Seattle turned out Dec. 13 for the national day of marches against racist police brutality. The demonstration, mobilized by the United Black Christian Clergy with support from the Church Council of Seattle and the Seattle-King County NAACP, drew as many as 1,000 marchers who started at Garfield High School and marched to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park.
The event started with an invocation by the Rev. Samuel McKinney, a contemporary and colleague of Martin Luther King Jr. From his wheelchair, McKinney asked those present to hold hands, as a reminder “of the common blood that flows in our veins and not in the streets.” McKinney’s words powerfully evoked the legacy of the ongoing struggle for Black liberation and civil rights.
Other speakers outside Garfield included Jasmine and Aretha, two young women who organized a march from Garfield to downtown last week. “We are tired of the police treating us like criminals when we are exercising our right to free speech!” said Jasmine.
A group of members of the Garfield Black Student Union read a statement that concluded, “We the people will police the police!”
NAACP president Gerald Hankerson and NAACP activist Sunait Brown both drew attention to the case of local woman Miyekko “Koko” Durden-Bosley who was viciously punched in the face by a police officer while she was handcuffed, breaking her eye socket. Recently, District Attorney Dan Satterberg declined to bring charges against this criminal cop. Koko was in attendance at the rally and march and as the final rally reached its conclusion after the march, demonstrators chanted “Prosecute the officer!” An organizer requested that people call the DA’s office at 206-296-9000 to demand the prosecution of officer Adley Shephard for the attack on Durden-Bosley.
A second march also took place in Seattle on Dec. 13, as hundreds of young people marched around the University of Washington also as a part of this national day of action against racist police brutality. As the clergy-led demonstrators made their way from Garfield to MLK Memorial Park, organizers got word that police were preparing to pepper spray the students at the UW.
A die-in is planned for Dec. 14 outside the Seahawks football game.
