Systemic racism in Policing, Justice, Employment, Housing, Immigration, Mental Health, Education and Voting.
["systemic racism" here meaning "racial inequities that persist without requiring widespread, ongoing, conscious discrimination by individuals, while also recognizing the progress that has been made."]
"Being American is more than a pride we inherit, it's the past we step into and how we repair it"
- Amana Gorman
Policing
Washington governor signs sweeping police reform measures
Laws to boost equity and accountability in Policing
SEATTLE (AP) — Washington Gov. Jay Inslee on Tuesday signed one of the nation’s most ambitious packages of police accountability legislation, prompted by last year’s outcry for racial justi... read more
6 steps to real, enduring police reform
Tim Burgess is a former Seattle City Council member and interim mayor. In its reckless rush to slash the police budget, the Seattle City Council has forced out Chief Carmen Best — the city’s... read more
Police union head criticized for comment on Capitol riot
The president of Seattle’s rank and file police officers’ union is under fire from a state police group, the city’s mayor and other public figures for his comments on social media this week... read more
Columbus police kill black man holding up cellphone
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Body camera footage released Wednesday shows Andre Hill, a 47-year-old Black man, emerging from a garage and holding up a cellphone in his left hand seconds before he is fatally s... read more
Improve policing--change police hiring system
In America, relations between police and the communities they serve are strained to the breaking point. Everyone from police officers to community groups to government entities are all doing their best to co... read more
Ex-cop charged with making false 911 call about Black youths
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A white former police officer has been charged with falsely reporting a gunfight with a group of Black youths at his lakeside camp in the Adirondacks while he was off duty last summ... read more
Walter Wallace Jr., needed help with a mental health crisis, shot and killed by Philadelphia police officers
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — the family of a Black man killed by Philadelphia police officers in a shooting caught on video had called for an ambulance to get him help with a mental health crisis, not for polic... read more
Activists: Cop's shooting of white woman treated differently
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — When an unarmed white woman who called 911 to report a crime was fatally shot by a black, Somali American police officer in Minneapolis, the racial dynamic seen in many police shooti... read more
Videos: Man who died in handcuffs said he couldn't breathe
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A family member said Friday she wasn’t satisfied with findings that led prosecutors not to charge Las Vegas police with a crime in the death of a 50-year-old Black man after he w... read more
Texas Police Officer Charged With Murder in Fatal Shooting of Black Man
Officer Shaun Lucas was arrested by the Texas Rangers, which said his actions were “not objectionably reasonable.” A white Texas police officer has been charged with murder in the fatal shoot... read more
Beating of Roderick Waslker by sheriffs deputy Georgia
A sheriff’s deputy in Georgia has been fired after video circulated on social media showing him pinning and beating a Black man after a traffic stop, the authorities said on Sunday. The sheriff&rsq... read more
After video shows Wisconsin police shooting a Black man multiple times
National Guard is called to Kenosha
KENOSHA, Wis. — Wisconsin’s governor on Monday called in the National Guard to help quell unrest after police shot an unarmed Black man in the latest incident this summer to stir cries of injusti... read more
Four years in a row police nationwide fatally shoot nearly 1,000 people
In almost every case, a police shooting is an individual, unrelated event that can
Fatal shootings by police are the rare outcomes of the millions of encounters between police officers and the public. Despite the unpredictable events that lead to the shootings, in each of the past four yea... read more
Cleveland Officer Who Killed Tamir Rice Is Hired by an Ohio Police Department
A former Cleveland patrol officer who fatally shot Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old boy whose death in 2014 intensified national outrage over the killing of unarmed black men and boys, has been hired by a poli... read more
Fired but still a cop
How Washington States decertification process leaves troubled officers with their guns
In the span of two months, he slammed a driver to the ground using an unsanctioned takedown, allegedly called a Black suspect a “monkey,” and pepper-sprayed a suspect who was strapped down to a h... read more
Auburn officer charged with murder has history of using force, be it dog, fist or gun
Records filed in federal court by attorneys for a man who was run down and seriously injured by an Auburn police officer in 2018 show the officer used force dozens of times during arrests in addition to kill... read more
I am a Black Police Officer. Here is How to Change the System.
Yes, defund the police. But then re-fund them, better.
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — When I entered the police force in Virginia in 1987, I was one of the few Black officers in my department. On my first day on patrol, I was paired with an experienced white officer.... read more
Lakewood officer who fatally shot driver in May was involved in 2013 shooting that led to record wrongful-death verdict
Said Joquin & Leonard Thomas
A Lakewood police officer who shot and killed a motorist during a traffic stop May 1 was also involved in the deadly shooting of a despondent Fife father in front of his 4-year-old son in 2013, resulting in... read more
SPD Deputy Chief Adrian Diaz vows to move department forward in wake of Carmen Best
After 16-year-old Fernando Esqueda was fatally shot in a drive-by shooting in April 2005, then-Seattle police Officer Adrian Diaz was assigned to work with young people and help develop youth programs at the... read more
Black Lives Matter accuses Seattle police of ambushing demonstrators;
say police are in contempt of court over weekend clashes
Attorneys for Black Lives Matter-Seattle King County have asked a federal judge to hold the Seattle Police Department in contempt of an injunction prohibiting the indiscriminate use of tear gas, pepper spray... read more
The police have long been a reliable source for some
But it is time to reexamine that trust
I can’t stop thinking about Manuel Ellis. I keep wondering if it weren’t for the global uprising for racial justice in the wake of George Floyd’s killing by Minneapolis police, whether... read more
Portland: Trump sends in federal forces
(We try to avoid political stuff, but this is the outcome of Black Lives Matter protests and deserves to be here.) President Trump's deployment of federal agents to Portland and, soon, Chicago and be... read more
Police attacks on journalists are attacks on us all
Opinion: Then they came for the journalists. In Minneapolis. In Detroit. In Los Angeles. In Cincinnati. In Asbury Park. In Des Moines. In Albuquerque. In Indianapolis. In Louisville. In Seattle. In D... read more
Investigate Tacoma police in Manuel Ellis death
Editorials
Tacoma and Pierce County authorities have a lot to answer for regarding the in-custody death of Manuel Ellis. This extends even beyond the need for rigorous investigation of every officer at the scene where... read more
If Seattle police budget is cut in half, as protesters want, what should happen next?
The Future of Policing: As protesters across the country demand sweeping changes to law enforcement, The Seattle Times begins an examination of what that future could look like and the hurdles ahead. Today,... read more
Race in America: policing, kneeling
Letters to the Editor, Northwest Voices, Opinion
Change policy culture “How police unions became such powerful opponents of change” [June 6, Nation), misses options to change police culture before officer contact with a union. The polic... read more
Stop fighting!
Atlanta sobriety test quickly turned deadly
ATLANTA (AP) — One minute, Rayshard Brooks was chatting cooperatively with Atlanta police, saying he’d had a couple of drinks to celebrate his daughter’s birthday and agreeing to a breath t... read more
Ahmaud Arbery
3 men indicted on murder charges in killing of Ahmaud Arbery
The fatal shooting of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia has stoked a national uproar over race relations. No arrests were made for two months until video of the shooting surfaced. 3 men indicted on murder charges... read more
Tucson police in turmoil after death of Latino man
The police chief of Tucson, Arizona, abruptly offered to resign on Wednesday while releasing a video in which a 27-year-old Latino man, Carlos Ingram Lopez, died in police custody two months ago. The vid... read more
Fox News runs digitally altered images in coverage of Seattle
Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone
Fox News published digitally altered and misleading photos on stories about Seattle’s Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ) in what photojournalism experts called a clear violation of ethical standards f... read more
What Seattle-area cops say about the future of policing
The Future of Policing: As protesters across the country demand sweeping changes to law enforcement, The Seattle Times begins an examination of what that future could look like and the hurdles ahead. Today,... read more
Justice System
3 Tacoma police officers plead not guilty in killing of Manuel Ellis
ignoring Ellis
Two Tacoma police officers entered pleas of not guilty Friday in Pierce County Superior Court, a day after they were charged with second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter in the March 2020 death... read more
Anger builds in Black community over Trump's claims of voter fraud in big cities
When Wisconsin Republicans opened an office earlier this year in the historical Bronzeville neighborhood, it was meant to be a physical symbol of President Trump's commitment to urban voters. Signs on th... read more
Manuel Ellis' family introduces ballot initiative to offer protections from police discrimination
Initiative 1300--The Manuel Ellis Washington Anti-Discrimination Act
Before Manuel Ellis was killed by Tacoma police on March 3, he had gifted his sister Monet Carter-Mixon the pit bull puppy that has now become part of her family. She guards over the dog born from a stig... read more
The American caste system
Opinion “If people were given the choice between democracy and whiteness, how many would choose whiteness?” Taylor Branch, the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian of the civil rights movemen... read more
Appeals court reinstates police wrongful death lawsuit filed by family of Cecil Lacy Jr.
The widow of a Tulalip tribal member who died while struggling with police in 2015 has won a new trial over allegations that officers used excessive force on Cecil Lacy Jr. when they held him down even as he... read more
Systemic Racial Bias in the Criminal Justice System Is Not a Myth
"...See systemic racial bias as a matter of degrees—as something that can improve or worsen over time. Indeed, research suggests that racial disparities have been declining over time, though there is no guarantee of inevitable progress, and our present situation makes it clear that we still have a long way to go.
Mental Health
How I survived the collision of racism and the stigma of mental illness
Survivor’s guilt terrorizes me sometimes. Why am I so lucky when others sharing my complexion and battling mental health struggles are not? That question arises every time I read about Black people wit... read more
Justice System
A victory for Native children's rights to remain with family and tribe
Forty-two years ago, Congress enacted the Indian Child Welfare Act to address a centuries-long practice: Removal of Native American children from their families and tribes by government actors and private ag... read more
Editors letter - Politics
Historian Henry Adams one defined politics as the “systematic organization of hatreds.” Is was true in the Civil War era, and just as true today. In 2020, who you hate, is who you are.&... read more
What does the phrase, Law and Order mean to you?
You may not have consciously considered this before, but to me, “Law and Order” means, people will know the law and obey it so we are safe as possible from conflict with our fellow human beings a... read more
City to pay $12M to Breonna Taylor family
Reform Police
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The city of Louisville agreed to pay $12 million to the family of Breonna Taylor and reform police practices as part of a settlement announced Tuesday, months after Taylor’s sla... read more
Systemic Racial Bias in the Criminal Justice System Is Not a Myth
"...See systemic racial bias as a matter of degrees—as something that can improve or worsen over time. Indeed, research suggests that racial disparities have been declining over time, though there is no guarantee of inevitable progress, and our present situation makes it clear that we still have a long way to go.
Mental Health
Racial Inequity of Coronavirus
Teresa and Marvin Bradley can’t say for sure how they got the coronavirus. Maybe Ms. Bradley, a Michigan nurse, brought it from her hospital. Maybe it came from a visiting relative. Maybe it was someth... read more
Justice System
Justices rule LGBT people protected from job discrimination
WASHINGTON (AP) — The (US) Supreme Court ruled Monday that a landmark civil rights law protects gay, lesbian and transgender people from discrimination in employment, a resounding victory for LGBT righ... read more
For Black community organizers in Seattle, Juneteenth 2020 a celebration and a call to action
In recent days, TraeAnna Holiday, among others, has been busier than ever, organizing a Juneteenth rally and march in Seattle in just two weeks. Juneteenth, which commemorates the end of slavery in the U... read more
Keep up the fight:
Help pass the Justice in Policing Act
In the weeks following the killing of George Floyd, communities across Washington and throughout the country have stood up and powerfully spoken out — protesting, demanding accountability and fighting... read more
A monstrous breach of the First Amendment
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of people peaceably to a... read more
Systemic Racial Bias in the Criminal Justice System Is Not a Myth
"...See systemic racial bias as a matter of degrees—as something that can improve or worsen over time. Indeed, research suggests that racial disparities have been declining over time, though there is no guarantee of inevitable progress, and our present situation makes it clear that we still have a long way to go.
Employment
The Deep South Has a Rich History of Resistance, as Amazon Is Learning
Labor issues tied to class and racial equality and solidarity
The Deep South is not generally known for its labor agitation, which is why it might come as a surprise for some to learn that it is in Alabama where workers have mounted one of the largest and most agg... read more
A new lawsuit shines a light on caste discrimination in the U.S. and around the world
U.S. technology companies' employees from India face caste discrimination workplace harassment--casteist slurs, verbal assaults, threats of violence
Opinion piece. As the United States faces a reckoning over its enduring racial caste system, a critical new front for civil rights was opened against the original system of caste discrimination that bega... read more
Seattle Children's hospital medical director resigns, citing racism, demands for change.
Two other people of color also left the clinic earlier this year.
For Seattle-area families who relied upon Dr. Ben Danielson, the medical director of the Odessa Brown Children’s Clinic, the grief over his resignation is twofold: They lost a trusted pediatrician and... read more
Yes - I was hired because I was Black. But that is not the only reason.
In a 10-part series, Michelle Singletary gets personal about misconceptions involving race. Here, she examines the notion that affirmative action gives unqualified Black people an unfair advantage. ... read more
New study documents systemic racism in Seattle restaurants
What happens if a white server and a person of color with the same qualifications apply for jobs at 100 different upscale Seattle restaurants? Using pairs of actors to conduct same-day tests, a new study by... read more
Housing
JPMorgan puts $30B toward fixing banking's 'systemic racism'
loans to encourage Black and Latino homebuyers and small businesses
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — JPMorgan Chase said Thursday it will extend billions in loans to Black and Latino homebuyers and small business owners in an expanded effort toward fixing what the bank calls &ld... read more
Fair housing groups: Redfin 'redlines' minority communities
SEATTLE (AP) — Several fair housing organizations accused Redfin of systematic racial discrimination in a lawsuit Thursday, saying the online real estate broker offers fewer services to homebuyers and... read more
Seattle residential real estate industry is talking about race and wrestling with some history
The companywide email from CEO Mike Grady struck a sour chord with many at Coldwell Banker Bain, the Bellevue-based residential real estate brokerage. Bain executives “fully support peaceful demons... read more
Black homeowners face discrimination in appraisals
Companies that value homes for sale or refinancing are bound by law not to discriminate. Black Homeowners say it happens anyway.
Abena and Alex Horton wanted to take advantage of low home-refinance rates brought on by the coronavirus crisis. So in June, they took the first step in that process, welcoming a home appraiser into the... read more
White suburbia awakens in different shade of protest
White silence is violence (protest sign)
The Black Lives Matter marches in towns like Bremerton, Bainbridge Island, Port Orchard, Poulsbo and Silverdale might seem small fry compared to the massive protests that have ignited in cities like Seattle.... read more
Percentage of Black residents in Seattle is at its lowest point in 50 years
For Seattle, the 2010s were transformative, and not just in terms of population growth. As the cost of living skyrocketed and gentrification spread across the city, many neighborhoods were fundamentally chan... read more
Immigration
The Most Valuable Skill for Immigrants / La habilidad mas valiosa para los inmigrantes
A new study has proven what generations of immigrants have known, said Jeff Jacoby. Learning English is “the most valuable skill immigrants can acquire” after arriving in the U.S. The... read more
Judge stops Trump policy of 'expelling' child migrants, questioning legality of border controls linked to covid crises
A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the Trump administration to halt its practice of “expelling” underage migrants who enter the United States without a parent, a ruling that also cast doubt on... read more
Immigration Detention and Coerced Sterilization: History Tragically Repeats Itself
The ICE detention story reflects a long pattern in the United States of the coerced sterilization of marginalized populations, particularly of Black, Latinx, and Indigenous peoples.
The recent news of a whistleblower’s allegations that a for-profit ICE detention center forced sterilization procedures on immigrant women shocked many people and drew comparisons to Nazi steriliz... read more
Governor creates $40 million relief fund for undocumented immigrants
After months of talks with immigrant advocates, Gov. Jay Inslee is setting up a $40 million relief fund for people who can’t access federal stimulus programs because of their immigration status. Th... read more
Mental Health
At CPS high schools, a stark racial divide on when cops are called on students and arrests
For years, Black students and activists have complained about having police in their schools, saying it results in staff targeting Black youth. CPS
For years, Black students and community activists have complained about having uniformed police officers in their schools, saying the result is that school staff members target Black children, getting cops i... read more
Kamala Harris and Doug Emhoff are a new symbolof interracial couples.
On the last night of the Democratic National Convention, Aisha Cozad watched on television as Joe Biden and his vice-presidential choice Kamala D. Harris held their clasped hands triumphantly aloft. But... read more
Anti-Private Sector-Career-shaming of talented Biden Appointees Needs to Stop
As I watch nominees and appointees announced by the Biden-Harris transition team get maligned in the press and on social media for their past work in the private sector, I’m reminded that often our big... read more
What will come of the wreckage of a divided America?
It's in our hands
Several weeks ago, I found myself straddling the centerline of a rural highway, kneeling on hot asphalt, aiming a charged fire hose at the aftermath of a head-on collision. Neither car was yet burning, but f... read more
Are American racial truths a threat to Trump?
“I didn’t know.” Those were the first words my friend, a white guy named Dave, spoke to me the day after the first episode of “Roots,” which depicted the capture and enslave... read more
How a history of racism, police brutality and a pandemic led to an extraordinary moment
Aaron Dixon has seen a lot in his 71 years. The leader of Seattle’s Black Panther Party in the height of the turbulent 1960s, Dixon lived through the uprisings after the murder of the Rev. Dr. Martin L... read more
Confessions of a white baby boomer on race relations
Opinion: June 12, 2020 “Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy were my heroes growing up in New York in the 1960s. My parents had taught me and my brother to embrace racial justice and tr... read more
I do not want any help from your kind
Being a doctor while Black
Throughout my medical training, there were situations of patient’s refusing treatment based on the color of my skin, even in emergencies. One night, in Charlottesville, Virginia, the buzzing of the... read more
What does Black Lives Matter mean to an old white guy?
If you hear Black Lives Matter, and you think, All Lives Matter, You are just not getting the message.
An Opinion piece By Floyd Else, MA, LMHC (ret.) NCC, MAC, Counseling Washington Webmaster. The massive "Black Lives Matter" protests are protests against systemic rac... read more
Education
Editorial: The riots and lynchings of 1919 provide moral lessons for the present day
A century ago, racial hatred erupted in terrible, white-led rioting in more than two dozen U.S. communities. The assaults over a 10-month period in 1919 took the lives of more than 250 African American men,... read more
The Tulsa Race Massacre Happened 99 Years Ago. Here
mob destroys 35-square-blocks of the black community, 300 killed, 8,000 left homeless
Last year, the HBO series ‘Watchmen’ depicted the Tulsa Race Massacre, one of the worst outbreaks of racial violence in American history, in its series premiere. The Tulsa Race Massacre ... read more
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Black like Kamala
It was probably inevitable that Kamala Harris becoming Joe Biden’s running mate would result in controversy over her heritage. Harris, whose mother emigrated from India and whose father emigrated fro... read more
'Everybody wins when we're in positions of leadership': Washington State's female leaders of color on what Kamala Harris represents
As the first female, Black and South Asian vice president: Kamala Harris has transcended politics to become a cultural icon
“Mr. Vice President, I’m speaking,” said Sen. Kamala Harris, holding her hand up and looking directly at Vice President Mike Pence after he interrupted her during their nationally televised... read more
A Black Seattle family couldn't bury their young son where they wished because of racism. 60 years later does an apology help?
In 1957, the Price family was kept from burying their son in an area reserved for white children in Evergreen Washelli Cemetery. 60 years later, the state Supreme Court apologized for its ruling.
Six decades after the state of Washington compounded her family’s tragedy with insult and indignity, Bernice Price can only shake her head and sigh. “Oh Lord,” Price, 90, says. “I... read more
What state entered the Union in 1859 - as a white's only state?
Original Oregon state constitution banned slavery, and also excluded nonwhites from living there.
In 1844, all black people were ordered to get out of Oregon Country, the expansive territory under American rule that stretched from the Pacific coast to the Rocky Mountains. Those who refused to leave c... read more
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Is Holocaust Denial a form of Anti-Semitism and Hate Speech?
Facebook bans Holocaust denial, distortion posts
Facebook is banning posts that deny or distort the Holocaust and will start directing people to authoritative sources if they search for information about the Nazi genocide. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg... read more
A possible America begins with anti-racist training
Racism is not American. Talking about and fighting racism is.
On Sept. 4, President Donald Trump pledged to identify and cancel all anti-racist training contracts for federal government agencies, calling them “divisive, un-American propaganda trainings,&rdqu... read more
Seattle-area families of color are talking about improving remote education.
Here are some of their ideas.
Education Lab is a Seattle Times project that spotlights promising approaches to persistent challenges in public education. It is produced in partnership with the Solutions Journalism Network and is fun... read more
To understand structural racism, look to our schools.
Education Lab - Local News
Education Lab is a Seattle Times project that spotlights promising approaches to persistent challenges in public education. It is produced in partnership with the Solutions Journalism Network and is funded b... read more
This project is trying to reverse gentrification by bringing people back to the Seattle Central District
When Andrese Collins bumps into people he grew up with in the Central District, the conversation always starts the same way: “Where you’d go?” Most of his childhood acquaintances have m... read more
How we are covering structural racism and systemic change in education
How you can get involved in educational changes
Education Lab: Seattle Times July 19, 2020 Education Lab is a Seattle Times project that spotlights promising approaches to persistent challenges in public education. It is produced in partnership with t... read more
Voting
How the Texas voting bill would have created hurdles for voters of color
Provisions barring drive-through voting and early voting on Sunday mornings would have had a disproportionate effect on Black and Latino voters, critics say.
Texas Democrats late Sunday headed off passage — at least for now — of one of the most restrictive voting bills in the country, a 67-page measure with a slew of provisions that would have made it... read more
What is the Black Lives Matter Global Network?
"Black Lives Matter began as a call to action in response to state-sanctioned violence and anti-Black racism. Our intention from the very beginning was to connect Black people from all over the world who have a shared desire for justice to act together in their communities. The impetus for that commitment was, and still is, the rampant and deliberate violence inflicted on us by the state."
The Black Lives Matter Global Network--what we believe.
Washington Black Live Matter Alliance
Black Lives Matter -Seattle/King County
