Teaching while Black

A theater teacher from Rainier Beach High School was arrested on April 5 on charges of obstructing police. Police initially arrived at an apartment complex near RBHS to break up a large fight .

Rajnii Eddins, a 26-year-old black man, was on his way to work at the school when he saw one of his female students had been arrested. Eddins quickly tried to figure out what was going on.

"My only concern was to find out what she was being charged with and to notify her parents," Eddins said.

According to Eddins, he approached Officer Richard Nelson and asked about the student, who had just been handcuffed and placed in a squad car. Officer Nelson told Eddins to back up. Eddins says he obeyed, and continued asking about the student.

The police report disagrees, stating that Eddins stood by the squad car talking to the student, refused to identify himself, and ignored officers' requests to move. "They searched me," Eddins says. "And they said, 'you're going to jail for interfering.'" Eddins spent the rest of the afternoon and evening in King County jail. "Just because I'm a black man and asking a question about one of my students, a 14-year-old girl," he says. (The teenager, SPD report, had a theft warrant.)

Eddins is a writer who has performed and led workshops with Arts Corps and the King County Juvenile Detention Center.

He wrote a play called The Tobacco Monologues as part of an antismoking effort at local schools, and was hired to direct a production featuring Rainier Beach students. "We were supposed to have a rehearsal tomorrow," he said. "But now I've got a hearing." The hearing took place on April 10—Eddins pleaded not guilty—and his court date has been set for May. BRENDAN KILEY

Candidates in the Black

Candidates for the five city council seats on the ballot in August have continued to break fundraising precedents, with two incumbents reporting more than $100,000 already. Jean Godden and Tom Rasmussen finished March with $109,000 and $112,000, respectively, and David Della, although he had not updated his reports since February, almost certainly broke $100,000, too.

As of March 31, Della challenger Tim Burgess had pulled in $66,125; and open-seat hopefuls Venus Velazquez and Bruce Harrell (who are seeking the seat being vacated by Peter Steinbrueck) had raised $41,000 and $38,000, respectively. Repeat also-ran John Manning reported raising no money at all. King County employee Carrie Shriver withdrew her candidacy, prospective candidate Noel Frame said she has decided not to run this year. ERICA C. BARNETT