Op-Ed by Rev. Harriett Walden
Since 2020 alone there are 81 Black mothers weeping over their children who have been killed by gun violence. As crime of all kinds is on the rise, we are left wondering how valuable the safety and well being of the over 700,000 citizens in Seattle is to the city council. Seattle is 87.81 square miles with entire sections of the city being without an adequate number of police officers. We have a leadership crisis in Seattle that has left us underprotected and more divisive than ever. When making the choice to defund the police it was clear the city council was not prepared for the consequence of these actions. These consequences include the Seattle Police Department having to dissolve 5 units and redirecting staff from 10 units in order to make up for the lack of officers available from patrol. We have seen an increased response time and a spread of violence across the city. This means there are less detectives and resources to address murders, missing people and domestic violence. As the black community is burying our children due to gun violence where are the council words of condolence? Do these Black lives not matter because they weren’t killed by law enforcement? We must hold our City Council members responsible for the choice they made that have created our current hostile environment. There must be a clear safety plan to address these vast gaps that defunding the police has left.
Our leadership crisis goes beyond the lack of safety planning from the city council and extends into irresponsible choices over the last year by city council members. President of the Council Lorena Gonzalez did little to intervene while Council Member Kshama Sawant-inspired protesters besieged the home of the Mayor and her children with disruption, graffiti and homophobic slurs. Kashama Sawant and Lorena Gonzalez knew that what happened was against the law. As a former federal prosecutor Mayor Jenny Durkan’s address should have been privileged and confidential information. There was minimal intervention from Council Member Gonzalez to condemn or address these incidents. Other “protesters” showed up at the homes of other Council members and engaged in the same activities, including threats regarding the daughter of one council member. Two of these public servants have elected not to stand for re-election. As someone who grew up in the Jim Crow South where harassment of the Klu Klux Klan was commonplace I understand the terror of having one’s home and privacy invaded. This dangerous behavior was encouraged by members of the council.
There are many things that need to be addressed and Seattle needs strong leadership to move away from divisiveness and towards a united front as a city. I propose we revisit the charter that created district elections and move back to city wide elections for all city council seats. This would build unity and ensure council members are concerned with the city as whole. Secondly, the city council must create a clear safety plan that factors in the needs of each sector of the city. The plan needs to address the deficits left by the choice to defund the Seattle Police Department in order to ensure and decrease in crime and increase in quality of life for the whole city.
Reverend Harriett G. Walden
Co-Founder, Mother’s for Police Accountability
