On Friday, June 12th, we were joined by over 750 of our community members as we silently marched down Front Street in solidarity with Black Lives Matter Seattle-King County.
Several city and state officials joined us in the march, including Mayor Mary Lou Pauly, Police Chief Scott Behrbaum, and State Representatives Bill Ramos and Lisa Callan, as well as several City Council members and city employees.
The march program was kicked off by community member Cassandra Miles, who gave a land acknowledgment and read a statement from the United Indians of All Tribes in support of Black Lives Matter.This was followed by the reading of a statement from Ebony Miranda on behalf of Black Lives Matter Seattle-King County:
“This is a silent march, and we have done that for a couple reasons: on a more health-focused level, this is to still decrease the risk of transmission for COVID-19 between folks, but also, it’s really a silent march because we want this to be a moment to honor, hold space, and mourn those who have lost their lives to police brutality and institutional racism in this country. This movement is to get justice for those who have unjustly lost their lives, so we want to hold space for that for this event. And further than that, we are really emphasizing that this is a black-led march, that black youth and black people are at the front of this march leading it, so we will be asking folks as we are gathering, before we start marching, to allow room for black folks to get to the front, and then we ask our POC allies to join behind us and then white allies behind that, in a progressive stack-type motion. That is our intention, as we are here, having a statewide action for black lives, that we really honor those and prioritize that.”
The march concluded at the steps of City Hall, where community members gathered and proudly held up their signs, while the group observed a collective moment of silence.
This event was reported on by several local news sources and organizations, including: The City of Issaquah and Downtown Issaquah Association.
This march came after two weeks of demonstrations held daily on the steps of Issaquah City Hall, attended by hundreds of community members. These demonstrations were not only important to show that Issaquah stands in solidarity with the rest of the country in support of one of the largest civil rights movements in history, but also to start the conversations in Issaquah about how systemic change can happen here. Over the last two weeks various members of city leadership have come to listen to the community about what steps they would like to see next. You can find a video of Mayor Pauly and Police Chief Behrbaum addressing demonstrators here.
Acknowledgments
We wanted to say thank you to everyone involved in keeping the march safe from the parks department, to Issaquah PD, City leadership and employees. Special thanks to Commander Porter for being our Police liaison and helping to coordinate this event on such short notice.
Thank you again to every person who helped make this happen. We could not have done it without all of your hard work.
What’s next?
City Council is holding a special session on Monday, June 15th to address racial equity and is encouraging public comment (limited to 5 minutes). More information can be found here and the presentation can be reviewed here.
City Council needs to hear from you! Please sign up to speak at this council meeting and let the city know that you support the funding of human services programs and the defunding of the Issaquah Police Department. You can sign up here until Monday, June 15th at 5pm.
Upcoming Demonstrations
We are committed to continue demonstrating, to hold ourselves and our community accountable, and to serve as a visual reminder to the city of our commitment to hold our elected officials accountable for creating an equitable community for all. Demonstrations will take place on the steps of City Hall, every Friday evening from 5-8 p.m. throughout the summer. We look forward to seeing you this Friday, June 19th to continue our work.
We plan to use upcoming demonstrations as the site for teach-ins, where we will encourage our neighbors to read and engage with texts to continue our collective education. Watch for more information, and please let us know if you have suggestions for material.
If you are interested in getting started now, please review this excellent resource about anti-racism, or any of the other resources we have linked to in our google drive.
Thank you for getting involved and speaking out. We can’t wait to keep working together with you to create lasting systemic change in Issaquah!
In Solidarity,
Dan, Rachel, Marina, and Lena
Defund Issaquah PD
Correction: In the original release of this post, we mistakenly identified WA State Representative Bill Ramos as “Bob Ramos”. We apologize for the mistake.