Protests on the westside gain supporters and stay peaceful
Protests on the westside gain supporters and stay peaceful
Danielle Slota brought her three children with her to the corner of 8th SW and Roxbury Street SW on Friday June 5 to join others in a protest about racial equity and justice. Slota organized the event.
Photo by Patrick Robinson
Fri, 06/05/2020
The protests for racial equity and justice that have swept the nation in the past two weeks following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers, have not been very visible in the West Seattle, White Center and Burien area. That changed on Friday June 5 with mulitple events around the community and more on Saturday. A group of about 35 people came together at Walt Hundley playfield in High Point to make signs. Organized by two female South Seattle College students the group had a wide range of ages taking part. They planned to use the signs during Saturday's planned protests.
At the intersection of 8th SW and SW Roxbury Street Danielle Slota organized a group to stand on all four intersection corners and present their message. The symphony car horns in support was deafening at times as drivers waved and showed solidarity. "We're here to stop the injustices against black America. Our black men and women have been gruesomely murdered."
A much larger and even more vocal group, organized by Susan LeBow and her organization Hate Free Delridge was on the corner of 16th SW and Holden Street SW. They numbered around 75 to 80 people and they too got approving honks and waves from drivers.
"What happens to our neighbors, happens to us," said LeBow, "and we decided since we were all white we'd use our white privilege to be as bold as we possibly could... I'm just delighted that all the people driving by are honking at us." LeBow said the main thing people can do to effect change and bring about the kind of justice the protests are about is, "Vote."
Participant Jared Mitchell said, "The Police force is more of a toxin than anything else. It's like a weed and we keep trying to pull it at the head and what we need to do is pull it out from the root." He does not support defunding or eliminating the police to be clear," We actually need to train police and if they can't keep their training, it's bad training and bad leadership. It comes from the top down." Mitchell said that systems and institutions, "need disruption and the way you show your disruption is showing up in sheer force. A lot of people that only listen to the dollar, you gotta show up on their screens, in their newspapers, outside of their windows. You gotta become undeniable and when you do that and affect their pockets and bottom lines, that's what we gotta do. We gotta vote them out."
Go West Seattle! Protest away! Let's finally stop killing Black people just because they're Black!