Tag Archives: Marcus Harrison Green

Voices

OPINION | Why I Can’t Stop Rooting for Robert Turbin

by Marcus Harrison Green

(A version of this article appeared in Real Change.)

Soon after the Seattle Seahawks drafted Robert “Turbo” Turbin in 2012 out of Utah State University, it was probably easy for fans to envision him rolling up to a palatial Laurelhurst estate and emerging from a Bentley Continental GT with his signature Herculean biceps.

Most likely missing from that picture was him delivering a DoorDash order to the actual owners of the residence.

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Arts & Culture

Hinton Publishing Centers Stories From Historically Underinvited Communities

New publishing company aims “to make visible the invisible stories of our communities.”

by Patheresa Wells

Many people can only dream of writing down their stories. It takes a special bravery to put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard to produce a sharable work, and getting it published and getting it out to a wider audience is a huge next step. People who have been historically underrepresented in traditional publishing are even less likely to take that step. But new publisher Hinton Publishing, an imprint of Vertvolta, has begun operations with a focus on helping underinvited communities in the Pacific Northwest to get their stories published.

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Arts & Culture

SAM Exhibit Urges Reflection on Black Identity and the Self

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by Marcus Harrison Green

(This article was originally published on Real Change and has been reprinted under an agreement.)

Credit Amoako Boafo for achieving the impossible. He’s managed to make Blackness — and its inherent pain, joy, complexity, struggles, and triumph — inescapable in the City of Seattle. At least that was my first impression after leaving the Ghanaian painter’s solo debut exhibit, “Soul of Black Folks,” currently on display at the Seattle Art Museum (SAM).

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Voices

OPINION | If We Let Journalism Die, Our Democracy Won’t Be Too Far Behind

by Marcus Harrison Green

(This article has been copublished with The Seattle Times under an agreement.)

Editor’s Note: This piece is adapted from a recent talk by Marcus Harrison Green at Town Hall Seattle.

Not too long ago, I was speaking with a friend who recently left journalism for much more lucrative pastures, and who is seriously thinking about expatriating from the United States.

I chided him for being overly cynical about the state of journalism and our country, and he replied that in this day and age, “to be cynical is simply to be paying attention.”

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Voices

OPINION | His Name Was Trayvon Martin

A letter to Roman, Alexander, Serea, and Jada.

by Marcus Harrison Green

A version of this article was originally co-published with The Seattle Times.

Today is the 11th anniversary of Trayvon Martin’s death.

You’re not yet old enough to know that his name should mean something to each of you. But I can’t recall his life without thinking of yours. 

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Voices

OPINION | The Myths That Kill Our Dreamers

by Marcus Harrison Green

Myths can destroy our dreams …

I’ll tell you why that thought haunted me after I visited Montgomery, Alabama, a historical crucible for both brutal oppression against Black people and their courageous resistance against it during the Civil Rights Movement.

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Voices

OPINION | Rainier Beach Students Are Right to Ask: What Are We Doing to Keep Them Safe?

by Marcus Harrison Green

(This article is copublished with The Seattle Times.)

I’m not exactly sure what it says about a city when some of its youth believe they must beg to be heard. That puzzle is what landed me inside Rainier Beach High’s cramped library Jan. 18. The occasion was the second student-led town hall on gun violence in as many weeks, a dialogue with Seattle Police Chief Adrian Diaz to discuss how violence had eroded their mental, physical, and emotional health. 

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Voices

OPINION | The Banality of Injustice

by Marcus Harrison Green

Content Warning: This op-ed discusses suicide.

The following is an edited transcript of a speech given at the 2022 Reimagining Behavioral Health Conference: Race, Equity, and Social Justice. Prompting the speech was the question, “What does justice look like when navigating mental health?”

Good morning. Thank you for joining me virtually today, or should you be listening to this recording, whatever day you found convenient to play back this speech.

I want to confess that a recent incident made me slightly shift the focus of my speech today. It seemed to provide a stark metaphor for where I think we currently find ourselves at this moment in our history.

You see, a few weeks ago, while walking from my office in Pioneer Square, I passed by what I thought was an empty wheelchair, stained with human feces, and a bundle of blankets in a heap next to it. 

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