A groundbreaking report was released from the Urban Indian Health Institute revealed that Seattle has the highest number of missing and murdered indigenous women (MMIW) in the country, and Washington state holds the second highest rates of missing and murdered indigenous women. Native women have been leading the way in responses to the crisis of MMIW through legislative advocacy and community organizing work. In Washington state, two bills were recently passed thanks to the work of native women which increase reporting of missing native women and require law enforcement to improve their response to MMIW through hiring tribal liaisons and improving data collection methods.
Halisi “Tha Wizdom Wordsmith” Ali Eli is an artist, writer, advocate, community organizer, and life coach, but she doesn’t fit into any box. She’s a Seattle native and currently lives in South Seattle with her partner and five children.
More than a thousand people filled the space at Muslim Association of Puget Sound in Redmond on the evening of March 18 to mourn the 50 people in New Zealand who died in a massacre at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand.
(This article was originally published on The Seattle Globalist and has been reprinted with permission.)
by Globalist Staff
Local, national and international groups are calling for support for Muslims after a terrorist attack against two mosques at Christchurch, New Zealand, killing 49 people and injuring dozens more.
Standing under a banner that read “Love the youth, hate the jail,” activists called for continued resistance to King County’s existing youth criminal justice strategies, including the construction of a new youth jail at 12th Avenue and Alder Street.
El Centro de la Raza to unveiled and dedicated a bust of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Plaza Roberto Maestas on Feb. 1, the first day of Black History Month. The bust was a gift from the sculpture Jeff Day.
This week marks the 100-year anniversary of the Seattle General Strike, a five-day solidarity work stoppage by more than 60,000 workers — or approximately 20 percent of Seattle’s population. Union workers across industries and across political parties came out to show support for shipyard workers striking to protect their right to fair wages and to bargain collectively and directly with their employers. The elected Strike Committee organized to ensure peace in the streets despite the mayor’s threats of martial law, and to ensure that essential services continued.
Nearly 100 years ago, Congress passed the 19th Amendment, granting white women the right to vote. It took another year for enough states to ratify the amendment, but many people would continue to wait for their right to vote. Jim Crow laws prevented black women and men from participating in the United States’ form of democracy.
At a recent workshop on Martin Luther King Jr. Day titled “Affirmative Action = Justice: Poets Bearing Witness,” poet Jacqueline (Jaye) Ware began with a spoken word litany making the case for affirmative action.
“If it wasn’t for slavery, for unjust Jim Crow laws, for cross-burnings, for police harassment, for separate but unequal schools … affirmative action would not be a necessary tool to dismantle 400 years of oppression,” she said.
(This article originally appeared on Patch.com and has been republished with permission. South Seattle Emerald’s “This Weekend in South Seattle” has a listing of events throughout the weekend.)
The 32nd Martin Luther King Jr. Day is Monday, and there are plenty of volunteer events, marches, and memorials to honor the civil rights leader happening around Puget Sound.
