A coalition from the African American Community has been engaged over the past couple of weeks in planning for the 2016 MLK Black Legislative Day – Caravan and Rally from Seattle to Olympia on Mon., January 18.
The caravan will leave 23rd and South Jackson Street in Seattle at 10:00 a.m., with a Seattle Police Department escort, and head to Olympia, where a rally will be held at the Washington State Capitol Rotunda from 12:00 noon to 3:00 p.m. Local churches and other entities will be providing van/bus service to parishioners and other community members.
Keynote speaker for the event will be syndicated radio talk show host Warren Ballentine.
Other State African American Communities, including Yakima, are planning to join Seattle, Kent (KBAC), and Tacoma brothers and sisters in this first ever historic MLK event. “Some see things in our communities and ask Why? I see things and ask why NOT…” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Why Olympia? Simple: Because it is open and most of our demands require legislative or executive action. The Washington State Legislature is the only government entity in the state of Washington, and only a few state legislative houses in the nation, that is open on Dr. King’s national birthday celebration.
The focus of the rally will be to highlight critical issues that are negatively impacting the African American community. These issues include:
• Eliminating police brutality targeting African American males/females
• Legislative policy focused on economic vitality in the Black Community
• Work training for our youth ages 16-25
• Safety and crime prevention in impoverished communities where large populations of African Americans live.
• Improvements in educational outcomes for students enrolled in our P-12 schools.
• Disrupting the school to prison pipeline through continued efforts toward the elimination of out of school suspensions for African American Youth.
• Need to repeal I-200 Anti Affirmative Action Law in order to promote equity in hiring and as a means to eliminating racial hostility in the work place for Black professionals and others. The passing of I-200 in WA. State has created an environment of racial intolerance in the work place. Look around and see the number of African American professionals ousted from their positions in various industries (education, business, health care etc.). The NAACP receives calls on a regular basis from African Americans seeking support and who file claims of civil rights violations in the work place.
• Reforming our state’s egregious deadly force statute (one of the worst in the country according to Amnesty International) that will be in the legislative bill process next month.
Coalition Partnership/Sponsors include: School to Prison Pipeline, Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle, NAACP -WA State Chapters, Black Lives Matters, Political Destiny, The Black Collective, Tacoma APRI working with community groups (Urban League), KRIZ Radio (Black Media), Black Clergy (local African American Churches), and the Washington State African American Affairs Commission
Participants will be free to visit/lobby legislators in both the house and senate in the afternoon.
