Our Demands

We are fighting for a community and country where all Black Life matters.

Where the physical and mental health of Black people is a priority.
Where Black people have the same expectation of safety that others have.
Where Black people are not subjected to extrajudicial punishment.
Where Black children are supported in education and work.
And where Black culture is honored and celebrated.

Our Demands

Declare racism a public health crisis in Washington state. We demand that crisis be addressed through seismic change in policing, community wellness, justice, youth justice, and education. 

Defund police. Defund. Demilitarize. Deescalate.

We demand a minimum $100M defunding of the Seattle Police Department. We call for:

  • A shift of funding from police budgets into community services and community capital, resulting in a smaller force and more civilian jobs. 
  • Removal of military equipment from SPD and a refusal to purchase or accept military equipment in the future.
  • A renegotiated contract with Seattle Police Officers Guild that emphasizes  community oversight and accountability for officers, regardless of seniority.
  • A community-selected director of the Office of Police Accountability by 2021.
  • An independent body to investigate all allegations of misconduct and police brutality, not only those that result in death.
  • De-escalation training for individual officers and specialized teams.
  • Dedicated city, county, and state resources to address hate and bias crimes, especially against LGBTQ+ and BIPOC residents. 
  • An end to cash bail. 
  • Release of those in Seattle and Washington incarcerated for marijuana-related offenses, with related convictions expunged.

 

Fund community health. The fight for Black Lives is about the whole of Black life.

We demand some of the budget formerly devoted to policing be shifted to culturally responsive, community-centric mental health and wellness services. We call for:

  • Street outreach for social services, informed by de-escalation, to build not only community health but community trust.
  • More housing with affordable rents to end the homelessness crisis, along with a permanent end to encampment sweeps.

 

End Washington State Voter Suppression. The voting laws in Washington state exist to stop Black, Indigenous and Latinx people from voting.

We demand people who have previously been convicted of a crime have their voting rights restored.

  • We demand  people who are in jail or prison have the right to register and vote in the state of Washington.
  • We demand an end to the conviction-poll tax that prevents people from voting for owing fines or fees.
  • We demand persons with a previous federal conviction have their voting rights restored.

We are intentionally kept out of the democratic process, through over-incarceration and state-sanction poll taxes.

Black people are barely 3% of the state’s overall population, but 18% of people incarcerated. 

That means our  community voting power is in prison, too. 

We demand it back.

 

End youth incarceration. We don’t serve children by making children serve time.

We demand King County fulfill its promise to, by 2025, transform into a community resource the youth jail unit at Patricia Hall Clark Children and Family Justice Center. We call for:

  • Reallocation of budget for jailing youth to education, housing, mental health, and arts programming.

 

Dismantle the school to prison pipeline. We must erase the education inequities that harm Black youth from Day One.

We demand fully funding education in Washington State with a capital gains tax by 2021. In Seattle, we call for:

  • Removal of police from school campuses, including student resource officers. 
  • An end to Behavioral Modification classification for Black and Brown children.
  • Student-led creation of a Student’s Bill of Rights that centers the needs of Black, Brown, Indigenous, and ESL students and students experiencing homelessness, as well as students with special needs. 
  • Equitable and full funding for districts across Washington state to provide:
    • Free full-time preschool and kindergarten for all Washington children;
    • Recess, PE, and music instruction;
    • Technology access for all students, including one-to-one laptops for middle school and high school students by 2025;
    • A full-time nurse in every school.
  • Improved graduation rates for all children, including and especially BIPOC students.

 

Be Counted and Vote

Do you have similar demands? Here are the most important things you can do:

  1. Complete the census at www.2020census.gov. Completing the census brings resources and political power to our communities. We must all be counted and show who we are, and where we are.
  2. Register to vote—and vote on Nov. 3. We determine who represents us. You can ensure it’s someone who understands and implements our demands.