Resources for you to take action against CB 120549 before Tuesday 5/9 are below. But first…
Support Creative Justice
Next Saturday, May 13, from noon to 2 pm, Creative Justice will be hosting a “Paint ‘n Sip” event at Washington Hall. This will be a fun way to engage and build community. Register and learn more at https://givebutter.com/coevents.
The bill would create a new criminal statute allowing the Seattle Police Department (SPD) to establish and enforce a perimeter (“obstruction zone”) around Seattle Fire Department (SFD) responders. People within that zone could be arrested and charged with “obstructing a public officer,” an act that includes not just physical interference, but also “refusal to leave a scene after having been directed to do so by a public officer.”
Take action against the “obstructing a public officer” legislation before Tuesday:
Black Brilliance Researcher, Seattle resident, and firefighter LéTania Severe outlined their perspective in this PubliCola op-ed, which includes the following:
“[I]t’s never too late to reallocate funding from our bloated punishment budgets (police, courts, and prosecutors) toward making firefighter jobs and our community safer. If the City Council cares about firefighter safety and community safety, they will vote NO on the current obstruction bill, and fund community response instead.”
What you can do
Send an email or call your councilmembers
Suggested arguments can be found in this Call-to-Action document:
We got you covered. See captions for image descriptions.
Call to action. Tell City Council to reject CB 120549. “Obstruction Zones” are another racist tool for the Seattle Police Department. Surrounding these words is a thick yellow border made to look like the vinyl tape police use to close off an area, with the repeated text “Police Line Do Not Cross.” A red circle with a slash covers the words CB 120549.
CB 120549 would allow SPD to enforce a perimeter around Seattle Fire Department responders. People within that zone could be arrested and charged with “obstructing a public officer,” an act that includes not just physical interference, but also “refusal to leave a scene after having been directed to do so by a public officer.” There is a yellow police tape border around this slide.
Why is this a bad idea? Because … 1. As the City’s own analysis admits, obstruction charges have been “historically been used to suppress and penalize people of color.” No one is claiming this wouldn’t continue to happen with the new charge. There is a yellow police tape border around this slide.
2. This is redundant criminalization. According to a city memo, over the last 15 months, 85% of arrests for obstruction included additional charges. Obstruction is almost entirely used to pile on additional charges when SPD is arresting someone for something else. There is a yellow police tape border around this slide.
3. This will INCREASE the number of fire department calls SPD responds to. SPD is who will enforce the obstruction zone. Increasing SPD presence at these calls will greatly increase the chance that community members are harmed. There is a yellow police tape border around this slide.
4. This would open a can of worms about whose job is “worthy” of “obstruction” law protection. (Currently it only applies to public employees with the power to make arrests or enforce laws.) 5. This is an additional tool to criminalize protests. SPD could make arrests according to their own discretion, targeting gender non-conforming folks, people of color, and anti-cop protestors. There is a yellow police tape border around this slide.
Large yellow letters on a blue background: The way to increase safety for the Fire Department, and all of Seattle, is to meet people’s basic needs. Below are simple illustrations of an apartment building, a red heart, a winter jacket, a glass of water and a collection of vegetables with a dozen eggs. In this slide, the yellow police tape border has broken at the bottom and a part of it is shown pulling upwards.
EMAIL / TWEET @ / INSTA COMMENT your Council Members. Live public comment on TUESDAY, MAY 9, 2PM. All the info you need: bit.ly/no-obstruction. The yellow police tape border is entirely missing at the bottom and is floating away on the right side. Along the bottom, the red circle with a slash over the words CB 120549 is repeated four times, rotating so that it seems to be rolling away out of the slide.
