Comments

1
Because America (and much of the world) still has a race problem. Neoliberalism is very good at papering over economic inequity with liberal "cultural tolerance." Much ink has been spilled on the problem (e.g.) but little progress has been made.

Thanks for your writing.
2
Because there isn't a single place on earth with any sort of significant population that doesn't have a race problem.
4
In the terms of this article, this isn't a Seattle problem, it's a progressive problem: Too many people who come from relative privilege (say, middle class white suburbs) who've moved to the city ("a radical step") after the college and are busy congratulating themselves for having a different value system than their parents. What they aren't doing is determining if their value system actually supports "progressive ideals". I meet a lot of people for whom the end-phase of the progressive agenda just turns out to be Sex and the City on a Fixie. It's not just Seattle, it's San Francisco, it's New York, it's Atlanta, it's everywhere.
5
As a white progressive male who wants to see equality for everyone, I think that this problem is absolutely systemic. Even though I want to live my life in a way that promotes tolerance, inclusion and equality, the system in place won't let it happen, even when I vote for people (and they win the election) that should work to make it that way. Any time anyone in this country, of any race, mentions pulling money from the top and more fairly distributing it amongst the people, 'MERICA comes along and reminds everyone that we don't do things that way here. Until we can re-implement higher taxes on the wealthy and end corporate hand-jobbing in government, not much is going to change because our race problem is absolutely tied to and fueled by an economic problem.

That said, I'm doing what I can as an individual who is actively working against an inherently racist upbringing and system; calling white progressives out as the problem doesn't seem like the best approach. Seems to be a trend lately for liberal groups to complain about their white/male allies for not being perfect. Progressives and liberals need to start working together better, not infighting all the time.
7
There is certainly a race problem in Seattle, but I wonder if it is not a symptom of a deeper class warfare problem.

AS white middle class kids from the suburbs move into Seattle they bring there upper middle class disdain for the Working Class with them.
8
This is a great piece!
9
doesn't 'progressive' imply intent and values? the bussing era came from a 'progressive' intent. not all 'progressive' intents achieve the 'progressive' goals and make for a 'progressive' reality. also, according to the chart below asian-born people make up the largest slice of the immigrant population in seattle, many coming from less economically advantaged countries to immigrate and make a life here. is it racism that many havent reached what people would call the american middle class within one generation? i would say its realist to notice that often people remain in the economic class of their parents. to me its racist to point to racially sorted demographic and say that seattle has a race problem, based on it having largest concentration of "asian pacific islander poor" without being aware of the economic conditions that people left behind to come here with next to nothing to start making a life and the fact that seattle probably has more asian born immigrants than many other towns and cities . definitely we could have more of a safety net, but you'd be surprised how much free healthcare is available if you truly have a poverty level income or are disabled. my question is do we solve these issues with intervention, if so what kind, or with more means of empowering people? in a way, to say "progressive" is to imply interventionistic. are we not interventionistic enough? but to passively say that its all due to racism is a bit of a strawman and conjures up racist imagery of "whites" as southern white yokels with confederate flags and more hate in their hearts than every other "race" - and i know you would speak up if you were being lumped into a broad negative stereotype, so i had to throw in my 2c. http://www.seattle.gov/office-of-immigra…
10
@4 i like your approach, yet as is my fetish, i fell compelled to make light. If KellO were to photo two peeps having Sex on A Fixie, please please let it BE! i promise, promise, to stuff the ballot box at this year's Pulitzer Awards for Best Cinematography of an Adapted Screenplay. Kelly O for president! AND she likes black people stuff, just ask Kim Gordon!
11
Because our species is flawed and cannot be perfected. Please provide trigger warnings in the future: Trigger Warning: Hopeless Idealism.
12
Is it a race problem or a class problem?
The best answer might be another question: how many genuine locals have benefitted from our economic boom? Why or why not?
13
Charles, you're failing to distinguish academic racism (e.g. deconstructing ambiguous statements, text, and behaviors with the goal of identifying potentially racists interpretations and motivations) from consequential racism (e.g. arresting an elderly black man for carrying a golf club).

Personally, I think the cause is better served by focusing on the latter form of racism, but I'm a white progressive, so no doubt that's just my racism talking.
14
@4, what you're talking about sounds like consequences of past racism. These privileged people you speak of probably haven't been around many poor people (& let's be real here, its poor people of all races we need to be concerned for). They move here without really questioning their values, having little real life experience to inspire questions. In short, they move to the city due to a very narrow set of progressive values, while other progressive values are present in the abstract at best.
15
Seattle is one of the whitest cities in one of the whitest regions in the country. It's easy to be all "progressive" and stuff when virtually everyone you see around you is the same. Head out to Yakima, or down to Centralia, or Vancouver WA, or Bellevue Square for that matter and you'll find there is PLENTY of old fashioned red-lining racism to go around once you get away from all the people who want you to know how progressive and enlightened they are.
16
@15, you're onto a piece of the puzzle there with that last bit. Sometimes progressivism seems like just another status symbol for us whiteys.
17
Sadly @1 is mostly correct- but we have no restrictions stopping people from racist regions or countries from moving here
18
You want to know why Seattle has a race problem? White patriarchy. Washington State was a part of Oregon Territory and racial discrimination was coded into law from the start.

http://depts.washington.edu/civilr/segre…

http://oregonstate.edu/dept/dpd/history-…
19
This feels like a good comment thread. I think there's a good collection of us whiteys here ready to help the blackies.
20
@19 Screw that, this is one problem that we can all agree to ignore.
21
@9 Intention doesn't rate. What few black people Seattle had have been forced out by the housing desires of the (progressive) white post-college sect; who wanted inexpensive, "authentic" urban neighborhoods near the CBD; and subsequently remade them as oversized lifestyle malls under the guise of local/organic/farm-to-table/place-making etc. Nonetheless, 1st AME moved to Federal Way because they didn't treat the neighborhood like nurseries for adulthood where they could flit away their disposable income.

So, you know, Darren Wilson didn't own a hood and a robe, so he's not racist? Or is it revealed in the consequences of his actions?
22
Many people who live north of the Ship Canal grow up not having any non-white friends, then they go to a college or university where, again, no non-white friends. The consequences of redlining go on and on year after year. After Seattle Public Schools was forced to go to a Neighborhood Assignment System, most of the schools north of the Cut and South of Lake City became 99-100% white. I saw a picture of one of the northend high school's basketball team from last year and they were all white kids except for one who looked East Indian. First time I've seen a basketball team with no black members!
It's easier to believe racist crap if you never know any minorities.
Just found out last month that Innis Arden still has a whites-only covenant. In the 21st Century!
If we don't find a way to stop the new resegregation, Seattle won't be such a nice place to live in 8-10 years, or maybe even sooner with all the people moving here from the South and the Mid West.
23
This isn't just schools or jobs, it's also in the arts community. many many arts events in capitol hill feature few people of colour and have few people of colour in the audience. Charles I'm sure it's not uncommon for you to be the only black person in Hugo house on the times that you are teaching. Yes Seattle has a class problem but it also has a very serious race problem.
24
Our society is very stratified. And middle class, college educated folks can be prone to limousine liberalism. After all, if you have money, why would you live in the poorest Seattle neighborhoods?
25
1, 2, and 5 nailed it.

The WORLD has a race problem.
26
Chuck, you're getting increasingly desperate to be relevant, with successive straight-over-tackle and alarmingly brief "Race is a problem in places and stuff," no-shit-isms.

Are you getting paid to do this "job" -- because I kid you not, it would take about 20 minutes a day to replicate your baiting schtick. (Perhaps a black privilege you enjoy? Who would dare to question. Ah yes, here it comes: "Racists.")

27
why does seattle still have a race problem? because there are people there.

how many white neighbros does charles have?

has anyone here ever called a guatemalan a mexican or honduran? theire countries look the same
28
who are the racists? the people who look at hugo house attendance, and despite seattle being an extremely white city, they see a problem. is the solution to literally look to fill a diversity quota for any and every endeavor, and if whatever social gathering doesnt meet the quote, whites should feel guilty and self-loathing about it, and "POC" should suspect racism?

it almost seems like outside of some really extreme examples with law enforcement, in many social interactions racism is more diffuse, and from that fears of racism are more diffuse to the point that a predominantly white hugo house audience is now seen as a problem.

also since you don't seem to give others the benefit of the doubt, why would you expect to be given it. its a very diffusely negative world you occupy. sure seems like when a lot of you people look at someone, you are projecting a lot of shit onto what you think their race means.

so i dont know. i dont think i have a race problem, do you have a race problem?
29
@28 sigh, you do know there's a lot of black writers and poets in Seattle right? But the arts community of capitol hill is about as diverse as the tech community of south lake Union. So rant all you want about not being racist, you're just proving Charles point.
30
"despite seattle being an extremely white city, " that's the problem, Seattle been driving the black community out for the last 30 years. And that has huge effects on the racist makeup of Seattle.
31
check the part about 1960 demographics, now that was an "extremely white" seattle

http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?Dis…

32
whoops that was for washington state... my bad
34
2015-30 =1985. Seattles black population is around 7%, the 1970 levels, ie the population has drop a lot since it's peak. Hence my point about the black community being driven out of Seattle over the last 30 yrs holds up.
35
couldnt that also be a result of new additions to seattle from vietnam and mexico among other places that would alter at the distribution as expressed as a %?

i'm speculating, but the manufacturing boom that originally brought many black people from the east and south was replaced by several tech booms. im sure there was some "driving out" but to completely generalize that as all thats been happening to me seems a little freshman year
36
No ones generalizing, the Feds own numbers show the cd was genterfied in the 90s and south Seattle in the 00s.
37
Yet another stunning conclusion from the mind of Mudede:
"White people are racist even when they vote for brown/gay/female politicians who promote greater cultural tolerance."
38
Charles hits the nail on the head with this article, and accidentally explains why other supposedly 'progressive' cities like New York, San Francisco and LA will vote for progressive causes, but turn the other way in the face of a violent, racist police culture exacerbated by a an even more racist criminal justice system.

Youre average progressive, pro-marriage equality and gay rights Seattlite will just as soon cover their purse, double lock their car door, or avoid eye contact with 99% of black people they dont already know. I know this because I know and have met a countless amount of this type of Seattle liberal or progressive. The "what are you doing here" look or comment African Americans receive from seemingly progressive white northwesterners on college campuses, in high price shopping centers like Westlake or Belle Square, or just in the workplace (The "He/she shouldnt be back here, OH, this one works here" look is one of my favorites) is standard occurrence.

For the 1% they do know, they soooth their psyche by being overly friendly, and trying to engage with distantive racial subject that they can point at with you (if you are black) and say "Wow, that fucked up! Those guys are racists!".

Worst, among local liberals, how 'racist' someone is relates more to proximity to them rather than the action. Racist cop in Ohio kills a black kid with a toy? "That was totally racist!" Westlake mall cop ignores white agitator and maces black man coming out of the mall? "Well, he might just be bad at his job". Southerners resegregating their schools? "Thats racist shit dude!" White Seattlites taking their kids out of schools with more than a handful of black students? "Well, those schools arent doing so well anyway".

Face it. Most of the progressives in Seattle are no less racist than your typical southern hillbilly. Only while hillbillies assert their cognitive dissonance towards their own racism by loudly rallying behind idiot self hating black republicans (Cain, Sowell, Thomas, Sen. Scott, Allen West), northwestern liberals do the same with faux, meaningless empathy gestures towards black suffering....somewhere else.
39
@37

Is it really 'cultural tolerance' if the standard is "tolerate everyone BUT black (and natives)....because were white and FUCK those people!"?

More like, its accepting groups you feel less threatened by or you feel are more culturally adoptable into your own group. The fact that so many whites...or maybe your average white american in seattle and america cant tell the difference between a well educated, high ranking corporate african american businessman or engineer or doctor and an unemployed african american gang member looking to rob them shows there is a problem.

The fact that most see the latter as the default is even more of a problem. ESPECIALLY in Seattle.
40
@38 and 39, all day long.

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