Need help keeping it all straight? Me too. I don’t have all the resources, but here are some to be aware of.
-Peter Condit (he/him)
Protests
Show up to support your community.
Earth Day: April 22
Noon Saturday, April 22 at Seattle City Hall, with a march to follow, starting around 1 pm. More information and RSVP here.
May Day: May 1
11:30 am Monday, May 1 at 915 2nd Ave (Federal Building). March to follow.
Missing Murdered Indigenous Women and People (MMIWP): May 6
10 am Saturday, May 6 at Westlake Park, followed by a march to Seattle Center. More information at https://www.instagram.com/roxanne_wht/. If you would like to join bike brigade for de-escalation and safety, please respond to this email or otherwise contact me, Peter Condit (he/him), to get looped-in.
Anti-Copaganda Artwork
~ Be a creator with us on Zoom on Monday, May 8, from 7-8 pm! ~
The Seattle Police Department has a big budget for advertising and recruiting new cops this summer. I am co-hosting a creation session for abolitionists to brainstorm and create material to counter the police department’s pro-cop narrative. Let’s keep building Seattle’s reputation as a city that rejects the criminal legal system!
If you would like to participate in this abolitionist dreaming, please respond to this email or otherwise contact me, Peter Condit (he/him), to get looped-in.
Research
Mayor Harrell’s Downtown Activation Plan
On Monday, April 17, Seattle’s Mayor announced a plan to “[address] the fentanyl and synthetic drug crisis” and “activate downtown.”
During the address, Mayor Harrell made it clear that his plan will be very enforcement-focused and showed ignorance of proven solutions.
First, the mayor is not relying on safe consumption sites as part of his plan, calling them unproven. In reality, the effectiveness of safe consumption sites is well-documented, as shown in this the article, Supervised Injection Facilities as Harm Reduction: A Systematic Review:
“For people who inject drugs, supervised injection facilities may reduce the risk of overdose morbidity and mortality and improve access to care while not increasing crime or public nuisance to the surrounding community.”
Second, the mayor includes an unfunded pilot of a new HelathOne Overdose unit as a co-response with SPD and SFD. Because of the co-response nature of this pilot, instead of freeing-up responders and resources, city responder times may increase. We must also remember Jaahnavi Kandula, 23, who was killed in a crosswalk by an SPD officer driving his SUV to an overdose where SFD was already on site.
Third, the mayor gives no indication that his plan will get people experiencing homelessness into homes. In fact, on Wednesday, April 19, the Unified Care Team (aka, the newest iteration of the sweep team) gave a presentation at council’s Public Assets and Homelessness Committee that included a clear statement that there are not enough places for people experiencing homelessness to go.
This slide from the Unified Care Team’s presentation shows that they are well-aware that folks living unsheltered in Seattle don’t have a place to go
Why does this matter?
A recent study from JAMA (published here and also available without paywall here) concludes that sweeps are deadly and worsen overdoses:
“This simulation modeling study of 23 US cities projects that involuntary displacement of people experiencing homelessness may yield substantial increases in morbidity and mortality over a 10-year period. Involuntary displacement is estimated to worsen overdose and hospitalizations, decrease initiations of medications for opioid use disorder, and contribute to deaths among people experiencing homelessness who inject drugs.”
