root and branch (Patreon)

Tread lightly, for the land we walk on is not ours- we stole it from the people who lived here before us. Seattle was the Duwamish people's land long before it was part of America, and my White ancestors stole it from them. America's infrastructure, industry, and economy was built by the unpaid, then underpaid, labor of Black people and POC, and while Seattle may pride itself in being a liberal bastion it is in no way innocent. Redlining and discrimination have shaped this city in ways I am only beginning to understand. While few people in Seattle are overtly racist, many still hold subtly racist ideas and support racist local policies. 

Be mindful of yourself. Examine the assumptions you make about people, interrogate your feelings when people talk about the changes coming to our government and society. Does it make you uncomfortable when people talk about reparations? Why? Do you close your mind to discussions about defunding the police or abolishing prisons, saying "not all cops" or "how will we be safe?" Does the presence of safe injection sites near your workplace, or affordable housing in your neighborhood, or homeless and domestic violence shelters close to your favorite restaurants make you uncomfortable, even though those programs can dramatically increase the safety of the people they serve? Do your feelings matter more to you than others' safety? 

Everything around us is going to change, and hopefully we can be a force in changing it for the better. For righting our collective past wrongs.