By Erika J. Evans, Seattle City Attorney
At the pulpit and in his writings, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., returned frequently to the parable of the Good Samaritan, and urged us to measure our lives by what we do for others.
That question of service and that call to constantly see beyond the self has shaped my life, since before it even began. Growing up I heard the story often of my grandfather, Lee Evans, winning gold at the 1968 Olympic Games and using that international platform to advance the civil rights movement by putting on a black beret and raising his fist on the podium. Having won gold for his country, he reminded the world how little his country offered Black people in return.
My grandfather and his teammates took an enormous risk by demonstrating in Mexico City against the hatred and division awaiting them at home. My grandmother and the other women close to those Olympic champions of ’68 had come up with the idea for the berets and the black gloves that teammates Tommie Smith and John Carlos wore, as unmistakable symbols for the cameras.
I’m proud to have such a direct personal connection to the courage and creativity of that period of America’s political and racial history. But every one of us in this country lives within that legacy too. We stand in the shadow of the bravery and conviction that movement exemplified, from Olympic podiums to Tennessee lunch counters to bloodied bridges in Alabama.
We rightly celebrate Dr. King’s leading role in that collective triumph of the conscience by marking the day of his birth in 1929. But as I write this, the violence and hate threatening to swallow America again in 2026 make it hard not to think of the circumstances surrounding his murder in 1968.
Dr. King spent his life in service to others. He inspired and helped to coordinate a mass movement that changed the world forever. We all inherit that legacy and each of us is called to contribute to furthering it—by putting our talents and our effort in service of others.
In my case, that has meant a life in the law. For half a decade after law school, I worked as a prosecutor and line attorney in the Seattle City Attorney’s Office, upholding the law and helping keep the city safe. After a few years serving as a judge pro tempore in municipal courts around the Seattle Area, I got the opportunity of a lifetime to serve as an Assistant United States Attorney, getting fentanyl pills off the streets and cracking down on firearms trafficking and upholding our civil and Constitutional rights.
It was an honor to introduce myself in federal courtrooms by saying “Erika Evans for the United States.” At that time, the government I served still reflected the values into which I was raised.
That changed a year ago. President Donald Trump’s return to office brought a wave of hate-fueled bureaucrats who seek to twist the tools of the law into cynical weapons of repression and indignity. And so I left the Department of Justice — heart heavy but head high — and asked the people of Seattle to entrust me with the role of City Attorney. They did: with two-thirds of the vote last November.
When I raised my right hand in Seattle City Hall and swore the oath of office as the first Black person to ever serve in this role, I thought of my grandparents. And I thought of the generations of young people of color who will know, yes I can do that too.
I’m excited to put my vast experience in service to the people of Seattle. To keep us safe, both in the misdemeanor criminal trials my office is responsible for and in any civil litigation that may be required to protect Seattle communities from Trump’s hateful violence. And to help us all thrive, by shrewdly delineating between those who need to be prosecuted and those whose diseases of despair will respond well to treatment.
The nuanced work of smart justice will not always be easy. And at times we may feel we cannot see beyond the horrible horizon of state-sponsored violence against our neighbors and our values. But we can and will revive the honorable governance and peaceful harmony for which Dr. King struggled, by working hard for one another. Because the long arc of the moral universe does not bend itself – it takes many vigorous and committed hands to move history toward righteousness.
