By Ken Robinson

Managing Editor

Dear Haters,

In Burien, something more dramatic is taking place. In early returns in the Tuesday election, it appeared as if incumbents were holding onto their seats. But as the votes were counted in the next few days, challengers—two Hispanic men—surged ahead.

What is telling about his change is how the voters of Burien (in a 62% turnout that may be a record in a non-presidential year) have made it clear they do not side with the haters.

Who are the haters? In some cases, they were the incumbents who signed on with the out-of-state group that sent a letter listing people with arrest records as a reason for voiding the Sanctuary City ordinance in place in Burien. 

Here’s news for you: the world has changed. The people who live here now (in spite of trump’s —that’s right—small ’t’) best efforts to export people it does not like they are here to stay. They have become part of the rich fabric of our society, just as many who came before from Ireland, Germany, England, France and many other countries. 

You are not special because you were already here. You are not a more important ‘A more important 

American’. You do not have superior rights to the freedoms of our country. And you do not have the right to condemn, castigate, shame, belittle or harm people who came after you.

Imagine this: you, living in a country controlled by a despot (we are close but it feels like the good people are fighting back now) are forced to leave you home. You move that country where most people do not speak English. You have a little money, but not enough to support you and your family for long. You need to find work, shelter and food. But at every turn, people are shooting snake-eyes at you because of the color of your skin and the funny way you talk and dress. And some are aggressive in their condemnation of you. You are afraid and bewildered and wish you were in a safe place.

If you are so ignorant of history that you do not know we are a nation of immigrants and that this fact is why we are the most powerful nation in the world, you must study and learn to be tolerant. 

The candidates who challenged the incumbents in Burien did so with true bravery. We commend them for standing up, for their courage.

Department of Corrections

We got a call at home a little after 10 p.m. Friday night from a readers in Ballard who wanted us to know that we had spelled the name of the street she lives on incorrectly.. She lives on ‘Dibble’ Street. In our story about how a group of neighbors had built a tiny house for the homeless, we spelled the street name as ‘Dribble’. 

We could blame auto-correct. Computers nowadays want to correct our spelling and the word ‘dibble’ sounds like a made up word. 

Or, we could admit  that type it wrong, call the offending writer into the office and ask her to cut off a finger as punishment in our standard company policy.

While we consider that, it is good to know that people are reading and care about the accuracy. I wish they could call earlier in the evening and not when I am watching the knockout round of The Voice.

Downtown

Jenny Durkan rounded up all the big money in town and became mayor. We like her and believe she will do a good job now that she has defeated and openiy-straight opponent.

We hope she keeps the Westside on her mind.  Many of the voters who propelled her into office live in our part of the forest. We understand it is a big city with many demands on city hall.  In the recent past, it sometimes felt as if the city council  dominated the agenda of the mayor’s office with downtown-centric issues that gobbled up most of the time and energy of the mayor (e.g. another ’stadium’). 

Jenny is smart and may figure out how to deal with that dynamic at the same time she and her staff stay in touch with the people in the burbs. 

Actions by Seattle City Hall affect even  those communities outside of Seattle proper (where some estimates of population are set at about 700,000). The outskirts from Des Moines to Ballard account for at least that many more. 

Note to Jenny: show up in West Seattle once in a while. We know it is like another country, but we still vote in Seattle.