But on June 8th, officers deserted and boarded up the gray-brick, blue-trimmed station, due to pressure, they say, imposed by area protestors. The seething confrontations were permeated with tear gas and punctuated by blast balls, tactics police deployed against protestors gathered in grief and rage over the death of George Floyd. Starting in late May and stretching into early June, Seattle Police Department (SPD) officers and protestors engaged in daily clashes outside the station. Recently, this same intersection, site of one of the city’s five police stations, wasn’t so peaceful. “This is what love and unity looks like,” Anthony, 32, says as he gazes upon the peaceful crowd. Jr., an African-American man in a clear plastic poncho and Seattle Seahawks facemask, who’s participating in a daily info session known as a general assembly. Inside one cordoned-off intersection, some 100 people focus on a lineup of speakers, including Mark Anthony. Along the street, the collective mood runs from calm to contemplative, festive to mournful, the energy punctuated by the rhythmic call-and-response of today’s call-to-arms: “Whose lives matter?” “Black lives matter!” The people who stream through the area are a census taker’s dream, a mix of different races, ages, genders, physical abilities, and class identities who rub elbows without seemingly rubbing each other the wrong way. 'Silence of the Lambs': The Complete Buffalo Bill Story The Best Audiophile Turntables for Your Home Audio System But step inside the Jersey barriers that block off numerous streets, and you’ll soon realize something else: It’s a peaceful realm where people build nearly everything on the fly, as they strive to create a world where the notion that black lives matter shifts from being a slogan to an ever-present reality. Acolytes of Fox News detect a raging cauldron of antifa-led insurrection. Peering into its ever-shifting boundaries, some see a spark of a movement that can incinerate systemic racism. Just about anything you want to find in Seattle, you can find on Capitol Hill – and lately, that includes what some call the city’s only “cop-free zone.”įor the moment, much of the world seems to be looking at Capitol Hill, or at least the part of it called CHOP, or CHAZ. It’s a nightlife Mecca, where spirits flow and music throbs. It’s a foodie wonderland, where you can devour a late-night Polish sausage or dine on $17 Thai water beetles. It’s a parking nightmare, where meters operate 14 hours a day, six days a week. It’s a place battling gentrification, where residents and small business owners feel caught in a stranglehold. Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood is the heart of queer Seattle, where last year’s Trans Pride Seattle March drew thousands.
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