by Ben Adlin
For almost three years now, parents and teachers representing more than a dozen Southeast Seattle schools have been meeting regularly to discuss the pernicious problem of PTA fundraising, all while planning one of the biggest fundraisers their schools have ever seen.
Continue reading Equity-Focused Fundraiser for Southeast Seattle Schools Is Back — and Bigger Than Everby Fathi Karshie
Pierce Transit, a municipal transit agency that generates 73% of its budget from taxation, avoids acknowledging its institutional role and its place in the racist history of public transportation. The agency disproportionately fires Black employees, and its leaders despise any meaningful structural change that would otherwise help address anti-Blackness. Available data analyses are direct responses to legal compliance requirements as opposed to discovery intended to explore meaningful paths to structural reform. One HR person with whom I shared my concern remarked, “We are looking good, plus we just passed the triennial audit,” referring to Federal Transit audits that frisk for legal disparities once every three years. In other words, as long as they are within compliance, all is tolerable.
Continue reading OPINION | Pierce Transit Racial Equity Optics Is Not an Actual Plan to Combat Structural Racismby Amanda Ong
On Dec. 20, 2021, President Biden named International Community Health Services (ICHS) President and CEO Teresita Batayola as one of 25 leaders who will be appointed to the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiʻians, and Pacific Islanders. According to the ICHS press release, “The 25-member commission’s focus is on advancing equity, justice, and opportunity for Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities.”
Continue reading ICHS President and CEO Teresita Batayola Appointed to Presidential Advisory Commissionby Alexis Mburu and Eva Herdener
What happens when those tasked with teaching also need to be taught? Our education system has always had to adapt, whether in regards to who was allowed in the doors or how we kept them safe. And we can always find ways to improve the quality of education students are receiving — especially regarding race and equity.
As two members of the NAACP Youth Council, we spend a lot of time focusing on working towards racial equity in the education system. One of our group’s key issues is the need for mandated racial equity training in schools. We are youth currently in the education system. Most of us identify with one or multiple marginalized communities and we have seen firsthand the damage done to students due to the ignorance of those who are “authorities” inside schools. Racial equity training is one way we can help ensure the system we rely on for our educational and social growth is a safe place for all of us.
Continue reading The Need for Mandated Racial Equity Training in Schoolsby Susan Fried
The Teen Summer Musical is an institution in Seattle. For many years Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center and Teen Summer Musical director Isiah Anderson worked with dozens of young people over eight to 10 weeks every summer to create a world class, large-scale musical production. In 2019, performances of Uncle Willy’s Chocolate Factory played to full houses at Benaroya Hall and included 60 young people performing amazing choreography and singing incredible original music. In 2020, there was no Teen Musical. Like most annual events it was canceled due to COVID-19.
The Teen Summer Musical has returned for 2021, though in an abbreviated form. This year’s production is made possible by Acts On Stage, The Voices Project, the Associated Recreation Council, and Seattle Parks and Recreation. Fifteen young people between 12 and 18 years old will be dancing and singing in an original musical Story of an Off-Brand Band written by Michelle Lang-Raymond and adapted and directed by Isiah Anderson, with original music by Lang-Raymond and musical director Cedric Thomas. About half of the cast and many of the staff have either performed in or were a part of the crew in past Teen Musical productions. By the first performance of this year’s musical, the cast and crew will have put in 5 weeks of hard work, Monday through Friday, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, at the Acts on Stage Theatre space in White Center, co-founded by Michelle Lang-Raymond and Isiah Anderson.
Continue reading Teen Summer Musical Returns With a Show About an Off-Brand Band and Racial Equityby Kevin Schofield
Two “long read” documents came through my inbox in the past week that, upon reflection, are likely to set the tone for a good chunk of our political conversation over the next few months as we head into the primary and general elections here in Seattle.
Continue reading Weekend Long Reads: The Cost of ‘Compassion’by Sally James
The State of Washington released a report on Feb. 10 showing that white people are getting a higher proportion of the limited amount of COVID-19 vaccines than other races and ethnicities in the state.
For Trang Tu, a community activist who cares for her elderly mother — who has dementia and needs 24-hour care — getting a vaccine presented numerous hurdles. Tu eventually got a last-minute tip from a mass vaccination site in Snohomish county, a long drive from her home south of Rainier Beach, and her mother is now vaccinated. “It’s not just limited supply of vaccines itself,” Tu said. “Access is not equal. It favors people who have time, an internet connection, transportation, and a certain language.”
Tu’s mother was able to overcome systemic barriers because, Tu says, “I have some privilege: I have a computer, I have a car, I can do advocacy.” Many other BIPOC people aren’t as fortunate.
Continue reading Community Health Centers Work to Address COVID-19 Vaccine Inequityby Ben Adlin
A statewide partnership of public officials and private groups on Monday, Feb. 15, announced plans to put $30 million toward a new equity initiative intended to boost COVID-19 vaccination rates among Black, Brown, Indigeneous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities and other groups disproportionately affected by the pandemic.
“The goal on this initiative is to raise $15 million to match government dollars around vaccine outreach and education,” said Lilliane Ballesteros, executive director of the Latino Community Fund of Washington. “Now is the time to mobilize our collective resources quickly to those in need.”
Continue reading Statewide Pandemic Relief Fund Sets $30M Goal for Vaccine Equityby Elizabeth Turnbull
On Monday, the King County Equity Now (KCEN) Coalition unveiled the Black Brilliance Project, a Black-led, community-based research team set to investigate health, public safety and racial equity solutions, with the goal of providing direction and authority on how City funds should be applied toward meeting these needs in 2021.
The Black Brilliance Project’s first 50 members were on-boarded last week, and the project will ultimately consist of over 100 paid research positions, occupied by various members of the city’s Black community, some of whom spoke at a press conference on Monday.
Overall, the project will survey the needs of the Black community and provide a potential avenue for community members to be involved in budgeting decisions as an alternative to City-formed task forces that usually decide how money for the Black community is allocated.
“When we say community voice we don’t mean some task force that is cherry-picked by white wealthy people who already have access to political power,” said KCEN research director Shaun Glaze during a press conference Monday. “Instead of having pre-set priorities, instead of having hand-selected task forces, we are pushing for a community voice and community power to be at the center.”
Continue reading King County Equity Now Announces Community-Based Research Teamby Elizabeth Turnbull
Since the Seattle protests began in late May, demonstrators have gathered in front of various police precincts and city buildings to protest police brutality and systemic anti-Black racism. Two protests this summer, including one held two weeks ago, have shifted to focus on the issue of gentrification in general, and on one pot shop in particular: Uncle Ike’s.
On the evening of Aug. 7, a rally organized by the Engage Team, a group of young activists who posted their first rally in July of this year, gathered in front of the pot shop’s newly-opened location on East Olive Way, and marched to the original Uncle Ike’s storefront on 23rd Avenue and East Union Street, in the Central District (CD), calling for a boycott of Uncle Ike’s weed shops and a halt to predatory development.
“The main goal is to pretty much expose gentrification, expose what’s going on and how it’s working in Seattle,” said Peyday, one of the organizers with the Engage Team. “We want to expose the little details of racism that people don’t really understand, and so now we’re trying to expose gentrification as well.”
Continue reading How a Weed Store Became a Symbol of Seattle Gentrification
