A recent Stranger article intending to paint me as an anti-density NIMBY (based on an email I sent to the City planning department in 2017) was only the most recent one-size-fits-all attack on Black and BIPOC perspectives from a largely white-lensed “urbanist” frame. In isolating a single email on one project, The Stranger (a vocal backer of my opponent for City Council) ignores my commitment to combating gentrification, my promotion of affordable housing in the Central District, where I rent a home with my wife, and my support for increased growth across the city.Â
More importantly, the article, through derision and isolation, completely washes over the decades of racist policies that marginalized communities across Seattle–and America–have fought and struggled to overcome to build generational wealth, establish affordability, and protect community foundations in historically redlined neighborhoods. This reductivist mentality not only precludes thoughtful discussion of community-driven priorities but also ignores the rich history of Black Urbanism in our city.Â
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