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Hey neighbors! Before we show you what’s happening this week, we draw your attention to some important items from last week’s news:
New York City Council voted to end (or at least severely limit) qualified immunity within the NYPD, the first vote of its kind in the nation(!) Qualified Immunity is one of the primary barriers to holding officers legally liable for misconduct or abuse, even in cases where they may have intentionally or maliciously violated the law.
The town of Evanston, Illinois’ City Council approved (by an 8 to 1 vote) $25,000 housing grants to residents who can show they are direct descendants of Black residents of the town between 1919 and 1969. The Washington Post reported this week on the vote, which brings to mind our own Reparations Resolution.
By way of comparison: Evanston’s a fraction of our size by population, but has put forth substantive effort to close generational wealth gaps. New York’s city council has nearly six times as many members as Seattle, yet is able to work together to begin the work of dismantling the systems that allow police violence to go unaddressed. Both of these represent huge victories for their local communities, and we celebrate them both, and wonder: why not here? Why not now? And if you’re not a member of SDSA yet, why not you?
No Charity for Cops Rally is TOMORROW, Tuesday, March 30th at 3:30 PM. Divest SPD will be delivering a letter with over 700 signatures to The Seattle Foundation’s office, and holding a rally to show them that more and more people are watching them and demanding NO CHARITY FOR COPS! We demand that The Seattle Foundation fully divest from the Seattle Police and reinvest in the BIPOC community.
Please join us at this strictly socially-distanced and masked event! Letter delivery will take place at Westlake Center at 3:30 PM, and the rally begins at 4. An ASL interpreter will be on site for the rally portion. For full details on this rally and to RSVP, click here.
As the economy reopens, thousands of Washington residents face skyrocketing rents, looming evictions, rental and mortgage debt, and homelessness. Meanwhile, pandemic profiteers post record returns and the legislature doles out breadcrumb reforms that will do little to stop the flood of evictions once moratoriums expire.
Cancel the Rent Coalition has called this rally to demand a massive housing program that gives immediate shelter to those most in need by taxing the mega wealthy. Join us Wednesday, March 31st at 5:30 PM at Seattle City Hall to demand bold solutions to this crisis!
Oh! And one more thing we'd like to call attention to: a handsome and numerous coalition of Socialist and Leftist organizations were present at last Saturday’s rally in support of the Bessemer, AL Amazon warehouse unionization vote. Thank you to all who planned, presented, and attended the event, especially after its quick-turnaround reschedule!
Solidarity forever,
Seattle DSA
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Here are upcoming events:
Time: March 29 @ 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Venue: Online
DSA's caucus of Afrosocialists and Socialists of Color (AFROSOC) brings DSA’s Black, indigenous and members of color together to educate ourselves and organize our campaigns. We are doing the work of cultivating coalitions as communities of color to help build a multiracial working-class base -- the only viable strategy for securing a socialist future. Through public and internal education [Read More]
Time: March 29 @ 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Venue: Online
Socialist Night School is an open course that provides a chance to develop our politics together, regardless of background knowledge or whether you’ve attended a class before. New members and lifelong socialists, all are welcome! To sign up for our mailing list or to find out more, e-mail us at SeaNightSchool [at] gmail . com ---> RSVP here! [Read More]
Time: March 30 @ 3:00 pm - 6:30 pm
Venue: Westlake Park, 401 Pine St, Seattle, WA 98101, USA
The Seattle Foundation has contributed $870,000 to the Seattle Police Foundation in the past 20 years through community grants and donor-advised funds. Since August, Divest SPD has been pushing for them to divest from police, make amends for the harm done, and invest more in the community. On Tuesday, March 30, we’ll be delivering a sign on letter with hundreds (thousands?) of signatures to their [Read More]
Time: March 30 @ 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Venue: Online
In addition to our usual work, this time we'll be discussing WAISN’s Federal Immigration Priorities and whether or not to sign on as an organization. There’s also an opportunity to get involved in a new campaign around a home for immigrant youth in Seattle where that have been some allegations of mistreatment/injustice. Let's also talk about the [Read More]
Time: March 31 @ 5:30 pm - 7:30 pm
Venue: Seattle City Hall, 600 4th Ave, Seattle, WA 98104, USA, Seattle, WA USA, WA, 98104
As the economy reopens, thousands of Washington residents face skyrocketing rents, looming evictions, rental and mortgage debt, and homelessness. The global impact of coronavirus drastically accelerated the housing crisis in the U.S., which disproportionately burdens Black, Indigenous, and People of Color communities as well as people with disabilities, women and children. Meanwhile, [Read More]
Time: March 31 @ 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm
Venue: Online
Join SDSA's Housing Justice Work Group for our weekly meeting. We'll start off with an Education Power-Half Hour, learning about the Parkdale Rent Strike (we'll watch the video together and discuss lessons from it!), review the Town Hall, and talk about our strategy for winning the strongest possible legislation at the state and city levels and how we can build a campaign for a socialist [Read More]
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