43rd District Democrats Executive Board Statement on Recent Protests for Black Lives
The Executive Board of the 43rd District Democrats stands in solidarity with protesters against the systemic violence and excessive force continually demonstrated by police against Black people across the country. This violence has resulted in the murder of Black Americans nationwide and in Seattle including George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, David McAtee, Charleena Lyles, and so many others. We call for justice for each of them and an immediate enactment of the reforms necessary to prevent future police violence against Black people.
In addition to the public reports and videos of police targeting peaceful protesters across the nation, multiple members of the 43rd District Democrats attended the protests this weekend and Monday night and saw the Seattle Police Department target peaceful protesters and children with tear gas, pepper spray, flash bangs, and other “crowd control” measures. Multiple videos show that on Monday evening, Seattle Police attacked a crowd of peaceful protestors with pepper spray and tear gas in the middle of a residential neighborhood, endangering not only the protesters and media present but those obeying the curfew and sheltering in their homes nearby. Additionally, these behaviors were supported and condoned through the implementation of overly restrictive curfews, which have gone into effect with little to no warning over the past several days. These actions are unacceptable and officers who used force against peaceful protesters must be held accountable for their actions.
We acknowledge that these tactics are nothing new, and have been utilized by the police against Black people and other minority communities for decades.
In a city, county, and state where Democrats hold large majorities, it is unacceptable that the police feel free to attack and arrest Black people and peaceful protesters with impunity. For too long our elected officials have given in to the demands of the Seattle Police Officers Guild and avoided real reform. Our Democratic Mayor is currently working with the Trump Justice Department to lift the federal consent decree placed on the SPD due to their repeated use of unnecessary force before needed accountability measures are in place. In 2018, every Democrat on the Seattle City Council voted for the current police contract, which was opposed by the Seattle/King County NAACP, the ACLU, and the Seattle Community Police Commission because it lacks needed reforms and accountability measures.
These actions do not reflect our values as Democrats and are not in line with the 2018 Washington State Democratic Party platform which calls for “police forces to be demilitarized, be held accountable for abusive practices, exercise restraint in their dealing with peaceful assemblies and protests” and we must do better moving forward. As Democrats, we call on our elected officials to heed the demands of community groups and protesters, demilitarize the Seattle Police Department, leave the consent decree in place, and insist on strong accountability measures during upcoming SPOG contract negotiations.
Resolutions in support of these measures will be presented to the membership of the 43rd District Democrats at our June 16th meeting.