What's up, South End?
June is here, and that means Pride month is upon us. And South End, what we need in our lives right now is joy.
The Emerald has you covered, by way of contributor Jas Keimig, who has a full rundown of Pride events happening all over the South End. Be sure to check out this year's Pride guide to find events happening in your neck of the woods.
To help y'all get into the spirit, I reached out to someone with strong South End ties who will be taking part in multiple Pride events this year.
De Aunt'e Damper is not only a proud Rainier Beach High School graduate; he's also the host of Converge Media's We Live in Color, and a longtime advocate for Black and queer communities, with work that spans the NAACP and BLM Seattle and King County.
De Aunt'e is making history this year as the first Black man born and raised here to be the Grand Marshal of the Seattle Pride Parade, which estimates crowds will exceed a million people this year.
I spoke with De Aunt'e this week about the Pride parade, the impact Rainier Beach had on his life, and a Pride event he's co-hosting in Columbia City this weekend.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
MD: You were recently selected to be Grand Marshal at the Seattle Pride Parade. What does that title mean, and what does being selected mean to you?
DD: So, annually, for the past 52 years of the Seattle Pride Parade, they always pick a Grand Marshal. And that's based on the work that [the Grand Marshal has] done, the history and legacy of what they've done in the community — and they lead the charge.
For me, it's about being recognized as a respected community leader who has worked in the community, and being honored for my contributions. When you look at the 52-year history of Seattle Pride, there's never really been a Black gay male from this area [as Grand Marshal]. There have been a great many folks who have contributed to this community, but they have all been folks who [either] moved here, or they are from organizations that are Black, but they are not specifically a Black person.
Most of the time, people get their flowers when they're 70 or 80, so for Seattle Pride, with their theme for this year's parade being "Rally," for them to ask me to do this during one of their biggest moments — I mean, they could have got someone famous, they just had the guy from Star Trek a few years ago, and they decided to select me. They wanted to use me as an example of what it means to rally. I'm super honored for Seattle Pride to give me this opportunity.
MD: You mentioned being the first one who's really from here. You're a Rainier Beach grad. How did that experience shape you?
DD: I graduated from Rainier Beach in 2004 with some amazing people. I only went there my senior year. I have a twin, and my twin went there for the earlier years, but when I tell you it was probably one of the best years of my life. I know a lot of athletes like to look back on their glory days and all of that, but I had the time of my life. It was right around the time that I started coming out to my friends, and honestly, Rainier Beach taught me what it looked like to fight and to advocate for myself.
We're not going to sit here and try to placate like everything has always been inclusive, because the reality of it is — it wasn't. There were no affinity groups for people that look like me. There wasn't a level of understanding on TV, there were no social media campaigns, there was no specific language in our community for it, especially in our community. You were either a punk or a f*****. And if you didn't want to be called that, you had two options: you could either take it or you fight.
MD: How do you leverage having a show on Converge Media with ensuring the next generation has more options, and more understanding, than you did?
DD: That's exactly why we created the show. Omari Salisbury reached out to me in 2021 and we were talking about community and how there is a demographic of community that we're not talking about. People talk so much about 2020 and the advocates and activists that were out there, but they were Black queer folks. They were nonbinary folks, trans folks. They were really out there in the fight, and also not being prioritized from other organizations and people that were talking about housing, and about buying back the Central District, and that were talking about equity and community, but then didn't want to talk about [queer folks].
So, We Live in Color was created because, when it comes down to it, as young queer kids are growing up, or young Black people are growing up, you will Google "LGBTQ Black Seattle," and you'll see a picture of white folks. Or, you might see a picture of some of our amazing entertainers that are out here, but We Live in Color was made because we wanted to make sure when the kids are able to Google and search for folks, right, they can see a true representation of us.
We're talking about 90 episodes of Black folks, of Black and Brown folks, discussing key issues, such as the opioid epidemic, candidate forums, people running for office, folks with calls to action, artists, people that are neurodivergent, elders. And we want to give a better description of what all of this looks like.
MD: You mentioned the big Pride parade, but I know you also have another Pride event happening in Columbia City. Not everyone is ready for crowds of over a million people; what is the event in our neighborhood?
DD: Yes. The Columbia City Beatwalk Party. This is the fourth year, me and Tish Gallow with BUILD 206. And let me tell you something about my brothers. I joined BUILD, and you know they're all about male empowerment, but there is something so special about when Black men empower one another. And I needed a community of brotherhood within this larger community, and they needed brotherhood too, but also, they wanted to prioritize inclusivity. And when Tish came to me with an idea about doing an event around Pride, I went to BUILD and they said "whatever you need." It was all hands on deck with this partnership.
I'm so excited about this Pride Beatwalk, right there in the heart of Columbia City, and we always do it the first Sunday of Pride [month] because we want to kick it off for our community members who say to themselves, "Do I really want to go all the way to Capitol Hill?" And we have so many amazing artists and performers. And we want to make sure we are prioritizing all those folks who may not want to go all the way to Capitol Hill.
Pride month is officially here, and contributor Jas Keimig has carefully curated a roundup of events. There's something for everyone — and, of course, it's South End focused, so you won't have to travel far.
A few highlights that caught my eye:
White Center Pride Festival: Ok, this is happening this weekend, but I have to recommend it because it will have live wrestling. I need y'all to understand that amateur WWE-style wrestling (that's the best way I can describe it to the uninitiated) is having a moment. There are pop-ups all over the country, and it is so fun. It's like the hybrid child of theater, gymnastics, and fighting.
Bound Movie Screening: I assume most of y'all have at least heard of The Matrix. The creative duo behind that multimillion-dollar groundbreaking blockbuster franchise didn't jump out the gate with Neo dodging bullets. Before The Matrix, the Wachowskis made Bound, a crime drama starring Jennifer Tilly about two women who steal $2 million from the mafia. I interviewed Lilly Wachowski about this film last year, and she told me it started with a personal metaphor: The very first scene starts in a closet, representing the filmmakers' need to stop hiding their own identities as trans women.
FIFA World Cup Pride Ball: This is a new event but it sounds fun. The World Cup starts this month, so it's only right to mix soccer with Pride. This free event will be a ball — literally. Hosted by Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute, this fabulous event will have prizes in multiple categories for people styled in soccer gear.
One day, I'm going to bring y'all the critical, perhaps upsetting, conversation about development in Rainier Beach. I'm aware of neighborhood plans, in partnership with City government and community members, dating back to the mid-1990s.
These early plans included a transit station — which technically we have with the light rail, but the plans didn't stop there. They also called for major development around the transit hub that included commercial business, community spaces, and, of course, affordable housing.
All of this is to say: Outside of the light rail itself, nothing else has been accomplished. We've seen many promises, from many politicians, but no actual results.
And that brings us to contributor Connor Nash and his latest reporting on the City of Seattle re-zoning an empty parcel near Rainier Beach Station.
Does this mean affordable housing will finally make it to the area near the station? Does this mean development will happen on this site that has been empty for far too long?
Graduation season is right around the corner, and two former Seattle Public Schools employees have a message for the 2026 grads.
Michael Dixon, former Black Panther and retired security specialist at Garfield, and Mark Epstein, retired social studies teacher at Rainier Beach, have joined forces to pen this send-off to the graduating class.
This is an abbreviated version of The Roundup newsletter. To get the entire newsletter, including a weekly list of events to check out and my shout-out to South End Gems, subscribe here. See you next week!
Mike Davis is the newsletter editor and Voices editor at the South Seattle Emerald. Born and raised in Seattle's South End, Mike is a longtime journalist who's covered everything from arts and culture to sports to politics.
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