REALCHANGE June 3 – 9, 2020 $2 CASHorVENMO JUNE 3 – 9, 2020 n VOLUME 27 NUMBER 23 n REALCHANGENEWS.ORG YOUR VENDOR BUYS THIS PAPER FOR 60¢ AND KEEPS ALL THE PROCEEDS. PLEASE PURCHASE FROM VENDORS WITH LAVENDER 2020 BADGES. $100,000 SPECIAL REPORT: SEATTLE GRIEVES $90,000 $80,000 $70,000 $60,000 $67,275.50 MARCHING FOR $50,000 $40,000 $30,000 WHAT MATTERS COVERAGE OF THE PROTESTS AGAINST POLICE VIOLENCE, p. 5 $20,000 $10,000 SPRING FUND DRIVE See page 10 A DRIVE TO COLLECT SIGNATURES For grassroots organizations, getting the Tax Amazon initiative on the ballot during the pandemic is tough, p.3 RESPONDING TO THE RESPONSE Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best’s statement about George Floyd gets some feedback, p.4 AMERICAN EPIDEMIC BOOK REVIEW: Even before the pandemic, our poor and working-class adults had been facing an epidemic of premature death, p.8 REALCHANGE REALCHANGE 2 OPINION June 3 – 9, 2020 June 3 – 9, 2020 NEWS 3 ‘I can’t breathe’ 6 years later — and the Real Change exists to provide opportunity and a voice for low-income and homeless fight against police violence rages on people while taking action for economic, REPORTER’S social and racial justice. By NGA BUI No amount of “sensitivity” protection of the bigoted status quo. Look NOTEBOOK Real Change offices Contributing Writer at how social distancing is being enforced 219 First Ave. S., Suite 220 training or bodycam tech all across the country. Cops are brutal- Seattle, WA 98104 ynching never actually went away. izing Black communities for not wearing Justice must 206.441.3247, www.realchangenews.org The powers that be have enshrined will change the racist DNA masks, while also handing out masks to be served it into state power. whites in wealthier areas who are doing BOARD OF DIRECTORS L Yolanda Altamirano (President), Malou Chávez, Just in the last four months, George underpinning the police. the same. With the devaluing of Black lives fficer Derek Chauvin of the Min- Shelly Cohen, Matthew Hayashi, Floyd, Sean Reed, Breonna Taylor, Ah- and the super-exploitation of Black labor, neapolis Police Department has Hannah Hunthausen, Pamela Kliment, Getting rid of a few bad apples Jim Lauinger, Maria Elena Ramirez, Mary Riski maud Arbery and Tony McDade were it’s no surprise that African Americans O been charged with third-degree executed by cops — their only “crime” are among the hardest hit by many health murder and manslaughter in the death of EDITORIAL STAFF being that they were Black in the U.S. in will do nothing because the problems, including COVID-19. Immigrants, George Floyd, a Black man whose death Staff Reporter Ashley Archibald Editor Lee Nacozy 2020. Floyd cried out, “I can’t breathe,” Latinx and Indigenous peoples are right at Chauvin’s hands incited days of protest Features Reporter Kamna Shastri as three Minneapolis cops barbarically entire damn root system of the alongside them. in Minneapolis. Art Director Jon Williams held him down — the deadly knee on his A witness took a 10-minute video of orchard is rotten. REAL CHANGE STAFF neck came from Derek Chauvin, a white Unite for real police accountability Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck as the Circulation Specialist Wes Browning cop. Bystanders were prevented from The four cops involved in Floyd’s man cried out, telling the officer he could Organizer Evelyn Chow intervening by a fourth cop and, instead, white supremacy has been used to delude killing have been fired, but they and all not breathe before he went limp. Officers Volunteer Manager Katie Comboy Managing Director Shelley Dooley were powerless witnesses to Floyd’s last working-class whites into thinking their cops who have senselessly killed people responded to the scene on a report of forg- Communications and Development breaths. interests lie with wealthy whites instead must be prosecuted and convicted. We ery, which is not a capital crime. Associate Alexis Estrada Taylor, an Emergency Medical Techni- of their own class brothers and sisters of demand financial restitution for all Photo by Ashley Archibald Rage over Floyd’s death, which oc- Founding Director Timothy Harris Field Organizer Neal Lampi cian, was killed in a botched search war- color. Some people of color erroneously families reeling from police murders. Emily MacArthur guides volunteer Dave Ellenwood through the process of the contactless signature-gathering effort called Amazon Tax curred the night of Monday, May 25, Vendor Program Manager Rebecca Marriott rant raid. Black women die at the hands misplace their allegiances with the op- Grassroots organizing in New York City Prime. The goal is to collect 22,000 signatures so the initiative can be presented to voters in November. sparked protest in Minneapolis Tuesday Lead Organizer Tiffani McCoy Vendor Case Manager Ainsley Meyer of police and are sexually harassed and pressors. The cop keeping bystanders is gaining traction in the fight for po- that picked up over the weekend in U.S. Office Manager Ari Shirazi assaulted in devastating numbers by cops. away during Floyd’s murder is an Asian lice accountability through an Elected metropolises. Development Director Camilla Walter Trans and queer people of color, such as American, and there have been other cops Civilian Review Board, and other cities Prime organizing is on the move Thursday night, protesters set fire Tony McDade, are also common targets. of color connected to killings of Black should take up that fight. Take from the to the precinct building where Chauvin VOLUNTEERS Editorial Committee Susan Storer Clark, It’s been six years since Eric Garner people across the country. bloated police budget and invest in areas worked with the three other officers Laura Ditsch, Willie Jones, James Jenkins, Dagmar said “I can’t breathe,” and it’s clear that No amount of “sensitivity” training or that will actually protect and serve the who stood by him as Floyd died, and Matheny, Paige Owens, Tiron Rowe to send ‘Amazon tax’ to voters none of the cops then or now believed they bodycam tech will change the racist DNA people: education, housing, healthcare to some commercial businesses and Contributing Writers Rabbi Olivier BenHaim, would be held accountable. underpinning the police. Getting rid of a and public jobs programs. Capitalism and By ASHLEY ARCHIBALD cause the political establishment will not Seattle must be. They were ready to move one affordable housing project under Hanna Brooks Olsen, Wes Browning, John Helmiere, Michelle Galluzzo, Dave Gamrath, few bad apples will do nothing because the police go hand in hand and we can Staff Reporter lift a finger,” Councilmember Kshama the outfit under the eave of the church, in construction. Kelly Knickerbocker, Joe Martin, Patrick “Mac” Cops serve the wealthy the entire damn root system of the orchard only fight for real accountability through Sawant told supporters on a May 16 Zoom case of rain. All four officers at the scene were fired McIntyre, Jill Mullins, Oscar Rosales Castaneda, Susan Storer Clark, Megan Wildhood, Mike Wold Since their origins in Southern slave is rotten. There will be no end to police multi-racial working-class solidarity. n ev. Angela Ying and Emily Ma- video call. “I checked the weather and I’m like, within days of Floyd’s death. Protests con- patrols, the police have always been in violence until we get rid of capitalism. cArthur stood, appropriately The next week, stations like the one come on, God,” Ying said. tinued unabated. The killings of Ahmaud Photographers and Artists Alex Bergstrom, the service of capitalism and white su- But the fight starts in the here and now. Nga Bui is writing on behalf of the Na- distanced, on a gravel turnout MacArthur and Ying helmed popped up While the volunteers canvassed, Ying Arbery, a Black man who was jogging in Matthew S. Browning, Sam Day, Natalie Dupille, R Jeffrey Few, Valerie Franc, Susan Fried, Seth premacy. We don’t even have to look to police tional Comrades of Color Caucus of Radi- in front of the Bethany United Church of in Council Districts 2 and 3 to begin the worked to get signatures of her own. She Georgia, and Breonna Taylor, an EMT who Goodkind, Derek Gundy, Lisa Hagen Glynn, Lara Ever since then, the corrosive power of murders for examples of the cops’ blatant cal Women & Freedom Socialist Party. Christ, waiting for their first volunteer. hunt for signatures. waved at passing cars and busses, invited died in her bed when police mistakenly Kaminoff, Ted Mase, Dave Parish, Joseph Romain, Wes Sauer, Katie Wheeler Ying stood behind a card table with The strategy sounds straightforward. pedestrians to come learn about the move- invaded the wrong house in Kentucky, rows of medical masks, disposable Volunteers come to a station and may ment and passed out protective gear to were still fresh. Copy Editors Pamela Bradburn, Mason Duke, Merry Nye, Morgan Wegner gloves and small, reusable bottles filled acquire personal protective equipment, whoever would take it. The three Black people, all of whom DIRECTOR’S CORNER | Timothy Harris, founding director with hand sanitizer that MacArthur had like masks and gloves. Then, they move to “How are you!” she called out, explain- were conducting peaceful activities at the Real Change Volunteers Yolanda Altamirano, hat do the 1968 Chicago po- member Lisa Herbold Meanwhile, a database maintained by sourced on multiple trips to big box stores. a second table where a stack of envelopes ing that she wanted to tax Amazon, but time of their deaths, exemplified a sys- Cathie Andersen, Carla Blaschka, Maridee Bonadea, Pamela Bradburn, Chris Burnside, lice riot, the 1988 Tompkins revealed that, while the Washington Post reveals that 59 per- For her part, MacArthur prepped stacks containing petitions are waiting, along she needed their help.