On October 22nd in downtown Seattle, protesters gathered to participate in the 14th annual “National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality”. The protest took place in over 20 cities across the country, participants in Seattle’s protest gathered at five p.m. in Occidental Park in the Pioneer Square district. The protest started with a brief statement from rally organizer and speaker, Rave Parks. Parks addressed what the protest was all about and commented on the police vehicle that had been set on fire the same morning. He assured listeners that his group had nothing to do with it and, “We regard such acts as harmful because they can provide a pretext for police agencies to increase attempts to repress the mass political movement required to stop police brutality," said Parks.
After the introduction Rave introduced a few speakers before the march began. The first of which was fellow organizer Curtis Johnson. Johnson was there to discuss all the recent and well-known and less-known cases of police brutality. He gave emphasis to cases like that of Malika Calhoun, the 15-year-old girl who was beaten on camera by Seattle Police last November. He also encouraged people to submit their stories of police brutality to Revolution newspaper , a newspaper representing the communist party in the USA.
The next speaker was a woman referred to as Anita, representing the Nickelsville homeless community. She spoke about how the homeless are criminalized by police when often their only crimes are poverty and mental illness. She was against efforts to create anti-panhandling laws, which she said would make it illegal for citizens to help each other. She told listeners that, “we need to change the system by changing the way we treat each other,” and that the housed and homeless need to work together to protect and care for each other.
The final speaker was a local poet and activist who went by the name Oscar. He read a recently written poem about police brutality, racial discrimination, and his own experience with the issues.
Around 5:30 p.m. organizers began the march and almost ran into a problem. In order to march downtown the group needed to have at least 50 people participating. The crowd was grouped into lines and told to count off. It was a bit unorganized but the crowd had somewhere in the area of 53 people. The march started in Occidental Park and continued up to the King County Courthouse, a symbolic location to march past. Rave Parks claimed that the courthouse is, “a symbol of injustice” and paused the march for a few moments so that anyone entering or inside the courthouse would see and hear the march. As the march continued through the streets of downtown, organizers on megaphones lead the group in various chants. Such as, “When the people of the world are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!” and, “No more stolen lives! No more stolen lives!”. There was one chant that caused a little confusion and some discomfort in nearby police. The chant was supposed to go, “No justice, no peace, no killer police!” but the crowd started chanting, “No justice, no peace, kill the police!” but Rave Parks was quick to correct the crowd and remind them that the protest was a peaceful one.
Those participating in the march wore black to show their support. There was quite a diverse group of people, all with their own reasons for attending the rally.
A young woman who wished only to go by Khadyja came to the event because she thinks that the police force is the most corrupted organization on the planet. “I’ve known many police officers in my life. For many years growing up I lived with one. But I’ve never known one who didn’t participate in some kind of excessive force. It’s the only way to get promoted, is to brutalize people.”
73-year-old Barbra Thominson is “just plain tired of police brutality”. She says she’s never been the victim of it herself, but that she’s known many people who have and has been witness to it many times. She marches today because of a past incident where she didn’t speak up against excessive force. She recommends that people, “not remain silent. Talk nicely and intelligently and stand up to people. Don’t get angry, be nice.”
Greg Gibson, 30, was out marching because he feels that even though it isn’t the greatest issue facing our country. It’s still an important one, but he feels that it isn’t out in common conversation enough. “It’s an issue that people are aware of but rarely see firsthand. That’s why I’m marching today.”
A man going by the name of Marty was there because the issue has affected him and friends many times. A close friend of rally organizer Rave Parks, Marty was pleased with the crowd’s enthusiasm, but he was a bit disappointed with the overall turnout. He wished that the event had been better publicized and that others saw police brutality as a solvable issue. “50 people is a big number and people will notice us, but they’ll quickly forget it. 50 is ignorable but 300 wouldn’t be, if we had around 300 people then others would really pay attention and start thinking about the issue.” Marty commented.
The march went from Pioneer Square to 4th and Lenora Street in downtown, just outside the Cinerama Theater. From there the march turned around and kept going to the pavilion outside the West Lake Mall between 4th and Pine Street. There Rave Parks gave one last speech about Police Brutality and encouraged people to join the “Coalition to Stop Police Brutality” and learn more about them by attending meetings at Revolution Books located at 89 s Washington Street in Seattle’s Pioneer Square.
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