Tag Archives: Poverty

Voices

OPINION: Gun Violence Is a Symptom of Poverty

Editor Leave a comment

by Tammy Morales

When it comes to addressing gun violence in our community, it’s time to put our money where our mouth is. Organizations like Safe Passage, Boys & Girls Club’s SE Network, Rainier Beach Action Coalition (RBAC), and Urban Family invest time in our communities, support our young people, and build community. They have been doing essential work long before Omari Wallace was shot and killed on March 18. In fact, we were supposed to be having a Zoom meeting about the increase of South Seattle shootings when we learned that a young man walked into the Emerald City Bible Fellowship and shot 19-year-old Wallace who was there attending a meeting. 

Continue reading OPINION: Gun Violence Is a Symptom of Poverty →
News

Elders of Color Face Major Hurdles Getting COVID Vaccine

Editor Leave a comment

by Carolyn Bick

Every day, Lynda Greene and her fellow staffers at the SouthEast Seattle Senior Center field about 30–45 phone calls from community elders trying to schedule an appointment to get vaccinated against the novel coronavirus.

Most of these callers are crying. Most of them are Black.

Continue reading Elders of Color Face Major Hurdles Getting COVID Vaccine →
Voices

OPINION: No One Should Go to Court Because They Can’t Afford a Transit Ticket

Editor Leave a comment

by Rich Stolz and Anna Zivarts

Following years of local advocacy and heightened scrutiny by the movement for Black lives around enforcement practices, Sound Transit has announced a new approach to fare enforcement on public transit: the fare ambassador pilot program. This pivot from a punitive system to a supportive one is long overdue. Sound Transit and other agencies must see this process through and fully divorce its transit fare system from the court system. Failure to pay for a transit ticket — whether due to poverty or misunderstanding — should never place transit riders at risk for devastating legal, financial, or physical harm.

Continue reading OPINION: No One Should Go to Court Because They Can’t Afford a Transit Ticket →
Opinion

OPINION: War Against the Poor, Weeding of the Emeralds

Editor 6 Comments

by Villainus (formerly Bypolar)

People have blamed the houseless crisis in Seattle on a lot of things: mental illness, chemical dependency, even laziness. In truth, they point a finger in every direction except toward the root cause: gentrification.

Continue reading OPINION: War Against the Poor, Weeding of the Emeralds →

Homelessness

Burning the Slums, a War on the Poor

Editor Leave a comment

by Bypolar

The Northwest Daily Marker published an article by Jason Paulus arguing that these shanty towns that have been popping up all over the city are breeding addiction and killing addicts. He argued that we must ban addicts from housing, requiring sobriety and enrollment in treatment to be housed.

Because we are approaching the cold and rainy seasons, Jason, it seems like you are the one trying to kill addicts. Paulus takes the stance that people experiencing houselessness must hit rock bottom before they can get clean, because that is what he needed.

Continue reading Burning the Slums, a War on the Poor →