HEY YOU. Yeah, you. We know, it’s a big, scary subduction zone out there, but that’s no excuse to not get your Wednesday reading done. Get out from under your desk! You have some clicking to do.
The incomparable Amelia Bonow is in the Huffington Post this week, backgrounding #ShoutYourAbortion and spreading the word about #TogetherForAbortion on the 22nd. (By the way, you’re going, right?)
What could possibly be a less progressive tactic than defending something on the grounds that it is an unfortunate and unseemly necessity? "Safe, legal and rare," is not a rallying cry, it is a plea for mercy. We have once again attempted political pragmatism and forgotten who in the hell we are dealing with; we have consented to a debate with people who bankroll and inspire domestic terrorists. How else does Cecile Richards end up wasting her time calmly defending her organization against heresy on the Senate floor?
On KPLU, Ashley Gross covers the delicate sale process of the ID’s Panama Hotel with an eye for its cultural history:
Belongings from Japanese-American families have been gathering dust here since 1942. That’s when the families rushed to store their possessions in the Panama Hotel after President Roosevelt issued an order to have Japanese Americans rounded up and sent to camps. [...]
[Owner Jan] Johnson considers this stuff sacred – a grim reminder of a time when our country put American citizens behind barbed wire without due process. It’s always been important to her to have the belongings remain here as a kind of living museum.
Some local radio personalities balk at the mere suggestion that Islamophobia exists in Seattle. They are wrong. Roukhya Ouedraogo speaks to young Muslims for the Seattle Globalist—and reminds us why suspecting foul play in Hamza Warsame's death was not unreasonable:
As a Muslim American at South Seattle College, I started to notice people staring at me, and many of my Muslim friends texted me about those they have encountered blaming them for the recent terrorist attacks.
“The only crime I am guilty of is not praying on time, and also, not doing my homework,” said Hodan Mubarak, 20, a student in her second year at South Seattle College.
And finally, our fav Jesse Hagopian speaks with the Weekly's Casey Jaywork on institutional racism, MLK, the Legislature, and being known for getting pepper-sprayed:
It’s rough to be known for your worst day of your life. It’s hard that random people come up and say, 'Oh, you were the guy who got pepper sprayed.' To be known for such a low moment in my life can be difficult, but I think it’s also important that that moment serve as a lesson to our city: that nobody’s safe when we have unaccountable police.
