Data suggests the Seattle city attorney disproportionately prosecutes Black, Indigenous, and poor people

Jobs, Journalism, Justice

Opinion

The confirmation of Ketanji Brown Jackson

By Jill Mullins | April 20, 2022

On April 7, 2022, the U.S. Senate confirmed Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court. For the first time in the 233 years of the Supreme Court, we will have a Black woman as a justice. For the first time, four of the nine justices will be women. Two will be women of color. Jackson will be the sixth woman to serve on the Supreme Court and only the fourth person of color to sit on the Supreme Court. She may be the first Supreme Court Justice who ever worked at upholding one of the most important guarantees of our constitution — the right to an attorney in criminal proceedings. ...

Homeless people and unicorns can come in all kinds

By Dr. Wes Browning | April 20, 2022

A Tennessee bill is being debated that would make camping on public property a misdemeanor. Or, I don’t know, maybe it’s already passed. Hey, I don’t live in Tennessee.

Anyway, a Republican state senator, Frank Niceley, brought back memories for me. To illustrate how homeless people can pull themselves up by their bootstraps and make something of themselves, and have a real impact on history, he used the example of Hitler. ...

Real Change gives thanks to our weekly newsroom volunteers

By Katie Comboy | April 20, 2022

As Real Change celebrates National Volunteer Week, please join me in recognizing the unwavering commitment and dedication of the incredible newsroom volunteers who help create this newspaper every week. Working behind the scenes and asking for nothing in return, this small but powerful and talented group donates hundreds of hours to ensure quality journalism flourishes. ...

The city disrupts communities without providing alternatives

By Camilla Walter | April 20, 2022

On Wednesday morning, I learned that a friend was being kicked out of her home, and her community was going to be destroyed.

A notice from the city of Seattle had been taped to her tent informing her of a sweep in two days’ time. It amounted to the state-sanctioned destruction of a safe community that had been built with the care and love of so many individuals coming together despite dire circumstances and an uncaring city.

What was she going to do? I wondered. Where was she going to go? ...

Feature

Caring for family of all shapes and sizes

By | April 20, 2022

The traveling free vet service, Seattle Veterinary Outreach, arrived outside the Real Change offices in Pioneer Square on Wednesday, April 13, creating a stir of excitement. Dogs, cats and their companions lined the sidewalk for several hours, some of the humans sitting on chairs as they waited for care. A large whiteboard listed over 25 people who had signed up.

Seattle Veterinary Outreach clinics provide a wide range of services, including general exams, some vaccinations, microchipping and deworming. ...

So much for social equity: Efforts to increase Black ownership of Washington cannabusiness are blocked by the legislature and bogged down in bureaucracy

By Tobias Coughlin-Bogue | April 20, 2022

Business ownership within the Washington state cannabis industry has been, since its inception in 2014, predominately white. While there are a number of successful Black-owned businesses here, the breakdown of cannabis business ownership by race does not line up with the state’s population of Black people. ...

Arts

Up in smoke: Uninformed propaganda film has modern consequences

By Leinani Lucas | April 20, 2022

FILM REVIEW: ‘Reefer Madness’ 1936 | Public domain | Propaganda, melodrama | Streaming through the Seattle Public Library

The first time I watched “Reefer Madness” (1936), I was in high school and a goody-two-shoes, straight-A student. Even then, I knew it was campy and ridiculous. The second time I watched the movie, I was high as a kite and watching for the irony, like every college student. As a bonafide adult, I now see how this movie has its place not only as a cult classic but as a cornerstone of America’s War on Drugs. ...

Seattle

Police use more force against BIPOC individuals, report shows

By Guy Oron | April 20, 2022

By Guy Oron
Staff Reporter ...

SPD faces hurdles despite hiring bonuses

By Guy Oron | April 20, 2022

Hiring bonuses for the Seattle Police Department (SPD) may not have helped recruit new officers, according to a preliminary report dated April 12. ...

School’s in for COVID | Defending the defense

By Ashley Archibald | April 20, 2022

School’s in for COVID

The coronavirus vaccine will not be on the state’s list of required immunizations for children to attend school, the Washington Board of Health decided on April 13.

According to a release by the state’s Department of Health (DOH), the two health organizations “continue to support COVID-19 vaccines as being safe and effective, and particularly protective against severe illness, hospitalization, and death,” recommending people to stay up to date with COVID-19 vaccination recommendations. ...