On a cold February night, Mary Jane Pepper Lawson was walking outside an apartment building on Union Street on Seattle’s First Hill. According to charging documents from the King County Prosecutor’s office, Lawson heard a man hurling the N-word at her. Lawson described him leaping over a railing and running toward her. Before she could react, she told first responders, the man hit her, knocking her to the ground. While she was down, she said, he continued to punch and kick her before retreating into his apartment. Lawson reported the incident to law enforcement, and responding officers documented visible injuries consistent with an assault.
The assailant has since been charged with a hate crime in connection with this attack. Prosecutors, citing the severity of the assault and the threat he poses to public safety, have requested bail be set at $20,000.
The implications of this attack extend far beyond one man’s violent actions. It is a grim reminder that despite its liberal self-image, that violence is not an anomaly. It is the logical consequence of a system that continues to devalue Black and Indigenous lives in ways both explicit and insidious.
For years now, studies and reports from government agencies have acknowledged the proliferating threat posed by white supremacist extremists. Nationwide, from high-profile mass shootings like Charleston and Buffalo to everyday acts of harassment, the examples are numerous. Yet, this danger has not been met with the same urgency in political and media discourse as foreign terrorism or the war on drugs. The never-ending failure to meaningfully address this racialized violence has not only allowed it to spread but has also reinforced the very systems of oppression that sustain it.
In 2012, the Seattle Police Department was placed under federal monitoring after a Department of Justice investigation—sparked by the killing of First Nations woodcarver John T. Williams—revealed a pattern of excessive force and biased policing. Four years later, in 2016, Seattle was identified as one of the cities with the worst Black-white education achievement gap in the country. Meanwhile, since 2017, the Seattle metro area has consistently ranked as having the third-worst homelessness crisis in the nation, a crisis that disproportionately impacts Black, Indigenous, and other people of color.
And despite the myth we continue to tell ourselves about this city, the racism here is not merely systemic, but overt.
Just before the new year, Sonya, whose name has been changed to protect her privacy, had been given the responsibility in her Seattle apartment complex of having cars towed for unauthorized parking. When a neighbor complained about a resident’s truck blocking a space, Sonya arranged for the vehicle to be towed. The truck’s owner was a repeat offender, so while Sonya anticipated some pushback, she didn’t expect what happened next.
The truck’s owner erupted in rage, directing his anger at both Sonya and the Black on-site manager. The next morning, she discovered one of her tires had been slashed, and a “Trump 2024: Take America Back” sticker had been placed on her car’s rear windshield. Now nearly 70 and living alone, the elderly music teacher is gripped by fear. “I’m talking because something needs to be done,” she said tearfully. Her fear, she said, is compounded by a deep sense of responsibility to create a safer world for her students.
Upon reporting the incident to the police, she made it clear that she believed she was targeted because of her race, and that the vandalism intended to intimidate her. The language on the sticker evokes a sense of unease for those who white nationalists consider “threats” to their vision of an America, rooted in racial dominance. Yet reporting the incident brought little relief. “I’m sleeping odd hours—I’m on edge,” Sonya said. She now feels an unfamiliar vulnerability in a city she’s called home her entire life.
Sonya’s story isn’t an isolated incident. Since 2012, the earliest year of reported bias and hate crime data on the SPD dashboard, anti-Black hate crimes have exceeded all other types of racially biased incidents. This comes even as Black residents make up a dwindling portion of the population. It’s likely the real numbers are even higher; Black communities have historically been less likely to trust the police, let alone call them for help.
Seattle’s police department—tasked with addressing these crimes—is itself mired in a well-documented history of racial bias. A 2021 report found Black people in Seattle are seven times more likely than white people to experience police use of force and five times more likely to be stopped and questioned. In contrast, during a similar period in neighboring Portland, Black people were 1.45 times more likely than white people to experience police use of force, according to 2019 data. For children and young adults, the disparities are even greater. Black youth make up 7% of the city’s population but account for the majority of cases involving police use of force against minors.
While the bigotry we’re witnessing has by no means started with Trump, he has become a symbol of strength for the white nationalist movement, with incidents of overt racism often co-occurring with his rise to prominence. His inauguration featuring Elon Musk twice doing a Nazi salute—a gesture celebrated by far-right extremists and yet to be directly denied by Musk—serves to fan the flames of this alarming trend.
It’s impossible to pinpoint a single moment that triggered this most recent wave of undisguised intolerance. The United States is, after all, a white supremacist nation, built on genocide and chattel slavery. Racism has always been woven into its fabric. However, if we are to examine the roots of this current wave, Barack Obama’s presidency immediately comes to mind. While conservatives farcically blame Obama for creating racial tension, his presidency, coupled with mass demonstrations in defense of Black lives, did create a palpable backlash. Between the beginning and end of his first term, the number of hate groups in the US rose by 755%, and Black Americans were the primary targets of racial hatred. Trump’s presidency, far from being the start, has served to amplify attitudes reflecting clear reversal of social progress, and normalized expressions of desires to “Take America Back.”
Sonya’s story is not just about one act of violence; it is about a nation that has long chosen to look away. Despite the lack of resolution in her case, she knows what has sustained her—the community that has helped her cope with the fear and anxiety that have followed the incident. Because history tells us that no progress is made without collective will. It is in how we protect the most vulnerable among us, how we refuse to accept bigotry as the cost of doing nothing, how we hold ourselves accountable—not just in moments of crisis, but in the quiet, everyday choices that shape the world we live in.
Seattle and Washington state may have resisted Trump’s rightward pull, but resistance is not absolution. We are in no way separate from the forces that deepen inequality—we see them in the way we police, in the way we criminalize poverty, in the way we allow white nationalist rhetoric to fester unchecked. The question is not whether hate exists here, but whether we will continue to tolerate it.
Marcus Harrison Green contributed reporting to this article.
Gennette Cordova is a writer, organizer, and social impact manager. She contributes to publications like Teen Vogue and Revolt TV and runs an organization, Lorraine House, which seeks to build and uplift radical communities through art and activism.
Is there an editor at this paper? Who is “French?” Does he have a first name?
Mmmmm… Nah. Sorry, but I reject your premise.
Although if you’d like to sign up to fight antisemitism, I’m all for it, because that’s on the rise in left leaning circles in Seattle.
2020 called. It wants its politics back.
” the worst Black-white education achievement gap “
Well, not all black kids….turns out culture matters:
‘Alarming’ new test-score gap discovered in Seattle schools
African-American students whose primary language is English perform significantly worse in math and reading than black students who speak another language at home — typically immigrants or refugees — according to new numbers released by Seattle Public Schools.
The administration has for years analyzed test scores by race. It has never before broken down student-achievement data by specific home language or country of origin — it is rare for school districts to examine test scores at that level — but it is unlikely that the phenomenon the data suggest is actually new.
In fact, some national experts said the trend represented by the Seattle data is not surprising. They pointed to some studies about college attendance and achievement indicating that immigrant families from all backgrounds tend to put a larger emphasis on education than those families that have been in the country longer.
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/alarming-new-test-score-gap-discovered-in-seattle-schools/
Oh look, Gennette Cordova’s work history includes this:
Contributing WriterContributing Writer
REVOLT MEDIA & TV
Jun 2020 – Oct 2022 · 2 yrs 5 mos
Revolt Media and TV was/is Sean “Diddy” Combs.
I wonder how she was able to turn a blind eye to Diddy’s sexual assaults and rape allegations while furthering her career with his media company for over 2 years. Doesn’t sound very Progressive to me.
Quick, pass the baby oil, Gennette Cordova has another grift to sell us.
@2 I’d like to sign up to fight YOU. Zionist piece of shit. Name a time and place, I’ll pay you to show up and agree to mutual combat.
Also, as @1 pointed out, Marcus Harrison Green is proving that he’s fully incompetent as an editor. How do you not proof-read the second fucking paragraph?
@7 – Oh don’t get me started, friend. How about this clanger:
“It is a grim reminder that despite its liberal self-image, that violence is not an anomaly.”
Where, pray, is the antecedent of “its?” Surely they mean Seattle, but they never effectively set that up. It’s a rough row to hoe, this essay.
@8 Lmao, I didn’t even catch that one. That’s a yikes of a sentence.
Tell is more how triggered you are, Simon says tensorna.
The first incident sounds like a crazy person attacking an innocent bystander with racial slurs thrown in for good measure. The second incident sounds more like it’s anger-based rather than race-based. He was upset that his truck got towed and responded in a childish and violent manner. If “Sonya” had been a white woman, the reactions would have been the same, only with different insults.
I don’t say this to take away from racial violence, which is a real thing, and I very much agree that trump’s administration has only made it worse. It’s also true that the SPD has a long history of racist behavior, but I think the bigger issue there is that the police in general have a contempt for the citizens.
In a city, you’re going to have assaults, racially motivated and otherwise. This just seems like a pretty feeble framework to accuse Seattle as a whole of “racism embedded in our policing, housing, and institutions”. There’s some validity and definitely some history behind that statement, but the point is not being made here.
Seattle is resisting Trump?
@11: Good points. I would just say that what you see as contempt from the police could simply be the stress of their jobs and the hostility they often face.
@dwebee
not to Mention
the utter HORROR
of having a fucking
Camera record your
Every stupid mistake
@14: Yes the camera will record any and every stupid mistake by the cop and all those involved.
Yes, what happened to “French”? I saw that yesterday, and since then, this whole “article” has been re-written, and “French” was deleted, with no acknowledgement. BOOOO STRANGER!!!
Who was “French” (now deleted)?? Was French his last name or first name? I actually know a guy with the first name of “French”. Am I supposed to assume that was him?
Do better, you suck.
“It is a grim reminder that despite its liberal self-image, that violence is not an anomaly.”
“Violence” has a “liberal self-image”? Because that’s what that sentence is saying.
Phoebe dear, as you know, I work for the city and have often interacted with the SPD over my century or so of service. I appreciate that the cops have a tough job. No one ever calls the police when the news is good. But over the last few years I have noticed a marked increase in the cops being prissy and butthurt over doing their job, because they don’t feel “respected”. The salary we pay them is the respect.
@18: Well, maybe they were all having a bad day. I suggest compassion. It’s a tough job.
Someday I want to see these two old queens – Catalina and Phoebe – mud wrestle.
@7
I call bullshit, but keep us posted.
If you set a date for the big fight I’d actually drive back to the city to watch.
What is missing here is any concern for black people killing other black people. Where is the concern for that? This is more biased reporting. Police aren’t the problem, black people and Labor Union door mats are. They perpetuate crime.
When will Seattle reckon with its racism? Judging from most of these comments, not anytime soon.
She needs to do something about her anti-Semitism problem first. She has hundreds of posts supporting the October 7th massacre, supporting the taking down of an exhibit at the Wing Luke because it condemned anti-Semitism, condemning Jews as racist for objecting to anti-Semitism because she said that the black community had the right to be anti-Semitic without being taken to task, obsessively vilifying Jews will put in black people on a pedestal, claiming Hamas was more credible than the Israeli government, claiming that a few hundred people most were killed on October 7th and they were killed by the Israeli government, claiming that being concerned with the hostages in Gaza is racist and anti-Palestinian, claiming that it’s ridiculous that anybody should be concerned with anti-Semitism in the US because of the wrongs of Israel it should get a free pass.