed circling overhead until midnight providing observations to SPD command on the ground and often drowning out speeches below. The only major reported conflict came when a TV news crew for the local Fox affiliate was temporarily chased from the scene and took up refuge in the nearby fire station.
The surprise pullback of SPD riot police and National Guard troops came together quickly Monday afternoon after a day of hastily clearing out equipment, moving trucks, and reports of a “mobile shredding unit” at the building at 12th and Pine that is home to the East Precinct headquarters as well as department office facilities. “The decision has been made to allow demonstrators to march past the East Precinct later today,” an announcement sent to department staff about the decision to close the building read. “Additional measures are currently underway to enhance our ongoing efforts to insure the security of our East Precinct and provide for the safety of all our officers.”
“The East Precinct will remain staffed,” the announcement concluded. CHS observed officers being dispatched from mobile locations away from 12th and Pine. The building is empty and windows covered with plywood. By morning, the wood was covered with graffiti giving the precinct an unexpected continuity with much of the rest of the neighborhood as many businesses are still in the process of reopening after weeks of COVID-19 restrictions.
The pullback and boarding-up of the precinct follows a Sunday night conflagration described by many as the most aggressive show of crowd control firepower yet by SPD that came only hours after a Mayor Jenny Durkan speech on deescalation.
Monday night, Durkan remained silent on the developments at the precinct until late into the night. Continue reading →
“My name’s Darrius, I’m 17 years old, I attend Rainier Beach, and I love my city and my country.” — Darrius, center
With reporting and photography by Alex Garland
Some 3,000 or so students and supporters rallied in Cal Anderson and marched downtown where they met with thousands more Friday as Seattle joined the global Climate Strike effort.
Dozens of student speakers took a few minutes at the mic in the Capitol Hill park to call for officials to do more — and do more a heck of a lot faster — about climate change.
“I should be stressed about the acne on my face,” one 12-year-old said during their turn at the microphone. “I shouldn’t be stressed about how hot the earth is.”
Capitol Hill’s representative on the Seattle City Council is holding a town hall to help coordinate and organize a busy month of protests, walkouts, and actions centered around MLK Day and Inauguration Day.
District 3 rep Kshama Sawant will host the Resist Trump Coalition Town HallJanuary 14th at City Hall:
Brothers and Sisters,
We don’t have a moment to waste in getting organized against Trump’s racist, misogynistic, anti-immigrant, anti-muslim, anti-lgbtq rhetoric, proposals, and cabinet members.
Join the Resist Trump Coalition and my office at City Hall to help build the biggest possible protests against Trump on January 20th and 21st.
Detailed information about the agenda for this meeting will be provided asap.
Solidarity!
Kshama
A Sawant staffer tells CHS the Socialist Alternative councilor is focused on Seattle’s response to the incoming Trump administration and the threat she feels it poses to constituents.
Garfield students march down E Pine toward Cal Anderson (Image: CHS)
(Image: CHS)
Kids atop Cal Anderson’s water mountain fountain during Sunday’s demonstration (Image: Alex Garland for CHS)
Chanting “Not my president!” and “Black lives matter,” hundreds of students from 23rd Ave’s Garfield High School marched to Cal Anderson where they joined hundreds more Monday afternoon in a citywide student walkout in protest of the election of Donald Trump. The rally marked the second day in a row the Capitol Hill park has been a central gathering place as Seattle’s citizens protest the election results and plot solutions to counter Trump’s expected policies and push ahead to fix whatever broken political processes resulted in his victory.
Sunday, hundreds attended a “Love Over Hate” gathering organized by a group of SPU marriage and family therapy students as an opportunity for Seattleites to come together for a non-political show of “love, support, and togetherness.” Sunday afternoon included singing, sign making, and, yup, even some protest. A portion of the gathered crowd opted to march from the park and made its way downtown.
For the second time this summer, a crowd of Black Lives Matter supporters marched from downtown across Capitol Hill Tuesday night to put their message against police violence on the streets of Seattle. But this time, the group of around 200 protesters included a new target: the North Capitol Hill home of Mayor Ed Murray.
According to Seattle Department of Transportation and Seattle Police radio reports, after marching from downtown, the protesters spent nearly an hour in the area around 10th and Boston in North Capitol Hill protesting outside Murray’s home. Continue reading →
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.”
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.
