Last Monday night was the first time I had trouble finding the scheduled protests downtown. It turns out there are such things as fair-weather protesters, and heavy rains that night reduced what might have been a crowd of over a hundred to around 30. When I caught up with them outside the McDonald’s on Third Avenue, I immediately noticed Carter.
Her bright pink parasol-style umbrella caught my attention, but it was the waterlogged box of Top Pot doughnuts she clutched with one arm that made me approach her. She had brought the donuts to boost the spirits of rain-weary protesters. Originally from New Jersey, the 51-year-old former programming director fell in love with Seattle on a trip here for SIFF and decided to make the city her home. That was eight years ago.
Are you giving out donuts? Absolutely, do you want one?
I’m good, but thank you. Do you always bring donuts to protests? Ha, no, but I like to try and bring something. I’ve been to protests before and found myself absolutely starving. I was just at the People’s Climate March in New York and someone at a local pizza place cooked up a bunch of pizzas and just put them outside his restaurant for the marchers. It was great.
You sound like an experienced protester. Have you protested in Seattle before? Yeah. I’ve been coming to these protests since the first day, when the Ferguson decision came out, but I’ve been to other protests in the city. It started with John T. Williams for me.
Are there any cases that you’re particularly connected with? You know, I think I still have the strongest connection to the John T. Williams case. I got to meet his brother and his friends, and they were some of the sweetest people I’ve ever met. I think that was also the case that felt like such straightforward murder to me. For me, whether or not the officer was guilty just wasn’t debatable.
What do you think the protests are doing to help?If nothing else, it’s getting people talking. Even if they’re just talking about being annoyed with the protesters, it’s getting the issue debated, which is good. I think the biggest problem is a severe lack of education and awareness of the issues. People don’t know enough about these cases. If they did, there’d be more protesters out here.
Why else do you think there aren’t more protesters? It takes a certain kind of person to consider themselves a protester. A lot of people are outraged, but they’re shy. They think they have to be loud and active. Or they’re scared of being arrested or getting caught up in violence.
Why do you think people have those impressions?The media does a great job at highlighting the violent outbreaks, even though they aren’t at all representative of our protests. I even asked one of the camera crews for a news station why they showed only the violent parts of a protest when I saw him walking around, witnessing the peaceful parts all night. He said simply, “It makes better news.”
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Profiles in Protest is an ongoing series spotlighting local activists involved in the Black Lives Matter protests. Read past interviews with The Maoist, The Vacuum Cleaner Salesman, The Guy Fawkes Guy, Queen Pearl, The Master Student, and The Happy Warrior.
