Adults

Jobs, Journalism, Justice

Opinion

May Day as a time for reflection

By Oscar Rosales Castañeda | April 27, 2022

As May Day fast approaches, recent upticks in labor activism have illustrated what can be achieved with persistent advocacy, coordination and action. Unionization drives at Starbucks and Amazon have helped publicize the concerns of workers who have been key pieces in the pandemic economy, workers who have also often borne the brunt of “essential” work. It is inspiring to see the level of activism that has been elevated by autochthonous leadership. This is the energy that feeds the expression of community-based power. ...

Nothing inherently wrong with chimps painting in watercolors

By Dr. Wes Browning | April 27, 2022

In the spring of 1995, Real Change decided to hold a Bad Art Show to raise money for the paper, which was then less than a year old. People would be invited to submit bad art, which could be anything. It could be original bad art; it could be bought at a thrift store or a Woolworth; it could be rescued from a Dumpster; it could be a watercolor by a chimpanzee. We would raise the money for Real Change by auctioning off the art and retaining the proceeds.

I recall some proud bidder walking away with a portrait of Elvis executed in colored macaroni. ...

Path toward a liberal democracy is fraught — for Ukraine and the U.S.

By John Burbank | April 27, 2022

Ukraine is on our minds and pretty much all of us — except some alternate-universe Trumpites — are hoping that Ukraine holds out as a sovereign liberal democracy. The United States is helping Ukraine, especially with President Joe Biden’s leadership in NATO and with the armaments and funding we have sent to Ukraine. It is remarkable that we are in near consensus about this, across the political spectrum. However, we need to be careful that we don’t cultivate a sense of triumphalism in moral leadership in the defense of Ukraine. We have no grounds to make that claim. ...

School mask de-mandating: How did we get here?

By Alexis Mburu | April 27, 2022

Last month, many school districts across the nation and in our own Washington state made the decision to make wearing masks optional. For many, this was a refreshing, exciting step toward life as we once knew it. For others, it was a scary or frustrating sign that school leaders cared less about science and more about politics. ...

What we can do when we work together

By Camilla Walter | April 27, 2022

GiveBIG is here, and we need your help to reach our critical goal of $75,000 by May 5. Early giving has already launched; your support is vital if we’re going to meet our goal.

Please make your gift today and know that it will go twice as far thanks to a matching fund.

Real Change has always been about what we can accomplish when we work together across class lines and across our region. The work of this community shows that, together, anything is possible. ...

Feature

Saying yes to community

By Ashley Archibald | April 27, 2022

The sun was shining on Yes Farm, a part of Seattle’s Black Farmers Collective. It was Earth Day, after all.

People gathered to fill cups with earth meant to feed new plants and to create “seed bombs” to spread flowers and joy in unexpected places. Rows of planting beds and a greenhouse filled the space. ...

Nurturing connections: Pen pal program Abolition Apostles provides possibility of propinquity for prisoners

By Ashley Archibald | April 27, 2022

Graham Sherrill likes to play the bass guitar. It’s one of the pleasures he has inside the Airway Heights Corrections Center, where he receives email and corresponds with this writer. He got started playing with a faith-based 12-step program called Celebrate Recovery.

One of the volunteers asked how long he’d been playing — he’d just picked up the guitar two months prior. ...

Seattle

Remembering Scott Morrow, SHARE founder and homelessness activist

By John Burbank and Tiffani McCoy | April 27, 2022

Scott Morrow, a true leader for all of us in Seattle, died last week. Scott was best known as an advocate for the homeless, but he was much more than that. He did not treat homeless men, women and children as problems, but as people with their own agency, their own will and their own attempts to gain both economic security and happiness. Many advocates for people on the edge consider them victims, and that consideration doubles down on their own sense of powerlessness. ...

Happy Earth Day, Mr. President: Seattleites protest Biden at executive order signing

By Ashley Archibald | April 27, 2022

On Friday, local community members showed up in droves to watch President Joe Biden’s arrival at Seward Park. Environmental activists representing the “Ship It Zero” campaign were in attendance and held various signs encouraging Biden to commit to zero-emission shipping by 2030. The event also included advocates in support of vaccines for children under the age of 5. ...

COVID-19 continues | Hate breeds hate | University coronavirus protections rescinded | Free market, sort of

By Ashley Archibald | April 27, 2022

COVID-19 continues

Coronavirus rates in King County have risen, pushing the county into a “medium” COVID-19 status, as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

More than 200 cases per 100,000 residents were reported within seven days, elevating the county’s status. The change comes as a federal judge ended the mask mandate and the state has rescinded certain requirements around masking, including in schools with children who are not yet old enough to receive a vaccine. ...

Starbucks workers take to Seattle streets to demand no union busting

By Guy Oron | April 27, 2022

Hundreds of labor union members, socialists, and other community members joined Starbucks workers and Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant at a rally and march in Capitol Hill to show support for unionization efforts at Starbucks and Amazon on April 23.

Speakers railed against firings and coercive tactics used by Starbucks against baristas organizing at their stores. ...

Poetry

Adults

By Elexis Kisenga | April 27, 2022

My heavy breaths dance with my sadness. Was

it the fact you expected more from me? You say

I failed you when I try my best and that I'll never

be enough. I laugh, sing, smile yet I can't dust

off your disappointment or is it hatred? I'll never

know, I find the courage to tell you hoping for

comfort but you lecture me instead "lazy" "ungrateful"

"stupid". You shower me with hurtful

words. When I cry I'm being 'emotional' when I

laugh I'm being 'too happy'. I'm not allowed to ...

Jobs, Journalism, Justice

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