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I wrote in @Crosscut about why defunding the police is about Seattle ending its centuries-long battle with its own form of Jim Crow.
When the fight for "reform" takes place in literally every generation, the only way forward is some version of abolition. https://crosscut.com/2020/06/time-abolish-seattle-police-was-yesterday
When the fight for "reform" takes place in literally every generation, the only way forward is some version of abolition. https://crosscut.com/2020/06/time-abolish-seattle-police-was-yesterday
Seattle, 1865: A week after Lincoln signs off on the 13th Amendment, Seattle's first City Council bans Indigenous people from appearing in Seattle city limits. The Seattle Police Department is founded in 1869, but doesn't hire a Black officer until 1890. https://crosscut.com/2020/06/time-abolish-seattle-police-was-yesterday
Seattle, 1901: Seattle PD arrests Black journalist Horace Cayton Sr. because he has the temerity to report on police corruption. Cayton's son (a cop) later writes of a police culture of suspicion and condescension towards Black Seattleites in the 1930s. https://crosscut.com/2020/06/time-abolish-seattle-police-was-yesterday
Seattle, 1938: Three Seattle police officers kill Black waiter Berry Lawson, accusing him of loitering in the lobby of his own hotel. Civil Rights groups apply pressure to ensure the offending cops are convicted.
The governor later pardons the officers. https://crosscut.com/2020/06/time-abolish-seattle-police-was-yesterday
The governor later pardons the officers. https://crosscut.com/2020/06/time-abolish-seattle-police-was-yesterday
Seattle, 1968: The Seattle Black Panther Party is founded, in part to protect Black Seattle from the police. A 1955 Mayor's panel finds a pattern of racist policing in Seattle. In 1964, police spew racial invective before killing a Black man in Chinatown. https://crosscut.com/2020/06/time-abolish-seattle-police-was-yesterday
Seattle, 1999: In the decade that racist "drug-loitering" and "prostitution-loitering" ordinances are established, Seattle PD wars with demonstrators at the WTO protests. The city's police chief is forced to resign. The Mayor is voted out 3 years later. https://crosscut.com/2020/06/time-abolish-seattle-police-was-yesterday
Seattle, 2017: Under federal investigation since 2012 because of a pattern of racist policing and a habit of using force unconstitutionally, Seattle Police kill #CharleenaLyles, a pregnant Black mother, in her home.
The city indemnifies the officers. https://crosscut.com/2020/06/time-abolish-seattle-police-was-yesterday
The city indemnifies the officers. https://crosscut.com/2020/06/time-abolish-seattle-police-was-yesterday
Seattle, 2020: The Seattle Police Department's $407 million budget exceeds the city's entire combined spending on: affordable housing, health and human services, affordable child care, libraries, the arts, and parks, zoos, and aquariums. #DefundSPD https://crosscut.com/2020/06/time-abolish-seattle-police-was-yesterday
