On Tuesday evening, Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant was scheduled to host a public forum addressing an increase in hate crimes against members of the LGBTQ community on Capitol Hill. While the extent of the spike is uncertain—Seattle Police spokesperson Sean Whitcomb tells Seattle Weekly there’s been roughly a 14 percent increase in “bias” crimes from 2013 to 2014—there’s no doubt that anecdotal evidence of hate-fueled assaults and verbal harassment has created an atmosphere of fear. Whitcomb says that responding to concerns from Capitol Hill residents about the rise in hate crimes has been a priority since calls “crescendoed” last summer, adding that this “work continues.”
The work continues as well for Sawant, who says her forum is just the start of the serious discussion Seattle needs to have. Sawant sat down with Seattle Weekly prior to the forum to share her own observations of hate on the Hill.
What’s at stake: Asked what the recent violence, which seems to have followed neighborhood development, is threatening, Sawant points to the Hill’s lively history as an incubator for culture—not just for the LGBTQ community, but for artists and activists. “It’s not corporations or big developers who make the culture,” she says. “It’s working people on the ground and artists and other political organizers and activists who determine the culture. . . . People value that culture, [and] we have to figure out what can we do as a community, and how can we hold the City Council and the elected body accountable to provide a safe space for all our community members.”
A possible solution: In response to crime on Capitol Hill, some have called for more police. Sawant contends that social services are just as vital to the neighborhood’s security. “How can we make sure that there is still funding for social services?” she says. “I think that dives into the People’s Budget movement I initiated last year, which is an ongoing effort. One thing that’s striking that we brought out in our discourse on the People’s Budget is how chronically underfunded social services are at every level of government. That has to be part of the conversation.”
An overlooked issue: Physical violence isn’t the only force negatively impacting the LGBTQ community on the Hill, says Sawant. “Something we heard from the LGBTQ community consistently over the last year and a half . . . is the need to dramatically increase funds for helping those that are embattled by youth homelessness, because we know LGBTQ youths and youths of color are particularly susceptible,” she says. “So the city government has an obligation to make sure those programs are fully funded in order to make sure this is a community that’s livable for all of us.”
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