Comments

1

How about Clarence Thomas?

2

@1

He already has a job, silly.

Your go-to at-large never-won-anything conservative black candidates are Ben Carson, Herman Cain, and (even though he refuses to run) Colin Powell.

And I'm afraid that's pretty much the entire list, too, for your team.

4

Too bad my district voted in Sawant rather than Pamela Banks... Wouldn't be having this discussion if Banks had won.

5

“The tradition of black representation that Smith began continued long after he left office in 1991.”

He left office in 1992, after being defeated in his 1991 re-election attempt. His replacement was a gay African-American woman named Sherry Harris, who did such a miserable job of representing her gay and black constituents that one of them, a theatre guy and sex-advice columnist whose name escapes me right now, performed in drag as “Scary Harris” at a fund-raiser for her next opponent.

Shortly after Harris also non-consensually left office, Seattle’s City Council completely lacked white guys, so diversity there did not exactly suffer by her departure.

6

The Seattle School Board has an up and down record with black directors. There currently isn't one (but there was for 12 years before that) and a black woman is running in one race. There is also a Latina running in another race and, as far as I know, there has never been a Latinx on the board.

The current board has one Asian (Pacific Islander), Betty Patu, but she is leaving early after 10 years of service. There are two Native Americans, Zach DeWolf and Scott Pinkham (but DeWolf is trying to leave early to go be on the City Council and Pinkham chose not to run again. (The superintendent, Denise Juneau, is also Native American.) There is one candidate who is Native American.

To note, one person has already won her race as the other two candidates who filed dropped out. That's in District 2, the seat currently held by Rick Burke who is also stepping down.

7

@5 - What a singularly unhelpful, bitter and petty comment. Backhandedly racist, too.

“Eh, someone at the Stranger once didn’t like a black councilmember, so you can’t write about it now; but not to worry, one minority is just the same as any other.”

Point?

Just how miserable are you that you troll The Stranger this hard?

9

@7: To get hit with that many relevant facts, one after another after another after another, must’ve been an excruciatingly painful experience for you; little wonder you lashed out in your usual impotent rage, helplessly uncomprehending of the point all those facts combined to make.

Harris beat Smith by one-upping his status as the first African-American Council Member: she was gay and black (and a woman). (Perhaps “queer black woman of color,” would be the modern self-description?)

She squandered her time in office relentlessly demonstrating, to paraphrase another queer activist back then, that identifying as a member of not one, not two, but of three historically disadvantaged groups did not mean she herself actually ever cared about any disadvantaged persons.

The Stranger promotes such tokenism again today, having learned nothing the first time. Sad.

10

@9 - Rage? No, it’s contempt. Whatever you might think you are to Slog, you’re just a pathetic little asshole unwanted hall monitor troll; and I’m going to remind you of that fact every chance I get. You’re in no position to judge tokenism after the racist shit you spewed.

11

@9 - You should quit while you’re ahead. Right now, you’re still an anonymous cipher to folks like Alaskan... and blip and robotslave. What if tomorrow you slip up and your identity slips out? Could happen - you haven’t been very bright, because you aren’t very bright. Your dirty little secrets are safe for now. I’d call that a win if I were someone like you. Just friendly advice, one troll to another.

12

10
11

poor baby.
someone should give you a trigger warning when your racial hypocrisy is about to be exposed.
again.
arewerite?

13

@12

Congratulations on getting your old account banned, that's quite an accomplishment at a blog where not even the writers read the comments anymore.

14

Voter districts aren't serving Seattle.

15

The Stranger’s little promotion of tokenism worked as far as it could; it’s now supposedly racist to point out the failures of a single African-American Council Member who departed decades ago. The abject silliness of such a charge renders it meaningless, via pure frivolity alone.

But The Stranger’s game here is really to build another pre-emptive narrative in case we voters dare to sweep our City Council out later this year. “Voters are racist,” is the narrative under construction here; “Chamber of Commerce pays to flip Council,” is another. Both prepared narratives will, if needed, serve to ‘explain’ turnover of the Council in a way which does not require The Stranger to question why they keep losing.

16

@15 - You read a very different article than I did, probably because you read a special edition that was only published in one place: your imagination.

It was a good, thoughtful piece with a great deal of history, not a pre-emptive strike.

I guess you missed lines like this:

“I’m not trying to win this race as a black person, I’m trying to win this race by out fundraising, and out door-knocking everyone else,” Scott said.

Or....

“It will up to the voters to decide, and we have to make our case.”

Yep, sure sounds like tokenism to me.

If Lester Black bothered to comment, I rather think he’d say: “Fuck you.” I’ll say it for him: fuck your conspiracy theories. Fuck your closed mind.

Why do you even bother commenting? Go hang out on Safe Seattle’s Facebook page. They would love to hear all about how The Stranger and the City Klowncil are part of the League of Shadows or something.

17

@16

As far as Council endorsements go, The Stranger still has a winning record; it's only the Mayor's office they've been losing lately. And only very recently-- they're still ahead for this century (Team Keck endorsed Nickels twice before endorsing McGinn).

You're engaged in your own preemptive story-telling here too, of course. It's pretty cynical to claim a "throw out the bums" sentiment has overtaken the electorate when you've got an election where less than half the seats have an incumbent running, and you already know you're going to be able to claim that voters picked someone new for over 50% of all races (compared to the usual 20-30%).

So you've got a nice little "narrative" going yourself, there, tensor.

Hope that helps; I kind of suspect you might be the last person to notice what you're doing.

18

mmph, meant for @15, obvs.

19

All you all chill for crying out loud. Lester is new to town and he's just trying to get a fire going. Filing is over. Horses are in the gate and we'll see how that plays out. The next big race is the appointment by the Seattle School Board for the Patu's seat. Ain't much talking about that -

20

@17: ‘It's pretty cynical to claim a "throw out the bums" sentiment has overtaken the electorate when you've got an election where less than half the seats have an incumbent running,’

Why do ‘less than half the seats have an incumbent running’?

Pure coincidence?

You just keep telling yourself that.

Because, like The Stranger believes, it’s doubleplus unpossible the answer could be of the form, ‘...a "throw out the bums" sentiment has overtaken the electorate...’

21

@20 - I admire your bravery. Doesn’t matter how many times your arguments fall apart, you keep making them. Wait, maybe it’s stupidity I’m admiring. BUT! You’ll even argue with someone who’s figured out your secrets. Were the situation reversed, I would disappear. Not worth the risk.

Seriously: Safe Seattle. They would love to hear from you. You’ll have to use your real Facebook, but you’ll be so much more relaxed. No more skulking around. No more pretending (poorly) to be someone you’re not.

22

@20 - What’s the latest with Mike Rosenberg? Have you checked? Remember how you were convinced he was the victim of a felony (across state lines no less!!)? Surely you followed the case? Did he get fired, or is he back?

24

@4: Yes. Well-noted.

26

"...three of this year’s black candidates running against each other in the District 2 primary....
But they're just three of seven people running in District 2, and one of those other people, Tammy Morales, came within a few hundred votes of beating Harrell in 2015..."

I seem to recall that during the last mayoral race, a bunch of activists were calling for Cary Moon to withdraw so Nikita Oliver would have a better shot. Tammy Morales should withdraw tell help one of the black candidates. You know, since we're so concerned with identity politics.

27

We shouldn't group folks according to their race. Those who do are racists.

28

@23 - “Facts imply judgment.”

People Passing Judgment on Facts

29

@27 - No, those who do so for reasons of animus are racists.

If you want to see what a racist looks like - you know, just to help you spot the difference - bend over in front of a floor length mirror and stare back at the glass from between your knees.

30

@29: Which is what you just did.

31

Hey, lazy trolls! Check out @26 to see what an actual polemic looks like. Ouch! That is actually a fair point. (I’m assuming it’s true that Cary Moon was asked to drop out in favor of Oliver. It certainly sounds plausible.)

It still has absolutely zero to do with the substance of this article (which was not, I feel the necessity to point out, an op-ed calling for Seattle’s people of color to rise up and smash whitey); but as an ad hominem attack on the ostensibly monolithic virtue-signaling boogeyman that is The Stranger and the grubby socialists that read it, it at least contained an ounce of creativity. The rest of y’all is just mailing it in. You should be ashamed.

I showed @27 to a pack of bratty sixth graders, and their response was: “What a poopypants,” a statement both literally accurate and intellectually superior to @27’s “I know you are, but what am I?” offering.

Maybe WozU can offer an online class in trolling? Sure would help the quality of the Slog comment boards.

32

@30 - Read @31, please, then reply again. Can’t wait to hear what you come up with!!

‘cuz you so smaht! I bet you can do better than “Nunh unh, YOU’RE the asshole.” I know I’m an asshole, so you’re just going to have to try harder to sting me. Tell me something I DON’T know, big boy!

Satan sent me down here to consort with you assholes, and I’m getting cranky. If I have to spend eternity tormenting little shits like you, the least you can do is make it entertaining for me.

Pretty please?

33

@31: "an op-ed calling for Seattle’s people of color to rise up and smash whitey)"

Are you suggesting that's actually my takeaway from the article? If so, no, not at all.

But why do you my point about Morales getting out of the way, like Moon was asked to do for Nikita Oliver, had "zero to do with the substance of this article?" The whole point of the article was the concern over losing black representation on the council, was it not? Wouldn't you prefer to see one of the three black candidates win instead of Tammy Morales?

34

@31

You've mistaken "polemic" for a compliment. A hot take with more sentences and better spelling is still just a hot take. It can be done well, but 95% of the time it isn't.

Same goes for trolling. Most of it was bad even in its pre-crapflooding glory days, and now that the Russians have turned it into just another miserable day job in a cube farm, it's effectively extinct as an art form.

35

@27: Very over generalized isn't it.

At least it gets us to start questioning and thinking on our core assumptions and convictions that unfortunately get morphed into identically politics in the modern era.

Also, remember that just because I don't know what I'm talking about doesn't mean that it's not true.

36

@30 - Don’t keep me waiting! Last time, you replied within minutes! It’s going on half an hour now since I requested the courtesy of a reply. C’mon! 1,000 comments a year for a decade and you can’t spare just one snappy retort for your new pal? That’s no way to make friends.

; (

37

@33

If I recall, the demands that Moon step aside for Oliver came after the primary, in which Oliver did far better than anyone expected.

We currently have 5 black Council candidates out of 56 total, or 8.9%, in a city that is 7.9% black-- a nearly perfectly representative showing. Hispanics candidates are also nearly exactly proportionate. The standout underrepresented demographic on the ballot is Asians; I think only 3.5% of the candidates are Asian, compared to 13.8% of the City's population.

Those balances will shift after the primary. But for now, we've got a remarkably even field in demographic terms, apart from the missing Asian representation.

38

@35 - Did you just @ yourself? I said stare at the mirror between your knees. I didn’t say: and then watch yourself stick a finger up your butt. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. It just wasn’t part of the analogy. (Anal-ogy. See what I did there?)

39

@35 - And sorry for @36. Our comments must have crossed in the mail. Thank you for working so hard on @35. The effort doesn’t show, but I appreciate it all the same. I printed it out and attached it to the fridge with a magnet right next to my five year old’s finger painting. I am equally proud of you both!!

40

@39: I think your kids are going to turn out just fine.

41

You know, I don’t think my comment @39 was entirely fair. My five year old was born prematurely and has MS. She’s mostly blind. The fact she can finger paint these remarkably graceful, vaguely melancholy landscapes is something, but it pales in comparison to what it must take for raindrop to string together a post like @35. The former brings me joy, but the latter inspires me to live up my potential. @35 was a precious gift. I just didn’t see it at first.

42

@34 - Still, if we have to wade through garbage to find folks like you with a sense of decency and compassion, can’t it at least be less foul-smelling garbage? My expectations are modest.

@33 - Lester isn’t saying: “We must fix this!” That’s your mistake. He is describing a state of affairs among a historically under-represented that is growing more under-represented. Since you presumably don’t assume they need representation, a description of this state of affairs may seem like a prescription. If that is the case, please see my advice @29.

43

@41: To start life with MS, ... omg - had no idea it could strike so early.

44

@43

If you're expressing skepticism there, then you're one internet search for "pediatric multiple sclerosis" away from feeling like one of the shittiest people on the internet.

45

@44: There was no skepticism whatsoever. You misread my comment totally.

46

@45

Good.

Maybe consider just not posting the comment then, next time? Be a little more aware that it's all too easy to read your words in a negative light when you're engaged in a heated argument?

47

@43 - yeah, it’s pretty tragic. She’s got the AIDS, too. I showed her your comments, though, and they gave her a chuckle. So thank you for being the ray of semiliterate sunshine in her otherwise challenging life.

48

@47

Now you're the one being shitty, but I suppose you did call dibs on that up front.

49

@46: I don't believe you. You deliberately and meanly took an obviously sympathetic comment that was well received and twisted it for your own sick little game. I wasn't in a heated argument at the time. You're disgusting, sir!

50

@49

OK, two can play at that.

I don't believe you, either, I think you were quite deliberately trying to cast doubt on @41's story by implying MS doesn't affect children, and got caught being utterly shitty in assuming something to be true which wasn't (and it's not the first time I've caught you making an ass of your misinformed self like that: see https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2019/05/29/40334953/slog-pm-god-bless-freedom-gas-pelosi-goes-after-facebook-is-dow-constantine-getting-a-haircut-every-two-weeks-or-twice-a-week/comments )

Isn't this fun?

51

@50: Sure is. So glad you can easily entertain yourself. I'm sure you could harvest tons more from my comment history. I suggest you compile my top 10.

52

@17: I wasn’t referring to past endorsements made by The Stranger. I was referring to The Stranger’s very strong identification with our current Council generally, and with our Council’s failed policies specifically. No amount of whining about the repeal of the EHT can turn it into a successful policy, and no amount of laudatory articles about “Saving The Showbox” will keep music playing there after next year.

Hence the articles breathlessly exclaiming as extraordinary news that our Chamber Of Commerce wants more biz-friendly Council Members, and now this piece, blatantly advocating tokenism on the Council. Both types of articles are arguing against the electorate daring to change the Council in a way The Stranger does not approve.

53

@52 - You are conflating this piece by Lester Black with “The Ideological Position of The Stranger as defined by tensor.” Lester Black wrote an article about a trend. Nathalie wrote a piece that sounded biased, but was really just asking: what do business interests want from “flipping” the council (which you say is going to flip on its own anyway)? This article didn’t advocate anything, unless, like mellow, you think facts themselves are biased.

54

@48 - Sorry. You did a good thing, and my insincerity undermined it. I am upfront that I am not a good person to assholes like raindrop, mistral, tensor, facts2support... (who went silent i think after accusing dead ironwokrers of intentionally sabotaging their own lives - so at least he has some sense of shame). I respect you greatly, along with Anon1235, blip, alaskan. There are reasonable folks on here. I view myself as your/their cyborg sent from the future. I am only trained to kill, and when the last troll leaves the slog, I will melt myself down in a pit of molten steel. Probably be here for a long while yet, since tensor is literally too stupid to shut up.

55

So fucking what? People who want to be black and serve civically, stand the fuck up, and serve. What the hell is wrong with you all? No one is making a place at the table because of color. Earn it.
Until you can bring it, I am going to knock you down. We are done with this this bullshit,

56

Tammy Morales is an empty vessel. I’m just trying to figure out which actual representative of South Seattle we should be sending.

57

But how black?

Barack Obama black or Rev. Al
Sharpton black?

58

@54 - I was wrong. Mr. Facts2SupportURpoint did not shut up, has no shame, just like every troll commenter on here. No one here is listening, I don’t know why any of us bother. Do any internet comments anywhere do any good? Or are they the very definition of mental masturbation?

If so, I think I just achieved climax. Good night.


Please wait...

Comments are closed.

Commenting on this item is available only to members of the site. You can sign in here or create an account here.


Add a comment
Preview

By posting this comment, you are agreeing to our Terms of Use.