by Bypolar
Upon its release last month, I saw a lot of excitement in political cyphers for Childish Gambino’s (aka Donald Glover’s) video for This is America. Many spoke on how it was a “woke and relevant portrayal of the state of America.” Continue reading Childish Games: J.Cole’s ATM vs Childish Gambino’s This Is America
by Shontina Vernon
So much of the rhetoric surrounding those attempting to cross US Borders has sought to criminalize them rather than to contextualize what is happening in the countries from which they are seeking asylum. This isn’t an accident. Continue reading U.S. Building Blocks of the Border Crisis
by Kayla Blau
My days start with voicemails from grandmothers asking for resources to feed their grandbabies, school counselors lamenting another student’s family was evicted, pushed out, and could I find an apartment for them to rent for less than $1,000/month in this neighborhood? (They really want to stay in this neighborhood). Continue reading A Day In The Life of A Youth Worker
by Kelly Dahlman-Oeth
I’ve been arrested two weeks in a row for practicing nonviolent civil disobedience as part of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for a Moral Revival. The first arrest happened in the second week of the campaign. When the building closed at 5:30, the other protestors left peacefully and respectfully. The Washington State Patrol then gave the remaining 19 of us multiple warnings over a 3-hour time period. They then cuffed us, read us our Miranda rights and gently escorted us to the basement of the Legislative Building in Olympia, Washington, where they booked us and charged us with criminal trespassing (Misdemeanor 2). Continue reading Profiting Off The Poor
by Sonya Green
In Seattle, I was always acutely aware of my blackness. I felt like the small black font on an all-white page of the newspaper. No matter how many black typeface words filled the page, the background is all white. Always. White. Continue reading Seattle’s Inability to Address Its Whiteness Problem Made Me Say Goodbye for Good
We might already hold the key to decreasing gun violence
by Brian Bergen-Aurand
The killing of ten people and injuring of thirteen more in Santa Fe, Texas on May 18 marks another terrible and terrifying moment in this country’s ongoing struggle with gun violence. This most recent incident represents the 101st mass shooting to occur in the United States in 2018, according to the Gun Violence Archive (GVA). So far this year, the United States is averaging 1 mass shooting every 1.35 days. At that rate, we will see 270 mass shootings before the end of 2018. As shocking as that number is, though, it would be the lowest number of incidents per year since 2014, the first year GVA began archiving records. Continue reading Over 100 Mass Shootings
by Bypolar
Mother’s Day is a day that bestows celebration and praise to those who have done so much to earn it, the mothers of this world. That praise and celebration should have space in our mind and time more than once a year. That being said…What happens to those who had abusive, or deadbeat mothers? Is it a privilege to have a mother there that’s worth the praise? Continue reading Never Forget The Motherless
by Reagan Jackson
The third event of the Delridge Neighborhood and Development Association’s (DNDA) Let’s Talk Race series took place Saturday, April 28 at the High Point Community Center in West Seattle. Though the focus was supposed to be on understanding Islam, participants got an experiential pop quiz on tolerance and what it really means to be confronted with people who have different beliefs. Continue reading Getting Uncomfortable: Understanding Islam Event Turns Into Understanding Ourselves
by Goorish Wibneh
On May Day this year, I participated in a two-hour Boycott Wendy’s Protest on Rainier Avenue South. The point of the picket was not to criminalize misguided customers but to heighten awareness about Wendy’s, which sources its tomatoes from an agricultural industry in Mexico that has severe labor-rights issues, including engaging in gender-based harassment. Continue reading A May Day Protest: Judging a Cause on Its Own Merits
by Rabbi David Basior
Friday before last, I led a morning Jewish prayer service at the construction site of the new youth jail in King County, and witnessed police arrest six participants. I was leading the service as part of the People’s Moratorium, an effort to halt construction of the planned facility. Continue reading Why I Will Never Stop Protesting the New Youth Jail
