News

Citywide Campaign Seeks to Bring Socially Distantancing Seattleites Closer

by Elizabeth Turnbull

Seattle Together, a community response plan run by the City of Seattle, launched today, May 21, as a way for residents to share stories, resources, events, and connect virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the City. 

“The short version is Seattle Together is a city-wide campaign to sort of combat feelings of isolation while we’re all forced to socially distance,” Randy Engstrom, the Director of Arts and Culture for the City of Seattle, told the Emerald in a phone interview. 

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Arts & Culture

Folklife Continues to Connect Communities With Virtual Festival, “From Home to Home”

by Alexa Peters

Celebrating its 49th year in 2020, Northwest Folklife Festival is no stranger to surprising situations. As managing director Reese Tanimura says, festival staff are regularly asked to respond to some unusual radio calls — be it a Scottish bagpipe competing with the Balkan choir on the Fisher Green Stage, a band of pirates that needs a better mic, or a farm animal that’s made its way into the crowd.

“The best radio call I ever got while working at the Northwest Folklife Festival was, ‘Uh, this is Tom from the Fountain Lawn Stage. I’m just radioing to let you know there is a chicken on my stage. I repeat, there is a live chicken on my stage,’” said Devon Leger, who booked for the festival until 2010.

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News

Washington National Guard to Staff COVID-19 Contact Tracing Program Only Until June 24?

compiled by Emerald Staff

Wednesday, Governor Jay Inslee announced Washington State’s COVID-19 contact tracing program. Over 700 National Guard members have been trained to do much of this labor-intensive work — at least until June 24. 

Tuesday, national media revealed that over 40,000 National Guard members’ deployment across the country ends on June 24 — one day short of qualifying for early retirement or education benefits. This includes the 700-plus Guard members already trained and starting to conduct contact tracing here in Washington. 

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Voices

Disaster Progressivism: Having the Guts to Imagine More

by Sarah Stuteville 

I’ve only ever taken one economics course, back in undergrad. I got a D. After 15 years, I found myself ruminating on that class, and an argument I had with the economics professor who taught it, while distress-drinking on a recent Friday.

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News

Man Endures Racist Taunts, Said SPD Was Unresponsive

by Ruth Bayang

(This article was previously published on Northwest Asian Weekly and has been reprinted with permission.) 

Insignificant. Unseen. Ignored.

That’s how Kert Lin, 35, of Seattle felt, as he heard someone yell “Chink, open your eyes, go back to China!” when he pulled into the parking lot of Home Depot on 2701 Utah Avenue South, just outside the International District (ID) on May 12.

Lin, a Chinese American, snapped a photo of the white man driving a company truck belonging to a local landscape company. The same man goaded Lin into getting out of his car while Lin called 911, all the while saying that calling the police would do no good, intimating that he couldn’t get fired because he was the owner of the landscape company, and that nothing would be done.

Lin said this happened in plain view of store security officers outside Home Depot.

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Voices

City Says Racial Bias, Hate Will Not Be Tolerated; Response to Hate Crime at SoDo Home Depot Says Otherwise

by Matt Chan

What happened to Seattle elementary school teacher, Kert Lin, this past week at the Lander Home Depot should never happen to anyone. Kert was the target of an unprovoked racist verbal attack … an attack by someone who is so steeped in his own racial privilege that intimidating someone based on their race was just a mean joke.  

I am 67 years old and know a few things about racism. The one truth is that being on the receiving end of a racist attack is one of the loneliest places in the world. It’s primal and frightening. You’re alone facing a person or a gang of people who hate you because of the color of your skin. You are forced to make split second decisions that can mean life or death for yourself or those you love. When confronting a toxic mix of rage, ignorance, and entitlement, there are no good choices other than survival. The one thing that is certain — a victim of racism never views life the same, and each incident in your life holds its own unique horror.

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Community

How a Facebook Group Supporting Seattle’s Chinatown Became a COVID-19 Community Movement

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by Sharon H. Chang

It was back in February — what now seems a lifetime ago — when Bill Tashima first heard people were avoiding Seattle’s Chinatown-International District (ID) because of the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, China. It was still winter, COVID-19 was not yet a pandemic, and only one known U.S. case existed in nearby Snohomish County (in a man who had visited Wuhan). But because Seattle’s Chinatown, a historically Asian immigrant community, was being perceived as directly connected to China where the outbreak began in December, businesses in the ID had been experiencing decline as early as January. Restaurants were getting hit especially hard. 

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Community

“I want them all to be here when we emerge from this” — South Seattleites Raise Funds for Local Businesses

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by Elizabeth Turnbull 

Rainier Valley community members raised more than $5,000 last week, which they distributed to six local businesses and one community project to show solidarity with local businesses suffering due to restrictions caused by the novel coronavirus. 

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Voices

OPINION: As We Mourn the Loss of “Normal,” the Time has Come to Envision a Bold New Future for Our Schools

by Marcus Harden

(This article first appeared on Rise up For Students and has been reprinted with permission.) 

“As long as there are those that remember what was, there will always be those that are unable to accept what can be. They will resist.”

—Thanos, Avengers Endgame

I hate social distancing. There, I said it.

I believe in the power of language — I rarely use the word hate — and I fully understand why social distancing is necessary. I honor and respect the sacrifices workers are making that allow me to sit on my Ikea couch and write a blog post about hating it and the privilege that comes along with it.

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way … every day, my heart and spirit mourns the loss of not only what was, but like so many others around me, I grieve for the lost feeling of certainty of what will be.

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