by Seattle City Councilmember Tammy J. Morales
When I was 21 years old, I had an abortion.
Continue reading OPINION: My Abortion StoryTag Archives: Tammy Morales
Community Expresses Support for Investing Federal Relief Funds in Black Community
by Chamidae Ford
On Tuesday evening, May 4, the Seattle City Council held a public comment forum to hear how the community would like to see $239 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding spent.
The forum lasted two and a half hours, featuring nearly 80 community members calling in to voice their opinions.
Continue reading Community Expresses Support for Investing Federal Relief Funds in Black Community
OPINION: Gun Violence Is a Symptom of Poverty
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
Black Brilliance Research Project Releases Final Report
by Guy Oron
Seattle’s Black Brilliance Research Project (BBRP) — the largest Black-led community research project in the world — released its nearly 1,300-page final report on Friday, Feb. 26. The project was born out of last summer’s Black Lives Matter protests in response to the police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
Due to pressure from the Defund SPD campaign organized by Black, Brown, and Indigenous community leaders and activists, the Seattle City Council set aside funds, including diverting some money away from the police department, to fund the research project. This research will inform the creation of a participatory budgeting process which would allow all Seattle community members over 10 years old to have a say in how almost $30 million is allocated to communities in the city.
Continue reading Black Brilliance Research Project Releases Final Report
Focused on Youth Empowerment, Black-Owned QueenCare Opens in Central District Location
by Elizabeth Turnbull
On a snowy, sunny day, the luxury body-care product business QueenCare opened the doors of its second location in Seattle on 23rd Avenue South and South Jackson Street in the new Jackson Apartments in the Central District, continuing an interrupted legacy of Black-owned businesses in the district.
“This is so momentous in so many different ways,” said Monika Mathews, the owner of QueenCare products, at the Feb. 11 grand opening. “We’re standing here in the historic Central District of Seattle.”
Continue reading Focused on Youth Empowerment, Black-Owned QueenCare Opens in Central District Location
City’s Recession-Era Budget Includes Modest Cuts to Police, Promises of Future Investments in Community Safety
by Erica C. Barnett
The Seattle City Council adopted a 2021 budget today that reduces the Seattle Police Department’s budget while funding investments in alternatives to policing; repurposes most of Mayor Jenny Durkan’s proposed $100 million “equitable investment fund” to Council priorities; and replaces the encampment-removing Navigation Team with a new program intended to help outreach workers move unsheltered people into shelter and permanent housing.
Continue reading City’s Recession-Era Budget Includes Modest Cuts to Police, Promises of Future Investments in Community Safety
Tammy Morales: New Homeless Outreach Team Will Be More Effective, Less Expensive
by Ansel Herz
City Council Member Tammy Morales is proposing Seattle create a new, smaller homelessness outreach team called “HOPE.” She says it would be more effective at sheltering people and addressing safety concerns and would cost less money than the city’s Navigation Team, which is being cut after reductions this year to the Seattle Police Department’s budget.
Continue reading Tammy Morales: New Homeless Outreach Team Will Be More Effective, Less Expensive
The Morning Update Show — 10/22/20
The Morning Update Show — hosted by Trae Holiday and The Big O (Omari Salisbury) — is the only weekday news and information livestream that delivers culturally relevant content to the Pacific Northwest’s urban audience. Omari and Trae analyze the day’s local and national headlines as well as melanin magic in our community. Watch live every weekday at 11 a.m. on any of the following channels, hosted by Converge Media: YouTube, Twitch, Facebook, Periscope, and whereweconverge.com.
We’ll also post the Morning Update Show here on the Emerald each day after it airs, so you can catch up any time of day while you peruse our latest posts.
Morning Update Show — Thursday, Oct. 22
Today on the Morning Update Show:
$100M Task Force Update; Steven Severin — #KeepMusicLiveWA; **LIVE — Besa Gordon of KUBE 93**; **LIVE — Carlos Imani of FLVR**; Morales Talks Homelessness; HOPESPD Partners With Center for Policing Equity; #TBT
OPINION: We Need to Divest From Police to Improve Public Safety
by Tammy Morales
When we talk about “public safety” many people imagine law enforcement officers. Police respond to calls for assistance, the thinking goes. They investigate crimes and protect property. But public safety means so much more. And a law enforcement system that is rooted in white supremacy can’t keep the public safe.
The community conditions that keep us all safe don’t rely on the police. Those conditions rely on a shared ability to thrive. Community safety means greater housing stability, affordable medical care, food security, opportunities for good-paying jobs, high-quality childcare.
When communities of color endure generational poverty, it’s because our patterns of neighborhood investment are also rooted in white supremacy. It’s time to end these patterns.
Continue reading OPINION: We Need to Divest From Police to Improve Public Safety
Veto-Proof Majority of Seattle City Council Pledges Support for #DefundSPD Effort
by JSeattle
(This article was originally published on The Capitol Hill Seattle Blog and has been reprinted under an agreement)
Seven of the nine Seattle City Council members say they will support the effort to reduce the Seattle Police budget by 50%, the key component of demands from activists and community groups after weeks of Black Lives Matter protests, marches, and rallies in the Pacific Northwest.
The important threshold would represent a veto-proof majority on any council action as the representatives shape major changes to the city’s budget in the face of predictions of a significant downturn in revenue due to the COVID-19 crisis — a rebalancing process planned to be finalized and voted on in the next two weeks. Continue reading Veto-Proof Majority of Seattle City Council Pledges Support for #DefundSPD Effort