by Vee Hua 華婷婷
During a Seattle City Council meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 27, topics that were top of mind during the public comment period included minimum wage for gig workers, police surveillance, and the increasingly desperate plight of hundreds of asylum-seekers and refugees in Tukwila. As reported by South Seattle Emerald in January 2024, the asylum seekers' circumstances grew dire after they refused to leave temporary hotel rooms they had been supplied and return to a tent city, due to frigid temperatures and inhumane conditions. They then attempted to petition the Seattle City Council and were told that due to budget shortfalls, funds would be slow to assist the families.
During Tuesday's meeting, both virtually and in-person, those making public comments included asylum seekers as well as their allies. Many advocated for divestment away from policing and new proposed investments in surveillance technologies, such as Shotspotter, and towards support and housing for the asylum seekers.
"Seattle was built and made rich from companies such as Boeing, Microsoft, and Amazon — companies which exploit people and the land where refugees come from. We owe our neighbors shelters and assistance to start their lives here in our community," stated a resident from District 1, via a phone call. "[Police surveillance] technology is at best a useless waste of funds, and at worst it enables racist patterns of policing and enables civil rights violations … our budget in Seattle is in trouble, and cuts are being proposed, and all of these things — affordable housing, homelessness, surveillance tech, gig workers, refugees … all of this is connected … Please use our resources wisely."
City Council President Sara Nelson cut the public comment period to 20 minutes, although councilmembers usually extend public comment periods as long as there are citizens queued to speak. Protestors then began to chant, and Nelson called for a five-minute recess, which ended up lasting for over half an hour.
After the councilmembers returned, the protestors continued chanting, and some who had been ejected from the meeting banged on the windows inside City Hall. After asking security to clear the room, the meeting went into recess several more times for lengthy durations — including one recess period of over an hour — because "order has not been restored," according to Nelson.
"I'm going to take a point of personal privilege and request a police response, because our physical safety is being threatened by the demonstrators outside banging on the windows, which could easily get broken, and we would have a mob scene," said Councilmember Cathy Moore (District 5), interrupting a comment from Councilmember Tammy J. Morales (District 2), on an unrelated issue. "I'm asking for police presence to arrest those individuals."
"The business of this council has been unnecessarily interrupted, it continues to be interrupted, it is not appropriate, and this action needs to be recognized," Moore continued, saying that it was "more than [just] loud. And we need to make sure that this does not happen going forward. We are shutting down the operations of our democracy because of a mob action, and it is not to be tolerated."
Councilmembers called the police, who arrested three men and three women on suspicion of criminal trespass and booked them into the King County Jail. One was arrested on suspicion of obstruction.
On Tuesday, Feb. 27, Michigan held their elections for the presidential primary. As widely projected, the winners were current President Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination and former President Donald Trump for the Republican nomination. However, the swing state was largely seen as vital to current Biden being elected to his current presidency, and the metropolitan area surrounding Detroit — especially in the city of Dearborn — is widely known to possess one of the largest Arab and Muslim populations in the country.
In protest of Biden's handling of Israel's war in Gaza, more than 100,000 voters opted to vote "uncommitted," to show that they were displeased with both of the leading choices. The vote was the product of months of organizing in the state, and the 100,000 "uncommitted" voters comprised 13% of the Democratic vote; Biden received 81%.
"Uncommitted" voters are not uncommon in elections, but they generally have a clear reason for such actions. For this particular primary, organizers rallied behind a message of "no cease-fire, no vote," and it is likely that the majority of the "uncommitted" voters voted in support of that sentiment.
According to the BBC, "Around 19,000 residents [voted uncommitted] in 2020's primary and more than 21,601 in 2016. In 2008 it was 238,000 — after Barack Obama's campaign encouraged them to do so, because he chose not to be on the ballot due to party squabbles."
Activists nationwide continue to call for "uncommitted" votes in other states, especially with the impending Super Tuesday on March 5. That day will be important in solidifying the final presidential candidates even further, as 15 states and 1 U.S. territory will cast their votes.
Earlier this month, during a United Nations Security Council meeting, the United States vetoed, for the fourth time, an attempt by other Security Council countries to call for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza. They rejected Algeria's proposal, while stating that they were drafting their own proposal, which would "condemn Hamas" and not be held to any particular timeline, in order to let all member states weigh in. As one of the five members of the U.N. Security Council, the United States can reject any resolution, even if it would otherwise pass with a majority of votes.
Earlier this month, community members, labor organizers, and Renton City Councilmember Carmen Rivera celebrated the passage of one of the highest minimum wages in the country, with the passage of Measure 23-02. Beginning in July, workers for the largest employers in Renton will see a minimum wage of $20.29 an hour.
Measure 23-02 was a voter initiative that required payment of the increased minimum wage, as well as offering "additional hours to existing part-time employees before hiring new employees or subcontracted services," no retaliation against "employees exercising rights created by the ordinance," and complying with "administrative requirements."
Measure 23-02's passage was supported by a number of community members and organizations such as the Transit Riders Union, Renton Education Association, Raise the Wage Renton, and Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).
According to a press release from the DSA, "The campaign knocked on 25,000+ doors, canvassed 59,000+ voters, made 14,000+ phone calls, and had 15,000+ conversations with Renton voters in the field or on the phone."
Vee Hua 華婷婷 (they/them) is a writer, filmmaker, and organizer with semi-nomadic tendencies. Much of their work unifies their metaphysical interests with their belief that art can positively transform the self and society. They are the editor-in-chief of REDEFINE, a long-time member of the Seattle Arts Commission, and a film educator at the interdisciplinary community hub, Northwest Film Forum, where they previously served as executive director and played a key role in making the space more welcoming and accessible for diverse audiences. After a recent stint as the interim managing editor at South Seattle Emerald, they are moving into production on their feature film, Reckless Spirits, which is a metaphysical, multilingual POC buddy comedy. They have a master's in Tribal Resource and Environmental Stewardship under the American Indian Studies Department at the University of Minnesota, Duluth.
📸 Featured Image: Many who spoke during public comment at the Feb. 27 Seattle City Council meeting advocated for divestment away from policing and new proposed investments in surveillance technologies in favor of support and housing for asylum seekers. Screenshot from the Seattle Channel.
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