Issue 5: Defund, redistribute, & repair
Our mission is to support each other and collaborate towards the abolition of policing and incarceration in our community. Read the rest of our organizing principles here.
We Intend to Provide
Space for collective action among people who are already involved or want to be involved in abolition work.
Structure to share useful information, educate ourselves, and hold ourselves accountable.
A jumping-off point to support the work of BIPOC researchers and creators through (among other initiatives) BBR, PB, and Defend the Defund.
*Defend the Defund*
An important moment in the effort to defund the Seattle Police is happening today:
SPD spent $5.4M beyond its overtime budget in 2020. Seattle City Council unanimously agreed in December (via resolution 31962) to effectively pay for the excess overtime using SPD’s 2021 budget. Today, with a bill ready to vote on, Council (specifically CM Herbold, chair of the Public Safety and Human Services committee) is trying to back down on its commitment.
Council bill 119981 as originally written would:
Transfer $5.4M out of SPD and
Transfer $5.4M into participatory budgeting (PB). PB addresses the root causes of harm through democratic, community-led projects and programming.
If council supports anything less than removing the full $5.4M from SPD’s budget, it would be sending SPD the message that budget overruns and brutalizing protestors is acceptable. There is no police accountability without budget accountability.
For more, see this Op-ed that Emma Lower and I wrote: For true public safety, we need accountability for SPD’s overtime spending
Help us hold City Council to its word by pressuring for a “yes” vote on the original bill without amendments. Call-in and give public comment to city council today, March 23, at 9:30am (https://bit.ly/fundtruesafety) and email (bit.ly/spdfunds2communitypb) if you haven’t already.
-Peter (he/him)
*Participatory Budgeting*
Although there is $30M dollars already allocated for PB this year, City Council has not yet lifted the proviso on those dollars to allow spending to start. This was expected to happen on March 16. It is unclear where the sticking point is.
Once the dollars are released, they will go immediately into community hands by way of startup spending. PB is expensive, and for good reason. Costs include:
$ to hire 35-40 community members from populations most likely to be harmed by police violence. Their full-time participation on the PB steering committee and workgroups will provide accountability for the overall process. (see “Creating the steering committee,” below)
$ to reduce barriers to participation (resource delivery via mutual aid and other orgs, childcare, translation services)
$ to build digital equity and technology (community-owned internet access)
$ for 30 youth technology fellowships (to steward technology resources)
$ for PB website
$ for PB-specific administrative support
The $5.4M from CB 119981 would cover most of the above costs, leaving more money to award via the voting process in the summer.
-Peter (he/him)
Creating the steering committee
Accountability for the success of PB lies with the PB steering committee. Therefore, creating the entity in a supportive, transparent way is crucial.
From the BBR report:
“The community jury will be selected using a random sample from the [steering committee] candidate pool. The community jury will include ten (10) individuals who complete the application. There should also be representation from BBR organizations (to ensure BBR priorities are implemented), and one member from the City department leading PB support.”
A notable component of the selection process is random selection. More on this from Pennie.
-Peter (he/him)
Random Selection
I felt a little thrill when I saw the use of Random Selection show up in the process for choosing the steering committee. It’s one tool for distributive and equitable power sharing when groups make decisions. There is wisdom and persuasiveness in using random selection. In fact, the creative heart of life on earth relies on random selection. And it’s hard to argue with a pattern that over a few billion years resulted in all the exuberant creativity that informs both the order and wild complexity of life!
The recommendation in the Black Brilliance Research report is to make use of a randomly selected jury who will in turn select the steering committee for the Participatory Budgeting process. In the case of the jury’s selection, the candidates will be drawn from a pool of steering committee applicants who are weighted according to criteria set beforehand. The road map includes representation from BBR organizations as well as one member from the City department that will support PB. It’s a deft and brilliant mix of chance and deliberative choice.
As soon as we flip a coin, draw straws, roll the dice, we break the spell of human control. In a system with a preexisting condition lacking in fairness, random selection can be a powerful ally for breaking through patterns — patterns of manipulation, favoritism, unconscious biases. On an intuitive level, that’s why we turn to a flip of the coin. We understand that we will avoid arguments and possible rifts by stripping away any inherent imbalances of power. Turning selection over to chance winds up making for a cleaner process when tensions are high.
Random selection offers unexpected gifts to our efforts to create more fair, functional, and intelligent governance. It is simple, and it makes sense.
-Pennie
Seattle PB Creators
We held our second PB Creators meeting on Thursday, 3/18 and it was so much fun! As Matt wrote in the email, we are “a dream team of designers, artists, memeists, buzz-makers & super communicators in support of Seattle PB”. We admired the art that has been created so far and talked about next steps. Kelly created a listserv for this group so if you would like to join please sign up and Sharon is working on building out a google site to make it easier and more accessible for people to join. We have included some artwork in the newsletter but if you would like to see more or add your own, you can find it on Canva and this google folder. Our third meeting will be held on Thursday, April 1st from 7-8pm. If you are interested in joining, sign up for the listserv above and you will receive more information closer to the date.
-Renee (she/her)
*Direct Support*
Outreach to massage parlor workers
The Massage Parlor Outreach Project is a local group that provides resources and community support to massage workers in Chinatown ID. You can provide monetary support through their venmo @MPOP_SEA and include “MPOP” in the notes.
Mutual aid baby shower
Community Passageways and Creative Justice are hosting an ongoing mutual aid baby shower for youth and young adults in their program with new babies. If you or your friends and family have used baby supplies or you want to buy some new items, you can drop them off at two locations:
Site #1: 153 14th Ave, Seattle, WA on Wednesdays from 3:30-6pm
Email creativejusticesnw@gmail.com to schedule drop offs
Site #2: Email info@communitypassageways.org to schedule drop offs
Items needed include: 0-3 month clothing, bassinets, diapers and wipes, mittens and hats, receiving and swaddle blankets, burping cloths, baby bathtubs, toys, and grocery/gift cards
*HSD Funding for Community Safety*
Earlier this month, the Seattle Human Services Department (HSD) opened the RFP process for community-led organizations to apply for $10.4 million in funding for public safety solutions. This funding is one of the key victories from last summer's uprisings in defense of Black lives. The grants can fund projects that respond to immediate safety issues, like non-armed crisis response and family violence interventions that don’t involve police, as well as projects that support general community health and healing, like healthy relationship skills classes. HSD expects to make up to forty grants!
This week, we are conducting outreach to make sure that organizations know about this opportunity and have the resources and support they need to apply. Applications are due soon: the last day to get help from the city-provided grant consultants is April 5th, and the submission deadline is April 9th. The contract period will begin on July 1st.
Are you part of a community-led org that works to respond to harm in ways that don’t involve police? Or do you know someone who works for one? If so, please help spread the word to them, or let us know if you want us to give them a call. More details about the opportunity at: https://tinyurl.com/y8hsrtan
- Alice (she/her)
*Education*
Bystander Intervention to Stop anti-Asian/American Harassment and Xenophobia - Hollaback is holding multiple free bystander trainings in the next couple weeks. This is a good opportunity to gain skills to fight back against the racist violence being perpetrated against the Asian American community. They also host several other workshops that may also be of interest to you.
Reminder: The first book club will meet on April 8th from 6-7:30pm. We are reading We Do This ‘Til We Free Us by abolitionist, organizer and educator Mariame Kaba. Everyone is welcome!
-Renee (she/her)
*Volunteer highlights*
Many people in the Defend the Defund group jumped in to organize support for SPD budget accountability via CB 119981 (the transfer of $5.4M from SPD to participatory budgeting). Alice and Emma wrote an informative and persuasive memo for Council, Sharon created a social media call to action, and Emma and Peter wrote an op-ed!
The PB Creators group has also been very active. Kelly created a listserv for the group, Sharon is creating a google site and managing the Seattle PB outreach instagram page (check it out at @seattlepb_outreach), and many people have contributed artwork.
*Upcoming*
We’re Just Getting Started: The 300 Day March - There is a 300 Day March being held on Thursday, March 25, 2021 at Cal Anderson Park starting at 6:00 PM. “Defund SPD, Dismantle DOC, Invest in Black Communities, Stop Criminalizing Youth”
The next Seattle Abolition Support office hours will be held on Sunday, March 28th at 1pm. Peter will send out a Zoom link in advance to the S.A.S google group (link to sign up below).
*Join us*
You can contribute to this newsletter or take part in efforts similar to those highlighted here by reaching out to any of us. Or read our organizing principles and join the S.A.S google group here.