Post navigation

Prev: (01/17/22) | Next: (01/18/22)

With support for education, voting rights, and essential workers, a multitude of messages for Seattle MLK Day 2022

Posted on by

With reporting by Shamaar Thomas – CHS Reporting Intern

Seattle’s day of remembrance and activism to mark MLK Day 2022 included a strengthened presence of city leaders with Mayor Bruce Harrell attending the rally and march from his alma mater Garfield High School to the steps of City Hall. The Seattle Police Department was also trying to provide more than traffic safety support with its new Police Outreach and Engagement Team and a department of transportation road sign programmed to read “SPD STANDS WITH YOU.”

But as organizers from the Seattle MLK Jr. Coalition nonprofit group that organizes the annual event focused on truth and education in the face of the debate over critical race theory and rallied for voter rights, speakers like Anthony Washington, curriculum manager and head humanities teacher of The Academy for Creating Excellence, were the true center of the crisp but dry and blue-skied day.

“To be in a position to get up in front of people to speak at Garfield. It’s crazy but it’s actually part of a dream that I had,” Washington told CHS last week about his opportunity to speak at Monday’s rally. “ I’m gonna be somebody that people listen to. I’m gonna be somebody that people need to hear.”

Washington, now a community activist, originally had plans to become a professional basketball player before honing in on education. Washington told CHS about being offered a scholarship to the University of Washington without a diploma at Garfield but issues off the court led him to get kicked out. He continued his basketball career at Portland State University where he grew fond of the Black studies department, reigniting the flame to become an educator. “I can do way more than just basketball. I want to be a teacher.”

He discovered that education systems across the country were not giving Black students proper education. some with troubled backgrounds were placed in special education classrooms, limiting their chance of success upon graduation. Washington went back to UW to achieve a bachelor’s degree in American ethics studies, later finishing his master’s degree. He knew that to speak and advocate for Black students, he needed to earn a teaching certificate.

Washington now uses his experience to create programs that are relevant to the underrepresented stories of Black students.

“Being recognized as one of the only kids from Garfield to get a scholarship after my experience teaching there, then asked to speak at Garfield, I think about the people that I’ve looked up to my whole life,” Washington said.

Organizers also emphasized COVID-19 safety with masking. A pop-up vaccination effort was also underway.

Monday’s march stepped off from Garfield and made its way toward City Hall where the event continued with speakers, reading, and poetry — and a small contingent of police waiting on the steps of the building.

Earlier in the day, Mayor Harrell expressed his administration’s support for the vision of MLK but focused his message on the pandemic. “You’ve stepped up to help neighbors navigate vaccine appointments, to clear sidewalks and drains in snow and rain, to show that spark of human kindness that has been in too short supply,” Harrell said in a message posted to social media. “I know we can continue this spirit toward a better City and better future—together.”

As the march progressed, the crowds passed the Children and Family Justice Center where speakers condemned the youth jail and called for jobs not incarceration for young people. Another stop came at Broadway and Pike where chants calling for the respect of essential workers rang out in support of union workers at Kroger-owned grocery chain QFC.

For Washington, bringing a diversity of causes together in the spirit of the man is the real value of MLK Day.

“This is still a celebration of everything that he [MLK] accomplished,” Washington told CHS. “But it’s more a celebration of the vision that he had and the realization that it’s not just about us coming together, it’s not just about money, it’s not just about stopping a war, It’s a combination of interconnected aspects. It’s the humanity behind the millions (of people who march) that I really celebrate.”

 

$5 A MONTH TO HELP KEEP CHS PAYWALL-FREE
🌈🐣🌼🌷🌱🌳🌾🍀🍃🦔🐇🐝🐑🌞🌻 
Subscribe to CHS to help us hire writers and photographers to cover the neighborhood. CHS is a pay what you can community news site with no required sign-in or paywall. To stay that way, we need you.

Become a subscriber to help us cover the neighborhood for $5 a month -- or choose your level of support 👍 

 
 

Subscribe and support CHS Contributors -- $1/$5/$10 per month

Comments are closed.