Meet Rainmaker Rebecca Weber

When U.S. Navy veteran Rebecca Weber first relocated to South Seattle, she didn’t realize she had moved to one of the most historically complex and demographically diverse neighborhoods in the city. That changed later, when she came across the South Seattle Emerald’s coverage of “redlining,” the racist real-estate practice of prohibiting BIPOC people from renting and owning in certain areas.

“Our first home was a gentrifying home. It was new because all the previous homes had been torn down for the I-90 tunnel,” says Weber, a white homeowner, who believes people with privilege must look outside of their own experiences and take accountability.

Weber took what she learned about the history of forced neighborhood segregation in Seattle to her church in her subsequent neighborhood. Informed by that coverage, she shaped an Adult Faith Formation course centered on Catholic Social Teachings, which emphasizes human dignity and the common good in society. Weber says the coverage helped her parish understand that diversifying their congregation meant more than just inviting people to show up. It meant understanding the history and needs of BIPOC people in their community.

Through her continued reading of the Emerald, Weber has taken the lesson that there is always a deeper history to the place and circumstances in which a person lives. That history can be intentionally obscured or shaped by systems of oppression.

And Weber believes that local journalism plays an important role in both uncovering those systems and ensuring that underrepresented and misrepresented communities are centered and celebrated in media coverage. It’s one of the many reasons she continues to be a proud Rainmaker, even though she no longer lives in the South End.

“The South Seattle Emerald helps me know more about what people are thinking about in different parts of the city and the world.”

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Sarah Stuteville is a co-founder of the Seattle Globalist and a mental health counselor. She sits on the South Seattle Emerald's Board of Directors.