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Disgruntled Citizens Voice Anger Over Birk Decision At Community Forum
To cap off a controversial week in Seattle filled with protests and outrage over King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg's decision not to press charges against Seattle Police Department officer Ian Birk, who shot and killed homeless Native American John T. Williams last year, a number of Native Americans and concerned citizens crammed into the Chief Seattle Club Friday to talk about mistrust, citizen empowerment, and police accountability.
The event was billed as a panel discussion featuring city council member Bruce Harrell and representatives from the ACLU, the Seattle Human Rights Commission, and the Department of Justice. Predictably, it devolved into a forum for extremely angry citizens to voice their anger and exasperation over years of perceived police brutality and Satterberg's decision not to charge Birk with a crime.
As the microphone went around the room, not one audience member asked the panel an actual question, which put panelists like US Department of Justice spokeswoman Sandra Blair in the awkward position of trying to maintain a structured dialogue. As a small but rowdy protest raged outside on the streets of downtown Seattle, the audience members at the Chief Seattle Club told stories of police brutality, excessive use of force, and discrimination by the SPD.
The one-sided panel (no one from SPD was invited, and Mayor Mike McGinn declined to participate) led audience members to focus on Harrell, the only elected official on the panel. Harrell told the audience that over the past week the city had "witnessed doubletalk" and "ambiguity in language" over the decision to not press Birk with criminal charges and criticized the mayor for not giving a straight response to a question Wednesday afternoon about whether Chief Diaz had lived up to his expectations.
"You have to make this right or it's just a bunch of hypocrisy," one man insisted.
Harrell, who's up for reelection this year, said he planned run as a 'race and social justice' candidate.
Harrell reiterated his call to equip police officers with body-mounted video cameras, arguing it was the only way to ensure accountability and transparency. Moving forward, he told community members to ask council member Tim Burgess, chair of the council's public safety committee, to hold public hearings to get to the bottom of the city's recent incidences of police brutality.
"We have the soldiers right here in this room to make a change," Harrell said. "We are going to find a blessing in this somehow."
The event was billed as a panel discussion featuring city council member Bruce Harrell and representatives from the ACLU, the Seattle Human Rights Commission, and the Department of Justice. Predictably, it devolved into a forum for extremely angry citizens to voice their anger and exasperation over years of perceived police brutality and Satterberg's decision not to charge Birk with a crime.
As the microphone went around the room, not one audience member asked the panel an actual question, which put panelists like US Department of Justice spokeswoman Sandra Blair in the awkward position of trying to maintain a structured dialogue. As a small but rowdy protest raged outside on the streets of downtown Seattle, the audience members at the Chief Seattle Club told stories of police brutality, excessive use of force, and discrimination by the SPD.
The one-sided panel (no one from SPD was invited, and Mayor Mike McGinn declined to participate) led audience members to focus on Harrell, the only elected official on the panel. Harrell told the audience that over the past week the city had "witnessed doubletalk" and "ambiguity in language" over the decision to not press Birk with criminal charges and criticized the mayor for not giving a straight response to a question Wednesday afternoon about whether Chief Diaz had lived up to his expectations.
"You have to make this right or it's just a bunch of hypocrisy," one man insisted.
Harrell, who's up for reelection this year, said he planned run as a 'race and social justice' candidate.
Harrell reiterated his call to equip police officers with body-mounted video cameras, arguing it was the only way to ensure accountability and transparency. Moving forward, he told community members to ask council member Tim Burgess, chair of the council's public safety committee, to hold public hearings to get to the bottom of the city's recent incidences of police brutality.
"We have the soldiers right here in this room to make a change," Harrell said. "We are going to find a blessing in this somehow."
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