(Image: @CMJoyHollings and @CMRobSaka)

Seattle City Council representative for Capitol Hill and the Central District Joy Hollingsworth marked Black History Month by joining in a ceremony with Mayor Bruce Harrell to raise the red, black, and green Black Liberation Flag above Seattle City Hall Tuesday afternoon.

Hollingsworth was joined in the ceremony by West Seattle rep Rob Saka. The two first-year city legislators are the first Black councilmembers in Seattle since Harrell left office in 2019.

CHS talked with Hollingsworth in January about how the lifelong Central District resident is shaping her council office and priorities.

Hollingsworth will lead the first meeting of the Parks, Public Utilities & Technology committee she chairs Wednesday afternoon.

Tuesday’s celebration came weeks after the city put some of the major legal fallout from its response to the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests behind it with a $10 million settlement with 50 plaintiffs harmed during Seattle Police’s flawed crowd control and arrest tactics.

Today, TOGETHER, we raised the African American flag at City Hall in honor of February as Black History Month! A proud moment for all and for me as the son of a Nigerian immigrant and raised by a single dad. Thank you @MayorofSeattle @JoyHollings @GirmayZahilay #OneSeattle 👏 pic.twitter.com/rzVxqdgYBb

— Councilmember Rob Saka (@CMRobSaka) February 14, 2024

$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 🖤