Hands up, don’t shoot @jseattle pic.twitter.com/gE3tbcKluR
— Sumedha Majumdar (@RavzSumie) October 22, 2014
UPDATE 4:18 PM by Sumedha Majumdar: A group of about 30 protesters marched from Garfield with chants of “Hands up, don’t shoot” and “Being black is not a crime” before assembling in front of the East Precinct around 4 PM. “We the community will police the police,” one speaker said, addressing the crowd and the group of police officers assigned to the protest. Streets in the area were partially closed but the rally has been peaceful and there have been no arrests.
Original report: The heartiest of activist souls will take to the drenched streets of Seattle’s Central District and Capitol Hill Wednesday afternoon and into the evening as part of protests against “police brutality and harassment of youth of color in Seattle.” The Garfield High School Black Student Union’s March for Ferguson begins at the 23rd Ave school at 3:30 PM. Organizers tell CHS the plan is to march to SPD’s East Precinct headquarters at 12th and Pine. Meanwhile, the annual October 22nd anti-police rally and march will again gather at Seattle Central starting at 5 PM and also is planned to include a march on the East Precinct.
In a statement sent to CHS by the group’s vice president, the Black Student Union organizers are asking participants to congregate “in front of SPD East Precinct to assert our rejection of the police force here and nationwide” —
Some are under the impression that Seattle is some sort of liberal Utopia where police brutality does not exist, despite the fact that the Seattle Police Department was under the investigation of the United States Department of Justice within the last three years for excessive force and concerns of discriminatory policing. The Department of Justice Findings Letter stated
“This perception is rooted in a number of factors, including negative street encounters, recent well-publicized videos of force being used against people of color, incidents of overt discrimination, and concerns that the pattern of excessive force disproportionately affects minorities.”
“We are using this march to call attention to the mass amounts of police brutality that happen in our country every day,” Black Student Union vice president Issa George said in a statement emailed to media.
The full BSU statement is below.
You know a set of protesters are a smart bunch when they can’t even write a half decent manifesto with correct numbering.
Will the march be punctuated by a symbolic looting of a convenience store?
I smell a hidden agenda in that hidden #3. Probably monorail funding.
How tedious. The police aren’t going anywhere. How about this kids strive to end the perceived division between People of Color and the police and join the force? Change it from the inside.
Wow, that’s way to practical a solution..try again with something bold and combative lol
Marching, yelling, and blocking traffic does not accomplish anything. Those are protest tactics of the past. Mobilize and organize online, register to vote, vote.
yeah vote ad infinitum and hope things change.
been working great so far.
Vote all you want. The people we elect are not in charge.
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All the protesters I saw walking by looked like they didn’t care about the cause and were just out having fun blocking traffic. Lots of smiling, laughing and chatting hardly any passion or anger coming across.
Person of color who grew up in the ghetto here. Never harassed by cops.
Appreciate your comment, there are certainly a-holes in the police force(or any occupation) but being calm and polite makes most encounters go by much faster.
People in Seattle have idea what crooked racist cops look like. Seattle has an incredibly positive relationship with their cops. Especially compared to the East Coast.
While I think most of these protests are bullshit, I think their prevalence in Seattle probably explain why Seattle cops are so much better and more responsive than other cops.
Youth have the right to express their frustration like anyone else, whether or not you agree, or whether or not you feel like they’re “mature” enough to really care about the cause, is irrelevant. The fact that they’re finding a peaceful way to do so should be commended. It’s their friends and family who are falling victim to violence and discriminatory policing. Perhaps some relish in the opportunity to “block traffic,” and maybe for them, this is their first time participating in this type of activism; there’s a bit of zealousness and excitement that comes with one’s first time. I applaud them for taking an interest in their community, organizing together, and attempting to make a point.
[…] In August, a small protest marched through the streets of Capitol Hill and onto Broadway in the wake of the killing of the black teenager by a white officer in Missouri. A larger contingent assembled outside the East Precinct at 12th and Pine in October in a rainy protest against police violence. […]