Letter Text: November 30, 2020 “Dear Interim Chief Diaz, We are writing to urge you to expeditiously compile and release all Seattle Police Department (SPD) records regarding the death of Herbert Hightower Jr., who was fatally shot by Seattle Police in 2004 while experiencing a mental health crisis. These public records were requested in August […]

Sawant: ‘Even with the victories of our movement, the Democrats’ austerity budget deeply fails working people and marginalized communities, including working-class and poor communities of color’ Councilmember Kshama Sawant (District 3, Central Seattle), chair of the Council’s Sustainability and Renters Rights Committee, today issued this statement in response to the City Council adopting the 2021 City […]

August 14, 2020Dear Council President González and Budget Chair Mosqueda,Prior to your adoption of Seattle’s tax on jobs, we expressed grave concern over the economic disadvantage this tax would create for Seattle and the likelihood that the policy would push jobs outside of the city. Yesterday, Bloomberg News reported that Amazon is considering office locations […]

SEATTLE – Councilmember Kshama Sawant (District 3, Central Seattle), chair of the Council’s Sustainability and Renters Rights Committee, released the following statement in response to the resignation announcement by Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best: “When Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best announced her pending retirement earlier this week, she joined more than half a dozen police […]

Statement by my office given after Judge James Robart granted a temporary restraining order preventing the Seattle Police Department from implementing the City Council’s ban on crowd-control weapons.  The Seattle City Council unanimously passed its crowd-control weapons ban on June 15, 2020. The ordinance, sponsored by my office, banned police use of chemical weapons and […]

July 2, 2020 “ It is stunning that Mayor Durkan has continued to use brutal police violence despite the widespread and decisive opposition from her constituents, and in the face of calls from over 47,000 people for her to resign.” SEATTLE – Councilmember Kshama Sawant (District 3, Central Seattle), chair of the Council’s Sustainability and […]

June 22, 2020 Councilmember Sawant: “The Movement Should Decide Next Steps Democratically and Build Fight to win Defunding of Police by at Least 50 Percent“ “This is the movement’s decision and NOT Mayor Durkan’s or the establishment’s, and our movement will politically defend itself from any attempted sweep by the police. However, as socialists, we […]

Saturday, June 20, 2020 Our deepest condolences go out to the loved ones of the black protester who was tragically killed this morning by gunfire at the Capitol Hill Organized Protest (CHOP). Socialist Alternative and I stand in solidarity with the family and friends of the victim, and with the injured protester now in the […]

5/30/2020 – 6:00 pm Seattle doesn’t need a curfew, pepper spray, and tear gas. We need an end to racist police violence. We need economic and housing security, including immediate COVID relief, housing, and jobs through the Amazon Tax. We need an end to the inhumane homeless sweeps. We need the cancelation of rents, mortgages, […]

George Floyd said I can’t breathe, again and again, while his last breath of life was snatched away by the Minneapolis Police Department. This is murder. It is murder at the hands of the police and the racist state, and it is commonplace in capitalist America, where we have just seen the racist killings of […]