Tag Archives: Featured

News

Summary of Inquest Hearings into the SPD Shooting of Charleena Lyles

by Vee Hua 華婷婷

Last Updated on July 7, 2022, 11:48 am.

Content Warning: This article contains discussions of police killings, violence, mental health crises, and suicide.

Inquest hearings continue through July 6 around the death of 30-year-old Charleena Lyles, a pregnant mother of three who was shot seven times by Seattle Police Department (SPD) officers following a disturbance call to her home in 2017. Thus far, the hearings have provided insights into the timeline of the day’s events, actions of officers, firefighters, and paramedics at the scene, attempts to revive Lyles, and traumatic impacts on Lyles’ children.

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Community

Converge Media’s TraeAnna Holiday and Deaunte Damper Look to the Future

by Amanda Ong

Converge Media, the largest producer of Black media in the Pacific Northwest, has seen several major milestones in the last month alone. Since its founding in 2017, Converge has operated out of its Black Media Matters Studio in downtown Seattle and has been working to uplift Black voices in ways that have been incredibly radical and influential throughout the media industry. Co-founder Omari Salisbury has notably gained recognition for his work covering Seattle’s response to the murder of George Floyd in 2020, the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest, and through their show, The Morning Update. Now, Converge is both saying goodbye to some of its past work and looking forward to exciting new coverage on the horizon.

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News

NEWS GLEAMS: Lyles Inquest Deliberations Begin, 988 Launches July 16, & More

curated by Vee Hua 華婷婷

A round-up of news and announcements we don’t want to get lost in the fast-churning news cycle!

Jury deliberations are underway beginning July 6, the last day of the Charleena Lyles inquest hearings. They will be asked to answer 100 questions related to whether the involved officers, Jason Anderson and Steven McNew, followed Seattle Police Department training policies in the shooting of Lyles in June 2017. As inquest administrator Michael Spearman instructed the jury on Friday, July 1, “The questions that you are going to be asked to answer are about how and why Ms. Lyles died, and whether the officers’ actions in this case complied with Seattle Police Department policy and training, and whether Ms. Lyles’ death was caused by criminal means.” See our daily summaries of the inquest hearings on the Emerald.

This week’s News Gleams otherwise shares details of 988, a new mental health alternative to 911! The Duwamish River Opportunity Fund also has a call for community-initiated projects and grant reviewers. Lastly, we will be expanding News Gleams to twice a week, and hope to see you out for SCIDpda’s Outdoor Party in Canton Alley this Saturday, July 9!

—Vee Hua 華婷婷, interim managing editor for the South Seattle Emerald

Continue reading NEWS GLEAMS: Lyles Inquest Deliberations Begin, 988 Launches July 16, & More →
News

Africatown Speaker Series Explores How to Build Thriving Black Communities

by Ben Adlin

A new summer speaker series hosted by Africatown Community Land Trust is bringing together nonprofit leaders from across the country to discuss best practices for building strong, resilient Black neighborhoods in Seattle and beyond.

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Community

The Barakah Beauty Collective: Building Community Through Sisterhood

by Nura Ahmed

Michaela Corning, founder and CEO of the Barakah Beauty Collective, has created a women-led, women-only beauty and wellness space especially for Muslim women — the only one of its kind in the Pacific Northwest. Now an essential hub for community, healing, and laughter, the road to founding Barakah Beauty Collective came with some unexpected twists.

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Arts & Culture

Ricardo Ruiz’s ‘We Had Our Reasons’ Tells the Stories of Immigrant Workers

by Amanda Ong

The voices of a community are an incredibly vibrant thing, and nearly impossible to hold in your own hands and distill into words. But this is what Seattle-based poet Ricardo Ruiz does in his new poetry collection, We Had Our Reasons/Teníamos Nuestras Razones, which has recently been released for publication by Seattle publishing house Pulley Press.

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Features

Photo Essay: Musang — A Day in the Life

by Kyle Bender and Joshua Lee

North Beacon Hill, a Seattle neighborhood already greatly impacted by gentrification, was once the home of numerous Filipino restaurants, including Kusina Filipina and Inay’s, now all closed. For Melissa “Mel” Miranda, a Seattle chef and restaurateur, her restaurant Musang is a way to bring familiar Filipino flavors back into the neighborhood with a more modern spin.

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Voices

OPINION: PNW Wildfires Threaten Health Equity, Especially if You’re Pregnant

by Megan Burbank

As we prepare for this summer’s wildfire season in King County and throughout the state, it’s essential to track disproportionate impacts on People of Color, folks living in poverty, young children and older adults, and people with underlying health conditions, like asthma and cardiovascular disease. These impacts are well-documented, but a new report shows that pregnant people are also at risk when air is unhealthy to breathe, and the toll can be even greater when other factors, like poverty, converge with expecting a baby.

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