February 2021 No

Works in Progress Advocating for social justice since 1990 Vol 31 February 2021 No. 6

Proposing a new “urban village” The determination of non-significance Not surprisingly, the Agreement A “fixed and functioning West Bay” was found to have no meaningful environmental impact. The result: a DNS—a determination of non-significance. [See a description of Develop- for whom and to what end? ment Agreements and “non-project” an esplanade along the shore and an very minimal to very complicated. vs “project” actions on page 8] Bethany Weidner agreement that the developer would It also requires that Development follow recommendations of a 2016 Agreements be presented at a public Notwithstanding the DNS, Washing- As new “market rate” apartment report on restoration of the “Hardel hearing before being submitted to ton law requires that Development buildings sprout up all over down- Reach.” There were construction se- the City Council for their evaluation Agreements be presented at a public town Olympia, developers have quencing documents and a shoreline and approval. hearing and reviewed for approval by set their sights on prime shoreline restoration concept plan. City Councils. This is one of the few across the bay. What is more appealing to a well-heeled transplant than a view of sailboats and an iconic mountain with picturesque Budd Inlet for your front yard? Developers Brandon Smith and Ron Newman have proposed a large- scale mixed-use project bordering the water on West Bay Drive, where Hardel manufactured plywood until its buildings burned down in 1996. The promoters are calling their project West Bay Yards, “in tribute to our timber heritage.” “Yards” is the latest in trendy labels for such upscale “urban villages.” If the project comes to fruition, Olympia will join Camden Yards in Baltimore, Hudson Yards in New York City, Lincoln Yards in Chicago, and Dexter Yard in Seattle as “cities to watch.” An economic magnet rising along the shore? Rendering of two of five buildings proposed as West Bay Yards from a posting at Thurston Economic Development Council. The sheer size and scope of such a project would make a significant A useful tool for regulating A project becomes a development decisions not delegated change in the economic life of phased projects “non-project action” by Olympia’s council members to Olympia. West Bay Yards as pro- staff or an outside Hearing Examiner. As these discussions wound down, the posed wouldn’t be a village, but a The staff and WBY representatives developer and city staff agreed that In November, the CP&D staff small town with a population ex- wrote up a Development Agree- they would take advantage of a Wash- planned to recommend the Agree- ceeding that of many burgs—and an ment (DA) that had few particulars. ington law to give the West Bay Yards ment to the Council. Pending the ex- expectation to grow. Among other significant elements, it project certainty with a “Development was missing “mitigation measures” pected approval, the West Bay Yards As Troy Nichols, the Phillips-Burgess Agreement” that would lock in current required as part of the DA law. It project would go ahead under the spokesman representing West Bay development standards for 15 years. confined itself to establishing “pa- Development Agreement. Findings Yards (WBY) told The Olympian: of any subsequent environmental “Nothing happens without any eco- impact assessment could only be ad- nomic impetus to get things going. If A project with impacts as potentially massive as the one dressed within the terms of the DA. we’re ever to have a fixed and func- proposed on a contaminated shoreline of a waterway Instead, the train was stopped by a tioning West Bay, this the first step.” challenge to the “Determination of There’s already another proposal for that does not meet water quality standards…cries Non-Significance.” a 40-unit apartment building across out for a comprehensive environmental analysis. the road to the west. Evaluating impacts “at the earliest possible point” A “Development Agreement” is a Reviewing the specifics On December 1, the Olympia Coali- binding contract between a city and rameters and phasing schedule for of the project tion for Ecosystems Preservation a developer that specifies the obliga- future developments on the prop- (OCEP), appealed the Determination Over last summer and fall, the tions the developer has to meet, and erty” stating that everything in the Of Non-Significance (DNS) arising developer’s people spent time with ensures that new obligations will not Agreement was vested in the devel- from the Development Agreement. the staff of the Community Plan- be imposed on them during the term oper “under the Existing Land Use Regulations and may not be changed ning and Development department of the Agreement. In exchange, the When OCEP learned of the West Bay or modified by the City.” (CP&D) laying out the specifics of developer includes in the project Yards’ proposed Development Agree- the project. In addition to five apart- some public benefit that the city The CP&D staff used the Develop- ment, they were alarmed. “A project ment buildings with a total of 478 could not otherwise require. This ment Agreement as the basis for with impacts as potentially massive units, there would be new restaurant might be infrastructure improve- completing a checklist whose pur- as the one proposed on a contami- and retail opportunities, recreation ments, public open space, etc. pose is to indicate whether there’s nated shoreline of a waterway that facilities and offices. There would be does not meet water quality stan- Development Agreements are re- a need for a full environmental parking stalls for 680 vehicles—with dards mandated under the Federal served for major projects; they also impact assessment under the State an expectation that the bulk of them Clean Water Act cries out for a com- serve as powerful tools that can give Environmental Policy Act (SEPA). could be underground. The pro- prehensive environmental analysis.” a city increased discretion when By so doing, they turned the WBY posal contemplated creation of an project into a “non-project action.” it comes to approving a develop- Spokesman Troy Nolan of Phillips additional 1–1.5 acres of upland by Accordingly, they filled out the ment. To ensure against a blank Burgess defended the City’s handling adding new fill into the tidelands to checklist for “The West Bay Yards achieve the density sought. check, Washington law requires of his client’s application, “They every Development Agreement to Development Agreement” as a “non- There were site maps showing project action.” specify standards, ranging from the 4Urban village, continued on page 8 vehicle access from West Bay Drive, Works in Progress (WIP), is a community newspaper based We’re already out of time, but… in Olympia, WA, that has been published monthly since 1990. There’s a sentence that has stuck ing to correct racial inequality. violence, end the opioid epidemic, in my mind for years. I think it reduce homelessness—policies WIP’s mission is to contribute White response to the Kerner to the struggle for justice across was in a book written by Richard to encourage unions, mandate a Wright (the author of Invisible Commission helped to lay the living wage for all jobs, create and economic, social, environmen- foundation for the law-and-order tal and political realms, and to Man), but I’m not positive. fund high quality childcare, invest campaign that elected Richard massively in community-designed expand participatory democracy It’s not that we This is the sentence: Nixon to the presidency later that public housing, redesign the health across classes, races, and genders. don’t know what to do. It’s that we’re year. Instead of considering the full care system to promote health… Editorial policy not going to do it. weight of white prejudice, Ameri- cans endorsed rhetoric that called We know what to do to diminish Our priority is to focus on sto- Take this talk about “healing,” how for arming police officers like sol- the destructive consequences of ries that are ignored or misrep- we need to heal; to unify the coun- diers and cracking down on crime climate change—phase out fossil resented in the corporate media, try. How about we try providing in inner cities. fuels and their derivatives, rede- especially those that relate everyone with an equal opportu- sign and build a public/commu- directly to our mission. We seek nity to be a contributing member Sound familiar? What happened nity infrastructure (transportation, well-researched news stories, of society? What if we were to to our resolve at the end of the recreation, education) to replace serious analyses of issues con- pay people in proportion to their demonstrations about the death of our excessive and consumptive fronting our communities and contribution? All that nice talk George Floyd, and to the realiza- addiction to personally owning one account of personal experiences about essential workers and how tion that policing was part of the of everything. or reflections by local writ- much we depend on them would problem? be reflected in wages that com- Is it time to do these things? ers. We encourage articles that I think of the other issues where relate to the monthly theme, but municated their importance and —BW the high value society puts on their we know what to do. We know material on other topics is also what would diminish domestic Cover photo by Ricky Osborne. welcome. contribution. Informed opinion pieces are Here is one thing we could do accepted when accompanied by in pursuit of this goal. Senator facts, examples, and sources. We Elizabeth Warren and others have discourage writing where a key repeatedly introduced a bill called How to submit your point is stated as fact when it’s “Schedules that Work” that would unproven or in serious dispute. help working people to balance Writing that stereotypes groups professional responsibilities with writing or art to or categories of people won’t be individual and family needs. It accepted. would address businesses’ unstable, unpredictable and rigid scheduling Works in Progress Once we receive a submission, practices, like putting workers “on we may choose to publish it or call” with no guarantee of work Works in Progress is a community resource, so please take advan- not. While the views expressed in hours, scheduling them for split tage by submitting your writing, drawings or cartoons. the material we print are those shifts, sending them home early Guidelines for writing for WIP. Our priority is to focus on stories of the author alone, WIP aims to without pay when demand is low, that are ignored or misrepresented in the mainstream media, espe- print material that is consistent requiring works to work the clos- cially those that relate directly to our mission. Informed opinion with our mission. WIP reserves ing shift one day and the opening pieces are welcome, especially when accompanied by facts, exam- the right to edit all submissions shift the next. ples and sources. We like articles or stories or reflections that relate for accuracy, length, and clar- to the issue outlined for the theme, but that’s not necessary. Once ity of expression. We will work we receive a submission we will contact you if we are interested in with authors if there is a need for THOUGHTS publishing it. editing that extends beyond those areas. Submitting your writing. Send an email to [email protected] ON THE with the word SUBMISSION in the subject line. Attach your submis- Unless copyrighted by the au- sion as a word document. Do not send pdfs or google docs.. Include thor, all original material printed THEME your name, a brief bio to run and where to contact you. Ideally, in WIP under Creative Com- your piece should be a maximum of 1200 words. For more detail mons license CC-BY-NC-ND. Punishing workers who on submitting, plus info on art, pictures or other material, go to our request schedule Workers in Progress website, www.olywip.org and click on “Submit Content.” This bill has been introduced Publishing Committee repeatedly and is described as Emily Lardner, Lori Lively, “having no chance of passage.” Yet Kevin Pestinger, Enrique we can all see that having regular Quintero, Bethany Weidner shifts, time off and time to take Upcoming themes Treasurer Ann Vandeman care of your family, receiving a good wage—are things that would March: Things revealed by the May: The Ballot or the Bullet. Managing Editor chip away at other problems: do- pandemic. Deadline Feb 15 Deadline April 15 Bethany Weidner mestic violence, neglected children, depression. April: Work vs Jobs vs Pay. Dead- Associate Editor Lori Lively line Mar 15 Production & Design Lee Miller Racism is the preeminent illustra- tion of knowing what to do but re- Art & Photography Lindsey fusing to do it. This also relates to Dalthorp, Ricky Osborne, Paul the question of “healing” and unity. Peck, Lori Lively The Kerner Commission report on Inside... urban violence in 1967 was clear A “fixed and functioning West Bay”...... 1 Editing: Sarah Keefe that systemic racism had caused Peaceful Transition—Respect the Vote...... 3 Proofreaders Fred Silsby, James the riots: O’Barr, Scott Yoos, Matt Crich- Then this happened...... 3 “White society is deeply impli- ton, Janet Jordan, Bruce Larson, cated in the ghetto. White institu- Readers’ Alert!...... 3 Sarah Keefe tions created it, white institutions Diagnosing the 2020 election malady...... 4 Distribution Kevin P, Dave maintain it, and white society Groves, Mike Pelly, Scott Yoos, condones it.” The nation, the A new treaty outlaws nuclear weapons...... 5 Sandia Slaby Kerner Commission warned, was Will the US sign the treaty?...... 5 Website Carolyn Roos, so divided that it was poised to Heather Sundean fracture into two radically un- Mental health in the time of COVID...... 6 equal societies—one black, one Social Media Heather Sundean white.” Salud en tiempos de COVID...... 7 Tech guru Lohen Che’ The Kerner Commission Report in- West Bay Woods...... 8 Advertising Rates cluded detailed recommendations On the inseparability of race and class...... 9 that would entail aggressive federal $10 per column inch spending and new policies to move The Port of Olympia report...... 10 Business card $25/30 away from a racist society. Deep trouble with seabed mining...... 11 Quarter page $160 Discounts for 6-12 months The backlash was immediate. Polls Washington’s new food distribution project...... 11 showed that 53 percent of white Contact WIP: [email protected] Americans condemned the claim A way to hold the past in your hand...... 12 or by snail mail at PO Box 295, that racism had caused the riots. Biden ends discriminatory policies affecting travelers, Olympia, WA 98507 or donate at There would be no government our website: www.olywip.org spending. The US was wealthy immigrants and refugees ...... 13 enough to go to the moon, but as What we already know about one commentator observed, politi- the idea of “healing”...... 14 cally, spending billions on space c travel was more saleable than striv- Spotlight...... 15 2 Works In Progress February 2021 by David Moseley. Mercy Kariuki- MLK Day McGee also entertained the participants, singing and walking the sidewalks with her portable sound Peaceful Transition—Respect the Vote system. stay off social media. People were organize the group photo and hand Dan Leahy The organizers recruited their asked to send in an email if they out 150 yard signs to participants. own photographer, Ricky Osborne, In mid December, thirty neighbors planned to join. Each new person As with the George Floyd event, whose photos (published here and on the Westside of Olympia began who joined was vetted by someone Beverly Farris, national program on the cover) captured the essence planning for an MLK Day event the organizers knew. Participants manager of the Alliance of Faith of the event. Ted Warren, an AP and chose Peaceful Transition, Re- were also asked to donate funds spect the Vote as their theme. They to cover the $1,200 in expenses, had planned two previous events which they did. on the 4th Avenue Bridge, one in Another safety measure was the support of the National Nurses “Welcome Team.” A welcome Union and one calling for Justice team had formed for the George for George Floyd and all Black Floyd event. This time, however, Lives. they increased their number to The bridge can safely hold 250 nine, picked a coordinator, met participants separated by eight feet in advance via Zoom, developed of space. They began to recruit internal communication and wore using their email lists from previ- bright yellow jackets with “Wel- ous events, and encouraged others come Team” on the back. Their job to help recruit. They also made a was to welcome folks, answer their point for obvious safety reasons to questions, keep everyone safe, help

and Justice, provided leadership photographer, was also present and, as the event's spokesperson. Ms. ironically, his photo of the event Farris had attended the 50th An- appeared in Oregon’s Bend Bulletin niversary of the 1963 March on on Tuesday, January 19. Washington. She walked the bridge Just over 200 people lined the carrying her photo of Dr. King. two sidewalks for one hour. While The opening ceremony began most were from Olympia, there at noon with Noel Parrish and were also participants from Seattle, Candace Penn burning sage and Tacoma, Elma, Lacey, Tumwater offering a song for peace and jus- and Rainier. tice. Candace is a member of the Squaxin Island Tribe and Quileute Dan Leahy is an organizer. Tribe. Noel Parrish is Turtle Moun- He lives in West Olympia. tain Chippewa. After the opening, participants were entertained by Photos by Ricky Osborne a group of samba drummers led

Then this happened Readers’ Alert! Get out of jail free! Fewer people a pond and thence continuing are turning to the CARE fund for downstream under French Loop WIP has received a grant desig- Women who Rock—Evelyn McDon- financial help for a surprising Rd NW and on to Butler Cove and nated for including book reviews nell reason: referrals have slowed to Budd Inlet. As a result of citizens’ in 2021. How will it work? Before Trans—Rachel Msch a trickle because the powers that work, the Department of Ecology Each month we’ll publish a list of be have decided that it’s stupid added the Green Cove property to books we’d like to see reviewed. Homewreckers—Aaron Glantz to keep people in jail for minor the state database for cleanup. Not If you’re interested in reading offenses—during a pandemic, that sure what developer Jerry Mahan Caste—Isabel Wilkerson and writing a review of one of the is. The fund has provided small might be doing in terms of this books, contact us at olywip@gmail. Deep River—Karl Marlantis amounts of financial help to indi- finding. com. We will buy the book and (a novel) gent residents who need help on More like a flood. things like closing a court case or In the middle pay $50 if the review is accepted. getting a suspended license back. of cranky arguments about wheth- (See the review of United States By the same token, few volunteers er people could get a one-time pay- of Distraction on page 13 of this and outside staff can enter the jail. ment of $600 or (wow) $2000 there issue.) was nothing said about the wealthy Fund managers will be meeting to We plan to run one review each getting repeated payments in the review their mission for the dura- month, with a maximum length form of new tax breaks and loop- tion of the pandemic. of 750 words. Contact WIP if you’d holes, worth a total of $240 billion like to be considered to review one Didn’t slow to a trickle. Neighbors of the $900 billion included in the of the following books: olywip@ of the Green Cove project (see stimulus bill passed last December. gmail.com and please put BOOK January and March 2020 WIP) You can read about them in detail REVIEW in the subject line. sent photos of runoff carrying at Americans for Tax Fairness significant amounts of silt into

February 2021 Works In Progress 3 PERSPECTIVE Diagnosing the 2020 election malady

Jeff Angus their down-ballot support at every There was no long-term platform raise the minimum wage to $15/ opportunity. Yet this is the way pointing out the willful incom- hour, a classic Democrat thrust. [Ed note: The author is a veteran of all historical Dem and Rep waves petence of the Repug ideology of The minimum wage won by over five decades of electoral work. His happen. governance. Biden campaigned on two million votes, outpolling goal for 2020 was to take the Senate a George Bush Junior nice-guy-to- Biden in 64 of Florida’s 67 coun- for Democrats. He agreed to work in ties. At least 19% of Trump’s voters Montana, a Trump state, but where statewide also voted for the $15 the popular Democratic Governor minimum. The Democrats’ party was challenging a first-term leaders ceded our economic issues Republican. He spent the last three to the Reds not just in Florida, but weeks before the election leaning nationally, when embracing them into cold winds from the mountains, would have harvested incremental talking with the dispersed voters votes. of Montana. It turned out the headwinds from the Biden ticket Where to look for a cure? were so powerful that they crushed For a lot of structural reasons, the life out of the workers’ hopes for including additional Republican the down-ballot race. 2020 ended House districts in heavily gerry- in Montana with a Red sweep. Here mandered Texas and Florida, 2022 is Jeff’s diagnosis of how to cure the is going to be a challenging elec- illness before the next cycle.] tion year. Still, there is a possible The November election outcome remedy in grassroots organizing was tragic. The Democrats had that ignores the national party and their once-in-a-generation oppor- its incessant demands for cash. tunity for a “wave” election. Voters Hitch up your energy and dollars were done with Cheeto Musso- to grassroots talent engines like lini. COVID-19 exposed both the Stacey Abrams’ constellation of incompetence of the Republicans activist powerhouses (New Georgia and the structural inability of the Project, Black Voters Matter, Fair UnitedStatesian medical business- Fight, and more). es to deliver First World- (or even If you’re a Democrat, focus on the Third World) health outcomes. more skilled state Dem parties What should have been a blue (Wisconsin or Texas’ or Arizona) or wave was a fiasco because of losses on any of the county parties trying Defect 3A – The wrong voters have-a-beer-with persona and anti- in down-ballot races. Covid plank, both obvious, unrisky to innovate in the absence of the The National Dems (since 1992, Republicans held onto or expanded and to too many voters uncompel- National party’s ability to). when this worked well-enough to their ability to gerrymander and ling. win) take their base for granted Finally, don’t give up hope that suppress votes in every state and choose to chase “undecided” Jettisoning working peoples’ eco- as president, Joe Biden might do where they practice these dark voters. Reds enlist their victims for nomic issues was extremely costly some useful things. His track re- arts. And because of the victories life. Blues recruit temps, selling a this year in too many states. In cord is listless at best, destructive the Democrats did achieve, we are single personality or a single elec- Florida, for example, Biden’s col- more often than not. But remem- facing another red wave election tion, thereby requiring the same lapse relative to Hillary Clinton’s ber that FDR’s track record wasn’t in 2022, wiping out what gains the level of effort every cycle. numbers in 2016 took down Blue much better when he became Dems did make—unless Never- members of the US House. Crucial- President in a crisis time, and HE Bold Biden reboots the norms with Did you see Biden TV ads this ly, it prevented the Dems from get- rose to the occasion. Biden might FDR-like boldness. year? In the dozens I saw across ting enough state legislative seats surprise us by breaking from his the country, there were zero past as FDR did. How did this happen? to blunt an upcoming gerrymander endorsements of local candidates. that will disenfranchise our voters The key defects came from Demo- Not even a mention of the word for a decade. cratic party leaders who elevate Democrat or Democratic Party out- personal control of the party ap- side of the fine print at the bottom Worse, Biden did not take advan- paratus over winning elections; a of the screen. Unlike the Reds’ re- tage of the opportunity to cham- lukewarm presidential candidate cruitment ads, Dems ads sacrifice pion the state’s ballot measure to whose strategy was to recruit every principle and outcome lower (thereby activate) Republican-lean- down on the ballot in trying to pre- ing voters to vote for him (throw- serve a centrist vote at the top. ing down-ballot Dems under the The Red narrative was, “Blue is bus) and from the Party’s choice of Evil, eradicate it.” Blues’ center- issues to campaign on. pandering approach reduced them Defect 1 – The wrong mission to asserting, “We’re not evil” and ignoring the much more danger- The mission of the National Dems ous evil posed by the Red program. is not to win victories at the polls, This worked exactly as the Biden but to raise money and maintain campaign designed it to: they control of the party apparatus. snared the 1.5% of the electorate The National Democrats’ (DNC, that is truly-Red-leaning-truly-inde- DSCC, DCCC) pool of mediocre, pendent to switch to Biden. unaccountable functionaries and consultants relentlessly impose The Biden campaign turned out their self-centered, low-quality “just enough” Red and Red fellow- strategies on state parties and traveler voters dissatisfied with candidates. They innovate only in Trump but did not enlist their fund-raising. votes for other Democrats. He snared the presidency and guaran- As in corporate boardrooms, no teed Republican dominance in all amount of dismal results leads to their other races. actual executive or process change. After November’s bloodbath, the Defect 3B – The wrong issues DNC replaced their failed chair—a The National Dems annointed nice, good-looking, intelligent and a presidential candidate whose completely feckless leader with strengths and weaknesses meant his deputy—the nice, good-looking, that the campaign would not take intelligent and completely feck- on the issues the voters cared most less Jamie Harrison. Harrison is a about. Blue’s sole issue was the proven loser, having just dropped pandemic. Nothing addressed the $120 million on his Senate cam- scary economy, the struggle to paign that failed by double digits. attain or maintain a middle-class Defect 2 – The wrong focus life, the need to balance security against the too-often homicidal rac- The National Dems chronically ism of unaccountable, armed en- hyper-focus on the top of the ticket forcement organizations, reform of and undervalue elections below a health care system that could be that. Unlike the Repugs, the Dems capable of overcoming an epidemic. top player no longer asks voters for

4 Works In Progress February 2021 A 70-year nuclear gloom begins to lift at Bangor. One Trident submarine carries the destructive force of over 1,200 Hiroshima bombs (the Hiroshima bomb was 15 kilotons). A new international treaty In early 2020, the Navy updated select submarines at Kitsap-Bangor with “low-yield” warheads (eight outlaws use of nuclear weapons kilotons). These new warheads create a dan- Ground Zero Center for those governments. The treaty also on submarines and are additionally gerously lower threshold for the Nonviolent Action prohibits these countries from as- stored on the naval base. use of US strategic nuclear weapons. sisting “anyone” engaged in any of Any use of nuclear weapons against The submarine base at Bangor is Beginning January 18, 2021 four those prohibited activities, includ- another nuclear weapon state 20 miles from downtown Seattle, billboards around Puget Sound will ing private companies and individ- would likely elicit a response with yet only a small percentage of citi- display a public service announce- uals who may be involved in the nuclear weapons and cause over- zens in our region know that Naval ment: “NUCLEAR WEAPONS nuclear weapons industry. whelming death and destruction. Base Kitsap-Bangor exists. However, BANNED BY NEW U.N. TREATY; in the 1970s and 1980s, thousands Get them out of Puget Sound!” The Most deployed nuclear weapons Civic responsibility and demonstrated against nuclear four billboards will be located in in the US are in the nuclear weapons weapons at the Bangor base and Seattle, Tacoma and Port Orchard, Puget Sound area hundreds were arrested. Our proximity to the largest num- and are paid for by Ground Zero Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor is located ber of deployed nuclear weapons Center for Nonviolent Action and a few miles from the cities of Sil- New warheads for Trident sub- demands a deeper reflection and World Beyond War. verdale and Poulsbo and is home- launched nuclear missiles response to the threat of nuclear war. Citizens in a democracy also The UN Treaty on the Prohibition port to the largest concentration of Currently, there are eight Trident- have responsibilities—which of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) en- deployed nuclear weapons in the equipped submarines deployed ters into force on January 22, 2021. US. Nuclear warheads are deployed include choosing our leaders and For participating countries, the staying informed about what our treaty outlaws not only the use of government is doing. nuclear weapons, but also makes One such leader, President Obama, it illegal under international law to spoke in Hiroshima in 2016 and “develop, test, produce, manufac- called for an end to nuclear weap- ture, otherwise acquire, possess, or ons. He said that the nuclear pow- stockpile nuclear weapons or other ers “…must have the courage to nuclear explosive devices.” escape the logic of fear, and pursue While the treaty’s prohibitions a world without them.” are legally binding only in the 51 Material for this story was provided countries that are “States Parties” by Leonard Eiger and the Ground to the treaty, those prohibitions Zero Center for Nonviolent Action. go beyond just the activities of The Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action was founded in 1977. The center is on 3.8 acres adjoining the Trident submarine base at Bangor, Washington. The Will the US sign the treaty? Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action offers the opportunity to The nine countries that have held ons in their legislatures, it became explore the roots of violence and the world captive to the threat international law in October 2020. storage, transport, use or threat of injustice in our world and to of nuclear war are losing moral use. Consider this a marathon for experience the transforming power of ground to 122 smaller countries The law goes into effect January disarmament to outpace the cur- love through nonviolent direct action. that approved the world’s first 22, 2021 to the profound relief of rent nuclear arms race in which We resist all nuclear weapons, nuclear weapons ban in July 2017. most people of the world. Those all nuclear-armed countries are, in especially the Trident ballistic Once 50 of those 122 approving now 51 “freedom fighter” coun- lockstep, upgrading their weapons. missile system. tries commit to having nothing countries completed the ratifica- And this is only the beginning. tion process of the UN Treaty for to do with nuclear weapons—no design, testing, manufacturing, Thirty–five additional countries the Prohibition of Nuclear Weap- are in the process of ratifying the Key in your story Treaty; 50 more support the Treaty; a dozen more have immense popu- Send it to our editors at lar support, among them Canada, [email protected] and are one election away from Advocating signing the Treaty. If the United for justice in housing States, where a majority of citizens does not want to use nuclear weap- Supporting ons, signed the Treaty, the rest the survival of the homeless would follow. Helping with basic encampment needs Building a community where everyone feels safe, valued, and respected.

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February 2021 Works In Progress 5 gardening projects, connected with nature. I signed up for zoom Mental health in the time of COVID classes through the Senior Center and have moved my art table from Experiencing grief, loss and isolation the garage into my living room. Looking farther away, we can find other models for handling the were unprepared for the physical emotions and may need a listener. Barbara M Young stresses of isolation. Tim Her- presence of the pandemic. In an Our neighborhood zoom meeting rara in a New York Times article article, “The Hidden Fourth Wave starts with a “check-in” to allow the As we enter the “darkest hours” of wrote about what we might learn of the Pandemic” Farhad Manjoo participants to express what is go- the winter, each of us copes with from an astronaut, a researcher in quotes the chief medical officer of ing on with them. isolation, social distancing, anxiety, Antarctica and from the eight folks grief and loss from the effects of the National Alliance on Mental A is for “Acknowledge obstacles.” who isolated themselves within a the pandemic. Many in this area Illness: “We are affected by fewer Denying or avoiding acknowledge- Biosphere for two years. experience SAD, Seasonal Affective connections, more isolation and ment of loss can keep you from Disorder, the absence of sunshine. more uncertainty.” The Trump Christina Koch, a 41-year-old seeing a way forward. When some- The pandemic has layered new Administration was unprepared for astronaut, spent 328 days on the one asks, “How are you?” Do you symptoms on mental health issues the mental health consequences International Space Station. Koch’s respond, “I’m fine,” when you’re already present. Our society tends and the incoming Biden Admin- advice is, “Be comfortable with not? It’s not a time to be ashamed to stigmatize those with mental is- istration as of this writing has not unpredictability. Know that some- to admit that you are hurting and sues and provides limited funds for placed a mental health expert on thing could go wrong in a planned need someone to listen. care of mental health. In this article, the Pandemic Task Force. schedule. You must rearrange and I will bring these issues forward. L is for “LIVE.” adapt. What you can control is how “Coping with COVID, Grief and Engage in life instead of withdrawing. Wear a mask you react to the situation, whether The Centers for Disease Control, Loss.” a podcast from the Washing- and go for a walk with another per- you let yourself go down a bad CDC, last June found that forty ton Dept. of Health captures cop- son. Join zoom meetings or church mental path or not. Be creative in percent of American adults reporting mechanisms with the acronym services; talk with friends. You how you stay relevant in the lives ed at least one adverse mental or H-E-A-L: cannot solve their problems but of loved ones. Do things that feel behavioral health condition includ- H is for “Honor the loss.” Recog- you can listen and offer friendship. like you are close.” ing symptoms of mental illness or nize it. Name it. If your children substance abuse related to the pan- Christina “ran” a 13.1-mile half ask questions, be honest. Tell them In my West Olympia neighbor- demic. Because of social distancing marathon on her space stationary the truth. Doctors advise parents to hood, we have created a monthly requirements, some mental health bicycle while her friends were run- listen to the concerns of their child zoom check-in where neighbors therapists have gone online, but ning the same time and distance and speak honestly to them. When share concerns and creative ways even these resources are scarce. on earth. She has more advice, “Set the truth is withheld, children of moving through grief, loss and Luana Marques, clinical psycholo- expectations in your mind to err often fantasize a worse scenario. isolation. One neighbor has a chair gist at Massachusetts General Hos- on the side of being pleasantly They can even become confused in her airy carport with a heating pital predicts a “fourth wave” of the surprised, rather than being disap- as to what is true and what is false. pad. She keeps warm while wait- pandemic that will cause a spike ing to chat with people walking pointed.” in mental health problems dispro- E is for “Express emotion.” All by. A musician described his anger David Knoff lived with 24 people at portionately affecting marginalized emotions are valid. If you are feel- at being unable to create music the Davis Research outpost station communities. ing anxious, depressed, or sad, find with others but began to play for in Antarctica. The temperature someone to share your feelings. his own comfort. Others walked We are as unprepared to cope with was a constant nineteen degrees Others are probably having similar in the woods; embarked on new the mental health fallout as we Fahrenheit and with zero hours of daylight during winter weeks. One had to “change with the surround- ings and train yourself to learn to Practice for changing frequencies Bend the arms at the elbows with make the best of a tough situation.” the palms up as though you are David said that he had to dig deep holding a tray at the level of your within himself for the motivation An exercise to shift heart. Breathing long and slowly and resilience to return safely to through the nose only (mouth his family. One evening a huddle closed), move the hands in a circu- of Emperor penguins waddled from fear to calm lar pattern to create small circles into the research stations and the in the air. Only the hands move, researchers were treated to a beau- the elbows stay at your sides and tiful and rare connection with the Lori Lively the feeling we want to have, learn- the wrists and palms remain facing environment. ing to visualize it and truly feel it is up. Imagine, if it helps, that you The eight researchers confined in We’re all familiar with suggestions incredibly powerful. The next time are drawing circles in the air with the Arizona Biosphere experienced for countering occasional feelings you find yourself stuck in a cycle your outstretched fingers. conflicts within the group. They of anxiety, fear and depression of negative thinking or feeling that found that the third quarter of such as taking a walk, listening to you can’t seem to shake, try this At a slow, rhythmic pace that’s their isolation was the most diffi- music or reading something uplift- practice to harness the power of comfortable to you, move the cult. Yet knowing there was an end ing. All are helpful but they may the field to shift your energy fre- palms in small outward circles for in sight allowed them to persevere. not go far enough in harnessing quency from darkness to light. at 10—20 minutes while focusing the power available to us to create on the brow point and listening to First, find some ambient music Our “end in sight’’ is the communi- a physical shift in our feeling life. the chant. to play or, ideally, choose medita- ty receiving a vaccine and developing immunity to COVID that will Researchers like Lynn McTaggart tion music from the internet with Finish with a deep inhale and hold let us hug our family and friends. tell us the unseen universal force a simple chant that lasts for 15-20 for several seconds, releasing the Following the model of H-E-A-L, known as the quantum field is not minutes (try Chattr Chkkr Deep breath slowly. Sit quietly for one we too will persevere. a punishing or rewarding one but Relaxation (Bonus Track) by Mira- minute with palms on knees or thighs with thumb and forefinger is simply reflective and responsive bain Ceiba from the album Sevati.). Resources: to what emanates from us. Just touching. Notice any shift in the Next, suspend your judgements as anger and frustration can build quality of your energy. Take one Coping with COVID: Grief and about trying something new or on each other to create a negative last deep inhale and exhale and Loss Podcast, Kira Mauseth, PhD what may be unfamiliar syllables loop, feelings of peace and calm flutter the eyes open gently. and Doug Dicharry, MD, WA Dept in the chant. Simply give the prac- can be cultivated, too. An impor- of Health tice a try. The exercise above is part of a tant first step is acknowledging 52 minute meditation available Washington Talks, call-in the electromagnetic nature of our Sit comfortably in a chair or on the on youtube at The Good Morning opportunity, 1-833-681-0211 bodies and the necessity of engag- floor with a straight back. Close Retreat Opening Circle with Tommy ing ourselves biologically to shift the eyes and focus on the point Rosen. Further reading on intention Suicide Prevention Lifeline – our energy. between the eyebrows, as if you and the quantum field can be found 1-800-273-8255 are looking at the inside of your The key that really unlocks this in The Power of Eight by Lynn forehead. Emergency: 911 shift, however, is intention. It takes McTaggart. Lori Lively is assistant practice but learning to identify editor at WIP. Barbara Young is a member of the Southwest Olympia Neighborhood Association and has lived on the Westside for thirty years. As an Centralia Square Antique Mall RN, she lectured at the University of Washington, Tacoma, served Antiques•Restaurant•Hotel as Nursing Director at St. Martin’s College, and Professor of Psychiatric Directions from Olympia Nursing at SPSCC. She has written South on Interstate 5 several books including Travels to Off at Exit 82 (Factory Outlets) Maya: 14 Days in the Yucatan (2013), East on Harrison The Interconnectedness of Story, Right on Pearl Community, and Health (2013), 201 S Pearl & Locust and The Tree is Medicine: infant Open 7 days Mortality at Cedar Bay (2016). 10am–5pm

6 Works In Progress February 2021 y ofrecer amistad. Pregunta si puedes traer la Salud en tiempos de COVID cena o un regalo; proponer un paseo. En mi vecindario de West Olympia, hemos Nuestra experiencia de duelo, pérdida y aislamiento creado un control de zoom mensual en el que los vecinos pueden compartir preocupaciones y Barbara M. Young menos conexiones, más aislamiento y más formas creativas de superar el dolor, la pérdida incertidumbre”. La Administración Trump no se y el aislamiento. Una vecina se instaló en su Al entrar en las “horas más oscuras” del in- ha preparado para las consecuencias de la salud estacionamiento techado con una manta tér- vierno, cada uno de nosotros está lidiando con mental y la Administración entrante de Biden al mica para charlar con la gente que pasaba por el aislamiento, el distanciamiento social, la momento de escribir este artículo no ha colo- allí. Un músico describió su enojo por no poder ansiedad, el dolor y la pérdida por los efectos de cado a un experto en salud mental en el Grupo tocar durante todos estos meses. de Trabajo contra la Pandemia. la pandemia. Muchos en esta zona del país se Otros hablaron de proyectos de jardinería, de enfrentan al SAD, o Trastorno Afectivo Esta- “Enfrentando COVID, duelo y pérdida” es un conexión con la naturaleza. Me inscribí en las cional, causado por la ausencia de luz solar. La podcast del Departamento de Salud de Wash- clases a través del Centro para Personas de pandemia ha añadido síntomas adicionales a ington que usa el acrónimo en ingles H.E.A.L. la Tercera Edad que comenzarán en enero y los problemas de salud mental ya existentes. para describir formas de afrontar el dolor y la trasladé mi mesa de obras de arte del garaje a Vivimos en una sociedad que tiende a estigma- pérdida. mi sala de estar. tizar a las personas con problemas mentales y proporciona fondos limitados para la atención H es para “honrar la pérdida”. Reconócela. Mirando más lejos, hay otros con experiencia de la salud mental. En este artículo, presentaré Nombrarla. Si sus hijos hacen preguntas, sea ho- en manejar el estrés del aislamiento. Tim Her- estos problemas. nesto. Diles la verdad. Los médicos aconsejan a rara en un artículo del New York Times escribió los padres que escuchen las preocupaciones de sobre lo que podríamos aprender de un astro- Los Centros para el Control de Enfermedades sus hijos y hablen honestamente sobre el prob- nauta, un investigador en Antárctica y de las (CDC), en junio pasado, encontraron que el lema. Los niños pueden afrontar la verdad. Al ocho personas que se aislaron dentro de una cuarenta por ciento de los adultos estadoun- ocultarles la verdad, los niños suelen fantasear Biosfera durante dos años. idenses reportaron al menos una condición con una situación peor. adversa de salud mental o de comportamiento Christina Koch, una astronauta de 41 años, pasó relacionadas con la pandemia, lo cual incluía E es para “expresar emoción.” Todas las emo- 328 días en la Estación Espacial Internacio- experimentar síntomas de enfermedad mental ciones son válidas. nal [nota del editor: no han pasado tantos días o el abuso de sustancias químicas. Debido a los desde nuestro cierre y podemos salir sin flotar]. El requisitos de distanciamiento social, algunos A es para “reconocer los obstáculos” consejo de Koch fue: “Adáptate y aprovecha al terapeutas de salud mental operan en línea, que le impiden avanzar. Negar o evitar el máximo. Siéntete cómodo con la imprevisibili- pero incluso estos recursos son escasos. Luana reconocimiento de la pérdida puede ser un dad. Reconoce que algo podría salir mal en un Marques, psicóloga clínica del Hospital General obstáculo. horario planificado. de Massachusetts predice una “cuarta ola” de Debes reorganizar y adaptarte. Tu puedes con- la pandemia que provocará un aumento en los trolar cómo reaccionas ante la situación, esto es problemas de salud mental que afectarán de si te dejes llevar por un mal camino mental o manera desproporcionada a las comunidades no. Se creativo en cómo te mantienes relevante marginadas. en la vida de sus seres queridos. Haz cosas que No estamos preparados para afrontar las con- L es para “vivir”. Participa en la vida en lugar te hagan sentir estas ceca de ellos “. secuencias de la salud mental como tampoco de retirarte de ella. Comuníquese con otros Christina “corrió” un maratón de 13.1 millas en estábamos preparados para la presencia física y conéctese en el zoom con amigos u otros su bicicleta estacionaria espacial mientras sus de la pandemia. En un artículo, “La cuarta ola compromisos. Adopta alternativas. Apoya a los amigos corrían al mismo tiempo en el Parque oculta de la pandemia”, Farhad Manjoo cita demás escuchando activamente. No puedes Nacional Glacier. “Establezca expectativas en su al director médico de la Alianza Nacional de resolver sus problemas, pero puedes escuchar mente para errar por el lado de una agradable Enfermedades Mentales: “nos afecta el tener sorpresa, en lugar de una decepción”. David Knoff, con otras 24 personas en la es- tación de Investigación Davis en la Antártida, con una temperatura constante de 19 grados Fahrenheit y cero horas de luz durante algunas semanas de invierno, dijo que uno tenía que “cambiar con el entorno y entrenarse para aprender a sacar lo mejor de una situación difícil.” David aconsejó excavar en busca de moti- vación y resistencia para regresar a salvo con las familias. Una noche, un grupo de pingüinos emperador entraron caminando como patos en las estaciones de investigación y los investigadores pudieron disfrutar de una conexión poco común. Los ocho investigadores confinados en la Biosfera encontraron que el tercer cuarto de su aislamiento fue el más difícil, pero sabiendo que había un final a la vista, pudieron perseverar. Nuestro final a la vista es la administración de la vacuna y el desarrollo de inmunidad al COVID. Lo que se necesita es tomar en serio nuestra salud mental, expresar sentimientos de dolor y pérdida, así como el dolor causado por la soledad y el aislamiento. Recuerde la estrategia HEAL: Honra la pérdida. Expresa emociones. Reconoce los obstáculos ... y vive. Ten en cuenta la lección de un astronauta para adaptarse a la imprevisibilidad; de un investigador de Antárctica para encontrar dentro de ti la motivación para perseverar; y de los par- ticipantes de Biosphere que creían en el final estaba a la vista. Barbara Young es enfermera registrada y se desempeñó como Profesora de Enfermería Psiquiátrica en SPSCC. Ha escrito varios libros incluyendo Viajes a Maya: 14 Días en Yucatán (2013). Otros recursos: Hacer frente a COVID: Podcast de duelo y pér- dida, Kira Mauseth, PhD y Doug Dicharry, MD, Departamento de Salud de WA

This telephone from times past appeared mysteriously on a tree in Priest Point Park in January. Washington Talks, llame en oportunidad, It is there now with a sign inviting anyone to make a call – a call that allows you to connect 1-833-681-0211 with someone not otherwise available, or to speak your mind, even to connect with your own NAMI: Alianza Nacional de Enfermedades emotions…so many people year have lost a loved one or a job or a community of friends or just Mentales Línea de vida para la prevención a sense of certainty about what the future will bring. Visit the Telephone of the Wind to share a del suicidio - 1-800-273-8255 message or speak your feelings freely in the air and without judgment. Photo by Lindsey Dalthorp. Emergencias: 911

February 2021 Works In Progress 7 face water from the neighboring Olympia Coalition for Ecosystems urban areas before it reaches the Preservation. West Bay Woods Puget Sound. This is of heightened importance due to its proximity to Ongoing restoration work in partnership with the community is Once you’ve walked the streets of along West Bay Drive. The woods Budd Inlet, where native salmo- nids, orcas, seals, shore birds and focused on enhancing this impor- your neighborhood more times than is a remnant of shoreline forest tant remnant of the larger historic you can count, there are two trails on habitat for both wildlife and gen- Olympia’s westside where you dis- erations of people to come. cover the magical shelter of the West Bay Woods. The West Bay Woods is a OlyEcosystems is a volunteer- special kind of park, on land pur- run, community-based urban chased to protect and restore habitat conservation and advocacy group for the Pacific Great Blue Heron. It in Olympia, Washington. Their provides a corridor for other wildlife focus is the urban shoreline and within the urban landscape—and a associated watersheds in Olympia,. connection for us humans to a ne- driven by an understanding of the glected side of our nature. intrinsic value of all creatures in our ecosystem. They are united in Within the woods, there are large believing in the value of biodiversity areas that are still forested with and that the community is enriched 100-year-old Douglas-fir trees, West- and defined by a relationship to the ern red cedar, and big-leaf maple wilderness in our midst. This article that provide habitat for Pacific was adapted from their website great blue herons, bald eagles, www.olyecosystems.org cooper’s hawks, owls, falcons and others. Below the tree canopy, many other species of wildlife use the forest, including mountain beaver, coyote, red fox, Northwest salamander, Pacific tree frog, Puget Sound garter snake, and a robust Photos from OlyEcosystems.org The State population of black tailed deer. that sits above the southern estua- hundreds of other marine species Environmental rine portion of Budd Inlet in South live. Policy Act, Puget Sound. These woods have seen various uses over the past 200 Development years that have left them marked, changed and degraded. Agreements and Persistent water quality issues kinds of actions One trailhead is at the end of Hays in Budd Inlet and the long-term Avenue NW. This entrance fea- impacts of the now derelict, post- Development Agreements. tures a rain garden which helps industrial West Bay shoreline have RCW 36.70B.170 says a Develop- drain and filter stormwater before left the woods all but cut off eco- ment Agreement must set forth it enters the marine waters below. logically from Puget Sound—but the “development standards” and The second is where Dickinson not quite. Yet the West Bay Woods provisions that “shall” govern Street dead ends. This accesses are starting to tell a story of resto- and vest the development, use the heronry with the trail is open ration and recovery. and mitigation of a proposed to hikers from September through The diversity of wildlife habitat property. It goes on to say that January. This area is closed during There are wetlands and seasonal along this shoreline area gives a “development standards” include nesting season, which is February streams in the West Bay Woods, in glimpse of what was once here at a list of 10 things. Among the to August each year. addition to the permanent West a much grander scale. The area 10 are c) mitigation measures, Bay Creek. These features, as well is an interconnected and sensi- development conditions and West Bay Woods is the creation of as the steep forested slopes, if OlyEcosystems, a coalition of con- tive network of environments other requirements under RCW cerned citizens formed in 2014 to 43.21C—the State Environmental preserve 3.5 acres of heron nesting These features...provide an extremely valuable stormwater Policy Act; and d) such things ground. Since then the nonprofit as drainage and water quality has acquired another 15 acres of service by filtering polluted surface water from the requirements. Several examples land that weaves around houses, neighboring urban areas before it reaches the Puget Sound. of Development Agreements condominiums and business com- signed by other cities with their plexes above West Bay Drive. developers show up on the that are dependent on each other website of Washington’s Mu- managed appropriately, provide In the works are plans to create for healthy ecological function. nicipal Research Service Center. an extremely valuable stormwater additional entrances to the woods The vast majority of these woods They suggest that Development service by filtering polluted sur- from parcels recently purchased have now been protected by the Agreements are arrived at after an environmental assessment has been conducted.

an otherwise unattainable public and scope—has investigated alter- Project and Non-project Actions. benefit was hollow because it was natives.” (OCEP) Section 197-11 of the Washing- Urban actually in the city’s authority to ton Administrative Code sets require. They point out that SEPA requires the rules for SEPA, including a the environmental impacts of a rule that defines what kinds of village Other concerns involve the way proposal to be analyzed “at the from page 1 things are “actions” under Pathe the West Bay Yards proposal relates earliest possible point in the plan- Environmental Policy Act. There to Olympia’s Shoreline Master don’t make the [environmental] ning and decision-making process, are two kinds of actions: project Program (SMP). The proposal ap- determination willy nilly,” he said. when the principal features of a actions and non-project actions. pears to contradict the SMP goal of “The staff is thorough and fair and proposal and its environmental im- ensuring no net loss of shoreline Briefly, project actions are actions they do a good job.” (The Olym- pacts can be reasonably identified.” ecological function and processes, where an agency (like the City pian, Dec. 8, 2020) The specifics of the West Bay Yard as well as the prohibition against project are well established. of Olympia) is making a decision (Phillips Burgess’s role along with restoration projects creating ad- on any activity that “will directly that of the Thurston Economic ditional upland area—something OCEP has asked for summary modify the environment, wheth- Development Council, the Cham- explicitly intended for the West judgment of their appeal. It will er the activity will be conducted ber of Commerce and the City of Bay Yards development. be heard by Chehalis attorney by the agency, an applicant, or Olympia Planning and Community Mark C. Scheibmeir who occupies under contract.” OCEP’s appeal calls for the Devel- Development Department, is to one of the two positions that the opment Agreement to be replaced Non-project actions are where an advocate for more development. City Council hires (the other is by a public SEPA scoping meeting. City Manager). Depending on the agency is deciding on policies, OCEP’s role in the community is to plans or programs. The WAC advocate for Olympia’s remaining This would initiate the environ- Hearing Examiner’s decision on summary judgement, the outcome specifies what these might be: ecosystems.) mental analysis of the project that adopting amendments to exist- is needed for staff, Counsel and of the appeal might not be known Leaving major environmental until March. Consulted for this ing rules or regulations, etc., community to make an informed adopting or amending com- decisions to a private company decision on how to proceed. article were the appeal filed by Olympians for EcoSystem Pres- prehensive land use plans or OCEP had important objections “Existing environmental analysis zoning ordinances and adopting to the Development Agreement ervation and a description of the of the area is limited and based project by the Thurston Economic a policy, plan or program that itself, including the fact that it on documents that are in some will govern a series of connected relinquished to a private company Development Council among other cases nearly 30 years old. No such documents. actions, and so on. All of these some major decisions about water analysis has contemplated a devel- relate to broad determinations quality, shoreline habitat and opment on the scale proposed for Bethany Weidner has lived in West rather than to decisions on public access that belong to the West Bay Yards. No analysis—typi- Olympia and watched it evolve over projects directly modifying the public. Even the provision in the cally required in an environmental the last 35 years. environment. Agreement that purported to offer review of projects of unusual size

8 Works In Progress February 2021 Struggling towards MLK’s “genuine equality” On the inseparability of race and class Emily Lardner because they are mistreated. And for those Underfunding community colleges harms who will allow their prejudice to cause them students of color, low-income students Towards the end of his life, Dr. Martin Luther to blindly support their oppressor, we’re going Community colleges, which serve dispropor- King Jr. began arguing that racism, poverty, and to have Appalachian whites with us in Wash- tionately large populations of low-income stu- militarism must be addressed as interrelated ington.” dents and students of color as compared with issues, as a package, in order to create a more King was murdered in April 1968. The Poor Peo- four year colleges and universities, are similarly equitable society. Many scholars today claim ple’s March occurred in June, 1968, but without underfunded. In The $78 Billion Community Col- that connecting those issues is what led to his the transformative effect King was aiming for. lege Funding Shortage, published by the Center untimely death. Dr. King himself predicted that However, the organizing work King started with for American Progress in October 2020, Victo- the struggle for “genuine equality” as he called that campaign has since been picked up by the ria Yuen reports on the revenue gap between it, which will require public investments in Reverends William Barber and Liz Theoharris, community colleges and public four-year the billions, would find less support than the co-chairs of the Poor People’s Campaign. In a institutions. In Washington State, the gap is ap- struggle for decency. In an address in Atlanta sign of their political power, members of the proximately $8000 per full time student enroll- on May 10, 1967, less than a year before he was Poor People’s Campaign met with members of ment—$8000 vs. $18,000. Some of that revenue assassinated, King described this “new phase” of the Biden domestic policy team in December. gap is a function of tuition; a substantial chunk, the civil rights struggle: On Thursday, January 21, Dr. Barber gave the however, is because of state and federal policy. “The new phase is a struggle for genuine homily at the 59th Inaugural National Prayer Community colleges also serve a disproportion- equality. It is not merely a struggle for decen- Service, with President Biden in virtual atten- ate number of low-income students. A 2019 cy now, it is not merely a struggle to get rid of dance. report by the Century Foundation found that the brutality of a Bull Connor and a Jim Clark. the majority of students at community colleges It is now a struggle for genuine equality on all come from the bottom half of the socioeco- levels, and this will be a much more difficult “By the millions, people in the other nomic distribution nationally, while just one in struggle. You see, the gains in the first period, America find themselves perishing on five students at the most competitive and highly or the first era of struggle, were obtained from competitive four-year colleges come from that the power structure at bargain rates; it didn’t a lonely island of poverty in the midst same socioeconomic distribution. cost the nation anything to integrate lunch of a vast ocean of material prosperity.” counters. It didn’t cost the nation anything to The persistence of the racial wealth gap integrate hotels and motels. It didn’t cost the nation a penny to guarantee the right to vote. A disproportionate number of those low-income Now we are in a period where it will cost the The deep roots of racial inequity in students are also students of color, illustrating nation billions of dollars to get rid of poverty, public school funding the persistence of this country’s racial wealth to get rid of slums, to make quality integrated In 1967, Dr. King decried the inequitable fund- gap. A Brookings Institute study in 2020 con- education a reality. This is where we are now. ing of public schools. Those economic inequi- cluded that “a close examination of wealth in Now we’re going to lose some friends in this ties, he argued, led to uneven life chances in the U.S. finds evidence of staggering racial “the other America”: disparities. At $171,000, the net worth of a typi- period.” cal white family is nearly ten times greater than “In this other America, thousands, yea, even Multi-racial poverty that of a Black family ($17,150) in 2016. Gaps millions, of young people are forced to attend in wealth between Black and white households King’s strategy for compelling the nation to inadequate, substandard, inferior, quality- reveal the effects of accumulated inequality and spend billions of dollars was to organize a Poor less schools, and year after year thousands discrimination, as well as differences in power People’s March on Washington DC. He envi- of young people in this other America finish and opportunity that can be traced back to this sioned hundreds of thousands of people camp- our high schools reading at an eighth- and a nation’s inception.” ing at the capital, refusing to budge until their ninth-grade level sometimes. Not because they demands had been met. In March 1968, just a are dumb, not because they don’t have innate In both K-12 and in community colleges, we month before he was murdered, King delivered intelligence, but because the schools are so still choose, through our public policy choices, an address to Local 1199 in New York City, a inadequate, so overcrowded, so devoid of qual- to provide less funding for schools and colleges union whose members were mostly African ity, so segregated, if you will, that the best in that serve high populations of students of color Americans, Puerto Ricans, and other people of these minds can never come out. ” and low-income students. At the same time, we color. King explained to that crowd: know that increasing our investments in those Those inequities in educational funding persist. educational institutions changes the outcomes. “I have come to see that it must be a massive A 2019 US News and World Report reported on A study conducted by the Century Foundation movement organizing poor people in this study conducted by researchers at EdBuild that in 2019 reported that “scholars looking at com- country, to demand their rights at the seat of compared funding for poor nonwhite school dis- munity colleges between 1990 and 2013 found government in Washington DC… Now I said tricts to poor white school districts: “on average, that a 10% spending increase boosted awards poor people, too, and by that I mean all poor the poor nonwhite school districts received 11 and certificates by 15%.” people. When we go to Washington, we’re go- percent less funding per student, or $1,500—a ing to have black people because black people finding that (EdBuild researcher) Sibilia says Inslee’s proposed budget pays for are poor, but we’re also going to have Puerto hammers home the deep roots of racial ineq- anti-racism with workers’ wages Ricans because Puerto Ricans are poor in the uity in education funding.” The report calls out Inslee’s proposed budget separates, rather than United States of America. We’re going to have three states with particularly poor records. WA integrates, the need to address racism and eco- Mexican Americans because they are mis- State is one of them. “Poor nonwhite school dis- nomic inequality. On the one hand, his propos- treated. We’re going to have Indian Americans tricts (in Washington State) receive 42 percent, al includes $23 million to advance equity initia- or $8,200, less per student.” tives, including expanding the State Board for Community and Technical College’s Anti-Racist Curriculum Review project. However, to pay for his anti-racist initiatives, Inslee proposes reducing the wages for state workers, cancelling Cartridge the July 1, 2020 general wage increase for some non-represented, non-classified employees and requiring nearly all state workers to furlough— Care Inc take a layoff—one day per month for 24 months. The printer experts since 1990 Inslee justifies this trade-off by appealing to the generosity of state workers: “Just as they did a TONER | FILM | INK JETS decade ago at the height of the Great Recession, state employees are making sacrifices to help Remanufactured and New the state address the budget challenges brought on by the ongoing, pandemic fueled, economic hundreds in stock downturn.” He fails to mention that our state has the most regressive tax system in the na- REPAIR | SERVICE | SALES tion. He fails to notice that many of the workers he proposes to lay off barely make a living wage for as it stands, and many of those workers are printers • fax • copiers • plotters workers of color. Dr. King cautioned us that we will never be able free pick up & delivery to address racism in this society if we don’t si- multaneously address economic inequality. The https://www.cartcareinc.com/ two go hand in hand, further exacerbated by the outsized proportion of our shared resources that 1314 Lebanon St SE, Lacey are allocated for war. We can do better, Dr. King argued, as Dr. Barber will likely preach in the 59th Inaugural Prayer Service. The question is, 360-459-8845 when will we choose to? Emily Lardner lives in Pierce County and writes frequently for Works in Progress.

February 2021 Works In Progress 9 County sit on the native lands Opportunities for engagement PORT REPORT and waters of three recognized The Port of Olympia is moving tribal governments: Squaxin Island, forward in some hopeful ways, Nisqually, and Chehalis Indian from sustainable energy systems to What’s been happening tribes. regional planning processes thanks Ports have the authority to install in part to public participation. dark fiber for broadband service, Vigilance is still required. at the Port of Olympia and we agreed to start planning The Port has adopted a set of core how to address this public need. A values that promote meaningful Broadband Access Team public participation. You can find [Ed note: Olympia Port Commissioner ture to generate green (BAT) with the county, them described and discussed here: EJ Zita provided this review of Port funding. cities and the PUD https://www.iap2.org/general/cus- activities over 2020 with a look ahead would be a good first Other news: Despite tom.asp?page=corevalues to the coming year.] step. concerns I presented, The Port has embarked on Water- Progress: We ended the Port of the Port optioned ap- Vision 2050 prioritizes front development planning—that Olympia’s fracking proppants con- proximately 200 acres environmental sustain- needs input from a wide spectrum tract; installed EV chargers at the of urban forest to a ability and waterfront of the public. Contact Amos@ Farmer’s Market; funded commu- warehouse developer recreation over business TASolympia.com to get on the Wa- nity solar and agriculture initia- and removed house- as usual at the Marine terfront Development email list. tives; and shared warehouse space less campers and their Terminal, yet shipping of with community groups. belongings; approved berthing two logs and cattle continue. Will the It’s especially important to be part big military ships for five years port sell its money-losing crane? of the discussion of the Port’s ac- The Port agreed to improve envi- and declined Tumwater’s invitation tions and their use of resources ronmental practices at the Marine to cooperate on a mitigation site. Strategic planning for the Port, and that rely on tax subsidies. This Terminal, as the consequence of Unfortunately the Port raised taxes master planning for the Airport year, you will be voting for two Port losing a significant lawsuit. We re- again and, within the Commis- and the Marine Terminal, are due Commissioner positions, District 2 newed our commitment to collabo- sion, made accusations against the but delayed. When will this work and District 3. Candidate informa- rate on sea level rise and Capitol minority Commissioner that took proceed, and is strong public en- tion is available at Thurston County Lake/Deschutes Estuary planning. up time and proved false. The gagement a priority? Auditor’s office and the PDC. While we declined an expansion State Auditor’s Office again issued Periodic review of our process for of the Olympia Airport, we are “findings” regarding Port finances, Get on the Port News email list by exploring possibilities for electric ensuring accuracy of public re- contacting JennieF@portolym- and the Port paid millions in legal cords, including minutes and tran- and hybrid aircraft. settlements and related costs. pia.com Access Port meetings scripts is an essential responsibili- at https://www.portolympia. Members of the public can party. Are responses to public records com/89/. Regular Commission ticipate in online Port meetings, Work to do and requests timely and complete? meetings are second and fourth thanks to COVID and to good tech questions to answer Financial measures approved by Mondays at 5:30 (the public is en- staff. Written public comments Will Commissioners approve a the Commission have been given a couraged to speak). Work Sessions were included in Port minutes— Tribal Honor Statement? Many lower priority than other measures. are first and third Mondays at 2:30, (though recently they haven’t been governments have adopted a tribal What is the Port’s commitment to where there is no public comment appearing there...) On a bigger honor statement to acknowledge meaningful financial performance although people may attend. scale, ports across Washington are the past, present, and future of reporting? showing more support for low- native people within their jurisdic- You can email public comments to carbon initiatives this year—partly tion. The boundaries of Thurston this email: CommissionCoordinator@ because they expect the Legisla- portolympia.com. COVID-19 and the Just Desserts Crisis of Racial A thousand crystal droplets of water On the bare branches of dark brown, Capitalism Wink at me as I speed walk my dog. Jagged evergreens push into the horizon K. Sabeel Rahman this fire has been laid by conser- Of rippled sky. vatives and liberals alike with A lone hummingbird comes to feed The escalating COVID-19 pan- the policy choices of the past 40 demic impacts all of us, but for years. This is not just a pandemic In the dead of winter. Black and brown people in par- crisis; it is a crisis rooted in our And I wonder what the true meaning of ticular, the combined health and very system of racial capitalism An eye for an eye. economic devastation is truly ter- and in the oligarchic inequities of rifying. Communities of color have American politics. higher rates of asthma, less access K. Sabeel Rahman is the president How can one pay for the to health care centers, are more likely to live in food deserts, and of Dëmos, a “think and do” tank that Four hundred thousand dead as are among the most vulnerable in supports the movement towards He played golf the face of this virus. The work- a just, inclusive, multiracial democracy. And promised otherwise. ers most on edge in our economy—and most likely to lose their Babies torn from their parents Link to site: https://www.demos. jobs—are predominantly Black org/blog/covid-19-and-crisis-racial- Can never be repaired. and brown. Most Americans lack capitalism My own consciousness of self changes even $400 of savings to call upon in times of crisis, and that lack of From a hammer to a kiss wealth is even more pronounced I don’t believe in the death penalty for Black and brown communities. Not even for 45 Crises reveal deeper realities of power and inequity that have always been present but are often But what are his just desserts? papered over in ordinary times. A lone cell in which he sits The conflagration of economic Never to hear or see his name crisis and ailing communities may have been sparked by the novel Anywhere on the horizon. coronavirus, but the kindling for While the rest of us Forgive EACHOTHER for our sins Greta sails the Ocean. 0 Georgia wins the day. Poetry in motion A single baby elephant is saved. A mob of unknown persuasion Life is a blessing Conducted a statehouse invasion No matter what. Though heavily armed they parted unharmed Toni Lawrence And that’s how you know they’re Caucasian —Unknown.

10 Works In Progress February 2021 areas are already off-limits to deep sea trawler fishing because of documented declines in Deep trouble awaits if we marine diversity. A perilous transformation of the planet pursue seabed mining Along with environmental groups, representatives from the fishing industry are warning of severe risks to ocean fisheries posed by Lee First Vaccuming the seafloor SBM. Additionally, mining in nearshore areas Oceanographer Sylvia Earle likens seabed has the potential to be in direct conflict with We know more about the moon and the surface mining to clear cutting forests. Mining is a recreational activities like beachgoing, whale of Mars than we know about the deep ocean. short-term non-renewable activity. Whether on watching, swimming, paddling and fishing. Yet increasing demand for rare metals and the earth or sea, once the minerals have been SBM could also exacerbate climate change by valuable minerals could bring industrial-scale extracted, the resources and the jobs are gone, releasing carbon stored in deep sea sediments. prospectors to the sea floor before we under- leaving behind a highly damaged landscape. stand the nature of the ocean itself, let alone These are known to be a long-term storage the consequences of ocean mining. As with land mining, impacts of seabed mining system for “blue carbon.” are likely catastrophic. SBM extracts minerals by The combination of these risks presents SBM The insatiable “vacuuming” the sea floor using heavy, high-tech as one of the largest transformations that hu- extractive economy dredging equipment. Dredged material is piped mans might enact on the surface of the planet. Seabed mining (SBM) is an emerging type of to a huge barge on the ocean’s surface, where mining for minerals and rare earth metals on desired materials will be sorted and removed. The campaign to prohibit seabed mining the ocean floor. SBM could help meet human- The unwanted material is discharged back into the water. There is an active campaign to prohibit seabed ity’s insatiable thirst for essential minerals and mining off the coast of Washington before it theoretically power a “greener” economy. A new source of pollution can start. Oregon banned seabed mining 30 years ago; Washington and California should But these mining activities carry a high risk The effluent released by this process—sediment enact their own bans. The campaign includes for marine life and our ocean ecosystems, and and toxic metal plumes—is capable of drifting outreach and educational efforts directed at threaten nearshore waters like the three-mile- for long distances. Sediment plumes from min- non-profit organizations, state agency officials wide band of the Pacific Ocean managed by the ing could upset phytoplankton blooms at the and lawmakers. Several organizations are cir- states of California and Washington. SBM was sea’s surface, introduce toxic metals into marine culating a letter for coastal businesses to sign. banned in Oregon state waters in 1991. food chains, interfere with migratory patterns, For anyone who works for or owns a business and make it difficult for aquatic life to breathe. The ocean, especially the nearshore ocean, in Washington or knows someone who does, It has the potential to stir up sediments, block already faces a mixture of stressors: industrial- the letter can be found at surface sunlight, and destroy aquatic life. ization, climate change, ocean acidification and /Biz-Against-Seabed-Mining-WA other forces which will increasingly challenge our Noise pollution is another consequence of SBM ability to understand and co-exist with a healthy that could change the swimming and schooling Lee First is the Twin Harbors Waterkeeper. More ocean. It is increasingly worrisome that there is behavior of fish, such as tuna. It could cause info here: http://twinharborswaterkeeper.org little left standing between the seabed mining dolphins and whales to strand themselves. Areas Sources consulted appear online at www.olywip. machines and the wonders of the deep ocean. where mining is being pursued represent habitat org for turtles, whales and fish, as well as serving as Threats to Washington’s waypoints for migrating species. Some of these coastal zones Washington’s coastal waters are regulated by the Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR). State waters include the nearshore area from extreme low tide to three miles offshore. In this zone, there are mineral-rich sands, semi- precious and possibly precious minerals (e.g. gold, titanium), phosphorite and heavy mineral placer deposits. Mineral-rich black sand placer deposits lie along the lower Columbia River, Grays Harbor, and coastal areas between Grays Harbor and Cape Flattery. While the annual worldwide production of rare earth metals on land currently stands at around 100,000 tons, the deep seafloor is estimated to contain 15 million tons of rare earth oxides. Potential demand for these minerals may drive proposals for SBM. For example, there are concerns that global phosphorus deposits may eventually be depleted. As fertilizer producers perceive the need for new supplies, they may turn their attention to the phosphorus found in coastal zones on the west coast of the United States, including Washington.

is essential to all of us. We are thrilled to be Bauermeister. “We’ll also offer hands-on tech- Washington’s collaborating to achieve that goal with so many nical assistance to farms and food businesses, committed partners.” to support expansion and gain access to capital. Our organization is very experienced at NABC will serve as the project manager, lever- offering this kind of support and training.” new food aging long-standing relationships with multiple local, state and federal governmental agencies, NABC will create a network of independent nonprofits, lending institutions, colleges and uni- farmer-owned food hub cooperatives. versities, producer-owned cooperatives and more. distribution The project’s final responsibility is to imple- ment a replicable food access model, including focus on USDA-designated food deserts. Food project deserts are generally defined as areas both From news services. The Northwest Agricul- urban and rural where it is difficult to access ture Business Center (NABC), together with a affordable or good-quality food. network of over 30 entities, is devoting the next “We need food hubs, farmers, and food banks all three years to address food system infrastruc- working together to ensure everyone can access ture, food access, and education as the recipient good food including fresh fruits and vegetables.” of a $994,400 grant from the US Department of said Bauermeister. “We intend to look most Agriculture Regional Food System Partnerships closely at our communities facing persistent Program. poverty.” The $1.2 million project will coordinate one Since 2006, NABC improves the economic vi- body of collaborators throughout an eleven- ability of the agriculture industry and provides county region of the Puget Sound, all involved This project starts with a baseline of service business resources and hands-on guidance to with feeding over 4.6 million people. The proj- to nine established producer-owned process- new or existing businesses who offer value- ect launched in October. ing, marketing, and distribution cooperatives. added or innovative agricultural products or “We recognize the Puget Sound region is an ideal NABC will coordinate with over 200 agricultural services. NABC works within these eleven region to develop a cohesive collaboration of ex- producers, currently serving more than 300 su- Washington counties: Grays Harbor, Island, isting agencies and entities,” said NABC Execu- permarkets, institutional food service providers, King, Lewis, Mason, Pierce, San Juan, Skagit, tive Director, David Bauermeister. “Our com- restaurants, and food banks. Snohomish, Thurston and Whatcom. To learn more visit AgBizCenter.org mon goal is to develop a vibrant and sustainable “Developing infrastructure for value-added food system. Local, accessible, high quality food food processing and distribution is key,” said

February 2021 Works In Progress 11 Don’t sell the Sand Point Archives It’s not just a A way to hold the past in your hand real estate deal Washington AG Bob Ferguson Kathleen Byrd has sued the federal government for illegally proceeding The National Archives at Seattle with the sale of the National holds 56,000 cubic feet (1 mil- Archives building in Seattle. lion boxes) of permanent records, The Trump Administration including documents and artifacts speeded up an earlier decision from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, about selling the facility, an- and Alaska. Access to these docu- nouncing that it would award ments and artifacts is particularly the contract to sell the build- important to genealogists, historians, ing to a real estate broker this writers, and others who seek a more intimate understanding of and con- spring. The building’s irre- nection with our region’s past. placeable, un-digitized records are slated to be shipped more The Archive at Seattle holds treaty than a thousand miles away records for 272 federally recognized to archive centers in Kansas Native American Tribes and other City, Missouri and Riverside, unrecognized groups, Chinese Ex- clusion Act Records, and Japanese California. This will effectively Internment Records. These records eliminate public access to the and documents contain intimate records. Twenty-nine federally and tangible details of our region’s recognized tribes, Alaskan trib- history, details that bring to life al entities, and tribal communi- stories of our past that matter to ties from Washington, Oregon, the present and to our future. Idaho and Alaska, as well as For example, information con- nine community organizations, tained at the Seattle National historical preservation societ- Archive was critically important for ies and museums and the state federal recognition of the Klamath of Oregon joined Ferguson’s Tribes in 1986. Few of the docu- lawsuit. The AG website offers ments are digitized, so physical more details about the tangled access is critical for local historians, path of the Trump Administra- writers, genealogists, and tribal tion’s effort to sell the Archives members to access the material. facility along with a taste of For many, being in the physi- what’s in the Archives: https:// cal presence of documents and www.atg.wa.gov/news/news artifacts is an important part of the research process. There’s an emotional charge in finding a hand- Photos from Sand Point Archives: written document, a photograph, top, Metlakahtla children; center, or a record that offers insight into Iditarod winner; bottom, Sand the past you are attempting to Point Archives building. These and assemble, a past that suddenly other photos are posted in the surges into the present moment. AG’s press release about the suit. It’s as if the document or material item possesses the energy of the original moment — it’s an experience of the past collapsing into the present, and the present meeting the past, an immediate sensation of connection. The National Archives in Seattle is currently closed due to COVID–19, and this means a temporary loss of touch and intimacy for those seek- ing knowledge from the past. But the threat of permanent loss looms with the plan to sell the Seattle Archives property and move all of the records. Moving these regional documents to far away parts of the country is beyond an inconvenience; it is a form of displacement; a way of detaching and distancing something that forms a part of this place. This is underscored by the list of tribes who are parties to AG Ferguson’s 2021 lawsuit to prevent the sale and closure of the Seattle facility. To honor the treaties, to understand the depth and rich- ness of our shared past, we need to honor these tribal members› access to the treaties and other historical records that belong to them.

Confederated Tribes of the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe Squaxin Island Tribe Chehalis Reservation Nez Perce Tribe Suquamish Tribe Confederated Tribes of the Coos, NookSack Indian Tribe Swinomish Indian Tribal Commu- Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indi- nity ans Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe Tanana Chiefs Conference Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe Puyallup Tribe of Indians of Indians Quileute Tribe of the Quileute Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska Duwamish Tribe Reservation Upper Skagit Indian Tribe Confederated Tribes of the Grand Samish Indian Nation Ronde Community of Oregon Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indi- Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation Hoh Indian Tribe ans Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe Skokomish Indian Tribe Kathleen Byrd teaches English and Kalispell Tribe of Indians Snoqualmie Indian Tribe poetry at SPSCC and is currently researching links between ancestry, Spokane Tribe of Indians The Klamath Tribes place, and belonging.

12 Works In Progress February 2021 Biden ends discriminatory policies affecting travelers, immigrants and refugees report of how many of the people signed a Presidential Memoran- Department of Homeland WIP contributors in the US have citizenship. The dum to extend DED for Liberi- Administration hoped that exclud- ans until June 30, 2022, including Security Memorandum Pausing President Trump and his advisors ing non-citizens would mean that extension of work authorization, Certain Deportations for 100 used their power to stop people Democratic majority states like and directed DHS to ensure Days from majority Muslim and other California might lose Congressional that USCIS facilitates ease of disfavored countries from enter- seats. application and timely adjudi- • DHS issued a memorandum calling the US, and to get rid of people cation for Liberians applying ing for a 100-day pause on from those and other countries All that changed on January 21, with for residency under the Libe- certain removals pending a who already lived here. Trump’s a stroke of President Biden’s pen: rian Refugee Immigration Fair- comprehensive review of en- “travel ban” first prohibited people Policy change: President Biden ness (LRIF) Act. forcement and removal policies. from six countries from coming signed a Proclamation revoking • Certain individuals are excluded here and then was extended to the Travel Ban, including the “Ex- Department of Homeland from the deportation morato- exclude people from another six, panded Travel Ban” that added four Security Statement on Migrant rium, including individuals including Venezuela. He turned new countries to the list in 2020. It Protection Protocols (MPP) engaged in or suspected of immigration and asylum practices terrorism, individuals with an instructs the State Department to DHS issued a brief state- into tools to punish people who “aggravated felony,” and indi- restart visa processing for affected ment indicating that as of sought refuge. viduals attempting to cross the countries. It further directs the January 21, 2021: The Trump Administration at- Secretary of State to, within 45 days, border after January 20. tempted to purge the United provide a plan to expeditiously ad- • No new MPP cases will be • The memo rescinds several en- States of people who had lived in judicate pending travel ban waivers, started forcement policies of the prior this country for years but weren’t and to provide a proposal for how • People who are already in Administration, including sev- born here by deporting hundreds individuals whose immigrant visa MPP should wait for further in- eral broad memoranda issued of thousands of people. It didn’t applications had previously been formation from the US govern- in 2017 that implemented that matter if you had lived decades in rejected under the Travel Ban could ment Administration’s hardline ap- the country. He ruined lives and have their applications reconsid- • COVID-19 travel restrictions at proach. It also rescinds the June disrupted communities. ered. the border are still in place, in- 28, 2018 USCIS Guidance on cluding Title 42, under which Issuing NTAs, and indicates that Trump tried hard to end DACA, the Preserving and Fortifying migrants may be immediately USCIS should revert to preexist- program allowing people who had Deferred Action for Childhood expelled from the border. ing guidance issued by USCIS been brought to the US as young Arrivals (DACA) regarding NTAs on November 7, children by their parents to remain Executive Order on the 2011. in the country without fear of Policy change: President Biden Revision of Civil Immigration persecution. His repeated efforts to signed a Presidential Memoran- Enforcement Policies and Executive Order dum directing the Secretary of curtail and eliminate the program Priorities Reversing President Trump’s were hampered by court rulings, Homeland Security, in consultation Executive Order Excluding Policy change: but they represented a sword hang- with the Attorney General, to take President Biden Undocumented Immigrants signed an Executive Order revoking over the head of thousands. all appropriate actions under the from the Census law to preserve and fortify DACA. ing Trump Executive Order that Trump even tried to turn the US directed harsh and extreme immi- Census from a Constitutionally re- Deferred Enforced Departure gration enforcement policies, and Nice work, Joe! quired report of how many people (DED) for Liberians calling for revised enforcement live in the United States into a Policy change: President Biden priorities.

free press, through the corporate and “treasonous.” Following polar- takeover of the media and on to ization, the subversion of the main- BOOK REVIEW the digital age. The authors paint a stream media in favor of Twitter clear picture by understanding the and Breitbart further contributed United States of Distraction: forces behind media outlets and to Trump’s platform. Trump’s abil- Media Manipulation in Post-Truth America (And What the money fueling them, coupled ity to share his messages directly with the corporate manipulation to his followers partially enabled We Can Do About It), by Nolan Higdon and Mickey Huff of the American education system. his misdirection of the masses and This context helps provide under- obfuscation of the ongoing theft of Ilana Smith standing of those hoodwinked by civil protections. a polished celebrity in the “post- truth era”. For those who are struggling to This book is an essential read understand why friends or family for those who are confused by After the dismantling of the social members have ardently supported Trump’s rise to political power and protections in the 1934 Communi- his rhetoric in blindly combative by the complacency of many in cations Act and the 1949 Fairness ways, this book provides a cathar- the nation even when confronted Doctrine, the media was primed tic opportunity to reevaluate the with his bad behavior and poli- to receive this showman candi- process of their indoctrination and cies. The authors of United States of date. Corporate America pounced possibly provide a path to healing. Distraction help us understand why on the opportunities abound- United States of Distraction so many people are taking up arms ing from the waning attention flows in and spreading the rhetoric of this span of the digitally immersed an easy-to-read, hard-to-put-down master manipulator. By examining populous. This book explores how manner, with intellectual nuggets the messaging and programming corporate-owned media profited dispersed throughout. As they that led Trump’s followers to sup- from Trump’s “audience-amassing close, the authors leave the reader port him so reverently, Dr. Nolan power” and in return gave him an with a guide for free resources in Higdon and Mickey Huff take the ever-growing platform to market areas including critical media liter- reader on a journey to explore the himself. acy and civic engagement. Overall, causes and effects of sensational- a timely and insightful read. istic journalism and its role in the The polarization of America was current climate of our country. influenced by the introduction Ilana Smith submitted this review of “alternative facts” and catch as part of WIP’s new grant for Both Higdon and Huff are from the phrases like “fake news” and the reviews of selected books. See the San Francisco Bay Area. Higdon Era. This unfettered timeline detrimental labeling of those who instructions on Page 2. lectures in history and media stud- springs from journalism within the questioned him as “un-American” ies at California State University and is on the board of the Media Freedom Foundation. Huff is co- chair of the history department at Diablo Valley College and is a lecturer in communications at California State University. Among other roles, he serves as director of Project Censored, an American media watchdog organization that encourages students to see the importance of a truly free press. Starting with the founding doc- trines of our nation, the authors  take the reader up to the Trump 89.3 FM KAOSRADIO.ORG

February 2021 Works In Progress 13 their friends across the aisle.) They have done these things forever, in What we already know about the shadows, and over the past few years they have had the chance to do them more openly. These are not the actions of a fringe group, the idea of “healing” but of the ruling party in the most powerful nation on earth. This is Hamilton Nolan what it wants as long as you give power. This, too, is a natur al part who we are. working people enough to live,” of human nature, a driving force World histo ry books are not sto and the right-most side of policy of history. Dangerous leaders are I don’t think a good person can be ries of peace. They are stories of consensus has been, “Capital can always carried along on the shoul president. Or if he’s good when he war, jealousy and murder on a do what it wants,” and we have ders of cowards who have been takes the job, he won’t be by the grand scale, stretching back thou settled in the middle of those two waiting for a chance to show their time it’s over. He may be better sands of years. They are stories of positions. Global capitalism, the true face to the world while ob- than the other guy, but that’s all. empires that rise violent ly, taste actual system of government that scured in the midst of a mob. The There are too many bad things momentary glory, and are then de- we all live under, has its own logic, answer to the timeless question that will be done on his behalf. stroyed — either by the rot of their and is happy to arrange the affairs “Who Goes Nazi?” is always: More Too many fatal compro mis es are own corruption, or by the rage of of American by itself, according to people than you would think. necessary to get there in the first those they stole from. The times its own needs. It is a steamroller place. Bad men have always had an We already knew, before the votes of prosperity and stability are just inexorably creeping forward, and advantage in jobs like that. They had been counted, that the Repub passing interregnums between our elected government occasion are less tortured by what they lican Party does not believe in cycles of power struggles driven by ally erects little barriers that may know, less troubled by the lies they democracy. It does not want every human nature. When we find our slow it down briefly, but which tell, more at peace with the cut one to vote. In fact, it is commit ted selves faced with uncertain ty, it’s tend to be no match for its momen- throat necessities of maintaining to systematically disenfranchis useful to stop and think about the tum. power. ing as many people as necessary things that we already know. Donald Trump himself is not inter in order to win elections. This is For the past four years, I’ve been We know that for the past 40 years, esting. Once you understand that not an extraordinary occurrence, thinking about what Trump’s rise inequality in America has been he is driven by just a few base but instead a bedrock feature of to power tells us about ourselves. growing. Our nation has gotten impulses — narcissism, aggressive party strate gy that is vital to their And you know what? I don’t think wealthier and wealthier, and all of ignorance, and fear — his outrages success. We already know that it tells us anything that we didn’t that wealth has gone to people who become dreary and repetitive. His in pursuit of electoral power, the already know. We feel like we are were already rich, while wages value to the public has been as bait most respectable mainstream in a crisis because this president, for regular people stagnated. We to attract the rats. The Trump era Republican officials will lie, create in particular, refused to offer us the enjoyed a period of lower inequal is interesting for what it has shown bald propa ganda, cater to racists, soothing appearance of normalcy ity for decades after World War II, about a large class of people who villainize powerless immigrants, that allows us to forget how the but right around the time Ronald were once consid ered to be re- unleash state violence on protest American pie is made. He delight- Reagan took office, the rich began spectable by the standards of main ers, and lock millions of people in ed in dragging the ugly parts out taking more and more. They took stream discourse. In many, many jail. (Democrats have their own of the shadows and flaunting them. even more wealth under the first cases, respectability is just an inch flaws, but the simple fact that they But he didn’t invent them. They President Bush, and even more of makeup covering a bottomless are the opposi tion party has kept were always there, politely ignored under Clinton, and even more will to debase yourself and harm them away from pursuing the by the rest of us. Now they’re all under the second President Bush, others in return for proximity to worst of these abuses as lustily as being waved around in public, and and even more under Obama. And it freaks us out. The appearance of even more under Trump. In this insanity has profoundly shaken us. sense, we have experienced great But not the substance of the insan continuity. We already know this. ity itself. That’s been there forever. We just need a new smiling face to Though American politics often make us forget it. Our little slice of has the appearance of being a world history only seems extraordi vocifer ous argument, the fact is nary because it hasn’t ended yet. that the disagreements of our leaders are much less signi ficant This is reprinted from In These than the consensus that they have Times, a 501(c)3 nonprofit publica all agreed upon. For more or less tion, that does not oppose or endorse the entire past half centu ry, the candidates for political office. military has gotten stronger, labor unions have gotten weaker, the stock market has gone up, and big business has gotten bigger than ever before. Trillion-dollar com panies are no longer remarkable, which is remarkable. The power in this country belongs to capital. The government belongs to capital. Political parties belong to capital, though they disagree on various social issues, like siblings who claim to be differ ent because they wear different colored shirts. Among the people who actually wield power in this country, the left-most side of the policy consen sus has long been, “Capital can do

New Traditions Thurston County Food Bank Fair Trade Food Distribution at the Downtown, Client Service Center. Café & World Folk Arts Regular distribution 11:00 am – 3:00 pm Mon, Wed, Fri real good food always All food is prepacked and distributed through either the Drive-Up or Walk-Up distribution model. Follow the signs for the vehicle line—please stay in your car— Café closed until and friendly staff and volunteers will bring your food out and spring, but... load it into your vehicle. If you are on foot, line up along the Thurston Ave wall where Check our website for there are marked spots to help with safe, social distancing. store hours and Your food will be brought out to you once you check in. come see us! Office & donation hours 8:00 am – 4:30 pm Monday through Friday 233 Division St NW For more information go to our website: newtraditionsfairtrade.com https://thurstoncountyfoodbank.org/80-2/grocery-distribution/ (360) 943-8044 300 5th Avenue SW, Working to end hunger in our community Wildwood Olympia 360.705.2819 220 Thurston Ave. NE • downtown Olympia WA (360) 688-1234

14 Works In Progress February 2021 Community Spotlight

YOUR PHONE: a new Just Housing Workshops Creative Writing: Fiction tool to help stop the & Nonfiction – Olivia If you, your group, or your organization are spread of COVID-19. interested in hosting a Just Housing workshop, Archibald & Jim Lynch please let us know! The best way to tell use is to fill out this form: https://bit.ly/2KI8I7p. WA Notify is an anonymous exposure notifica- February 5 – March 12, 2:00 – 4:30 pm, Senior tion tool recommended by the Washington State Introduction to homelessness and encamp- Services for South Sound Department of Health to help stop the spread ments. Participants in this workshop can expect of COVID-19. WA Notify can alert you if you’ve to learn basic information about homelessness, Practice writing narratives under the direc- been near another user who later tests positive social services, and encampments in Thurston tion of two masters of the craft. Activities will for COVID. It is private, anonymous and free. County. The workshop will also focus on poli- include brief discussions, writing practice, and Models based on three counties in Washington cies, practices, and issues related to encamp- small group critique in a nurturing environ- state show that even a small number of people ments in our community. Further, folks will ment. The class encourages writers to consider using WA Notify would reduce infections and learn more about Just Housing– who we are, their own real and imagined life experiences as deaths.The more people who use WA Notify, what we advocate for and why, and how you valuable storytelling material, especially when the more effective it will be. As of January 21, can get involved. Q & A is a significant part of salted with craft and emotional resonance. (‘Tis nearly 1.71 users had signed up. For more infor- this workshop. the writer’s journey.) General Public/Members: $128/$120 Six Sessions *Limited to 15 students mation on how to join, visit WANotify.org. Moving beyond sweeps In this workshop, participants will learn about, discuss, and explore: “Glen’s Parallax Perspectives” TESC Art Lecture Series • What “sweeps” are and how they are carried out in Thurston County presents Gilda Sheppard and • Why sweeps don’t work The February 2021 TV interview with Joanne Simone Nicole Savannah • How the forcible removals of houseless camps Dufour will cover a powerful worldwide cam- impact all of us paign that is making progress toward abolishing • Olympia’s history with encampments & nuclear weapons. Joanne has a long background These presentations offer an opportunity for sweeps in the peace movement, including experience the broader community and the college to ex- • Just and effective alternatives to sweeps, in- volunteering with the United Nations in New plore areas of inquiry and creative production cluding Shelter-in-Place York. Like Glen she is an active member of the through a lively exchange of ideas among speak- Olympia Coalition to Abolish Nuclear Weap- ers, students, faculty and members of the public. ons. This episode of Parallax Perspectives will Lectures will take place every other Wed from MAP - Mutual Aid Partners - explain the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear 11:00 am via Zoom, beginning January 13. All Weapons which went into effect this January. events are free and open to the public. Feb. 20: Laundry fairies and do-ers For more details, read the article in this issue “A Gilda Sheppard, Evergreen Tacoma faculty and 70-year nuclear gloom begins to lift.” The inter- filmmaker, speaking on incarceration and edu- view airs on cable channel 22 of Thurston Com- cation Feb. 24: Simone Nicole Savannah, writer MAP volunteers munity Media (www.tcmedia.org) at 1:30 pm and poet, speaking on sexuality, black feminist provide essen- Mondays, 5:00 pm Wednesdays, 9:00 pm Thurs- criticism. For more information and Zoom links tial services to days. Watch the interview and get a summary visit http://blogs.evergreen.edu/artistlectureseries/ people living of the program plus more information at www. unsheltered in parallaxperspectives.org in the “TV Programs” the local com- and “Nuclear Weapons” categories. Questions? munity. Contact Glen Anderson, producer/host at (360) The Commons 491-9093 [email protected] One of the biggest needs The Commons is a documentary film about of any encamp- communities re-asserting sustainable futures ment is the Laundry Services using consensus, equity and shared resources – availability of ancient Commons principles. The film explores dry and clean Laundry Services are the increasing privatization and destruction of clothes. Volunteers pick up laundry (Laundry commons, primarily in the United States, and integral to supporting the Fairies) and take them to volunteers to do the health and well-being of shows how many activists are re-taking com- laundry (Laundry Do-ers). The Fairies then mons, re-establishing communities controlling those living unsheltered pick up the clean laundry up and redistribute it in our community. Our their own commons: maker spaces, land trusts, to people in camps. Each Fairy has designated cooperatives, local food production and distribu- Laundry Fairies pick up people and coordinates with Do-ers for location dirty laundry from camp tion, shared housing, free education, communi- and time for dropping off and picking up. ty centers – all as Commoners stewarding what residents and take them they share. The film is screening on Vimeo. OlyMAP can helps make these connections to our Laundry Do-ers, Contact - [email protected]. and provides a structure to help complete this then pick up the clean weekly task. If you’re interested, check their clothes and bring them back to their owners. website at olymap.org or OlyMAP at admin@ OlyMAP provides orientation for volunteers and olymap.org. facilitates connections between volunteers and Garden raised bounty encampment residents in need of this service. volunteer kickoff CIELO and hangout WEST CENTRAL PARK Since 1996, CIELO has served as a community GROUND BREAKING NEWS Feb. 17, 6-8 pm..In March, GRuB intends to be hub, providing hope to immigrants in Thurston, open to individuals and households for outside Lewis and Mason counties. They educate, em- volunteering, so if you want to get GRuBby as a power, and connect people with the resources January 10, 2021 - The fencing is up, and we’re volunteer, come join our Volunteer Kickoff and they need to create better lives for themselves waiting for construction to start. So excited Hangout via Zoom on Feb 17 from 6-7p. We will and achieve their dreams. These resources about having this new addition in our neighbor- do a GRuB checkin and game (online style!), include: education, counseling services, crime hood! share updates and hear what you’ve been up to. victim advocacy, Desde 1996, CIELO ha es- Construction is scheduled to begin soon on a goodgrub.org tado brindando esperanza a inmigrantes en los new open-air canopy planned to house potential condados de Thurston, Lewis y Mason. Aquí summer markets hosted by the park, as well as educamos, empoderamos, y conectamos a las sheltering al fresco diners during the fall and personas con los recursos que necesitan para winter. The project is the result of a collabora- Subscribe to mejorar sus vidas y lograr sus sueños. During tion with our neighbor, The Park Side Café, and the COVID-19 pandemic CIELO’s team has not will be situated on the east side of the Park’s moved out of our offices, we have moved in to gravel event area. Works in Progress the community. Durante la pandemia de CO- VID-19, el equipo de CIELO no se ha mudado In keeping with our mission to maintain a walk- Support local journalism! de nuestras oficinas, nos hemos mudado a la able neighborhood and a resilient, connected comunidad. Contact us to learn more about our community, we believe the new canopy will $35 / year. Doorstep delivery. remote services. Contactanos para saber mas beautify our space and support some ideas we de nuestros servicios en forma remota. www. have in mind for next year. We are grateful for cieloprograms.org the partnership with The Parkside Café and Olywip.org other neighboring businesses, and for support Checks to: Works in Progress from all of you out there in the community. PO Box 295, Oly WA 98507 Stay tuned for updates.

February 2021 Works In Progress 15 February 2021 Works In Progress 15 Free, take one! ¡Gratis, toma uno! When day comes, we ask ourselves, where can we find light in this never-ending shade? The loss we carry. A sea we must wade. We braved the belly of the beast. We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace, and the norms and notions of what “just” is isn’t always justice. And yet the dawn is ours before we knew it. Somehow we do it. Works in Progress Somehow we weathered and witnessed a nation that isn’t broken, but simply unfinished. We, the successors of a country and a time where a skinny Black girl descended from slaves and raised by a single mother can dream of becoming president, only to find herself reciting for one. Advocating for social justice since 1990 And, yes, we are far from polished, far from pristine, but that doesn’t mean we are striving to form a union that is perfect. We are striving to forge our union with purpose. To compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters and conditions of man. And so we lift our gaze, not to what stands between us, but what stands before us. We close the divide because we know to put our future first, we must first put our differences aside. We lay down our arms so we can reach out our arms to one another. We seek harm to none and harmony for all. Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true. That even as we grieved, we grew. That even as we hurt, we hoped. That even as we tired, we tried. That we’ll forever be tied together, victorious. Not because we will never again know defeat, but because we will never again sow division. Scripture tells us to envision that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid. If we’re to live up to our own time, then victory won’t lie in the blade, but in all the bridges we’ve made. That is the promise to glade, the hill we climb, if only we dare. It’s because being American is more than a pride we inherit. It’s the past we step into and how we repair it. We’ve seen a force that would shatter our nation, rather than share it. Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy. And this effort very nearly succeeded. But while democracy can be periodically delayed, it can never be permanently defeated. In this truth, in this faith we trust, for while we have our eyes on the future, history has its eyes on us. This is the era of just redemption. We feared at its inception. We did not feel prepared to be the heirs of such a terrifying hour. But within it we found the power to author a new chapter, to offer hope and laughter to ourselves. So, while once we asked, how could we possibly prevail over catastrophe, now we assert, how could catastrophe possibly prevail over us? We will not march back to what was, but move to what shall be: a country that is bruised but whole, benevolent but bold, fierce and free. We will not be turned around or interrupted by intimidation because we know our inaction and inertia will be the inheritance of the next generation, become the future. Our blunders become their burdens. But one thing is certain. If we merge mercy with might, and might with right, then love becomes our legacy and change our children’s birthright. So let us leave behind a country better than the one we were left. Every breath from my bronze-pounded chest, we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one. We will rise from the golden hills of the West. We will rise from the windswept Northeast where our forefathers first realized revolution. We will rise from the lake-rimmed cities of the Midwestern states. We will rise from the sun-baked South. We will rebuild, reconcile, and recover. And every known nook of our nation and every corner called our country, our people diverse and beautiful, will emerge battered and beautiful. When day comes, we step out of the shade of flame and unafraid. The new dawn balloons as we free it. For there is always light, if only we’re brave enough to see it. If only we’re brave enough to be it. This issue: The First Amendment

The Hill We Climb inaugural poem by Amanda Gorman, 2021 Volume 31 February 2021 Issue No. 6