As the daughter of Mexican immigrants and a president emeritus of OneAmerica, González has been an important voice in the city’s resistance to President Donald Trump’s hateful anti-immigrant rhetoric. In the fearful first month of the Trump presidency, González sponsored an ordinance doubling down on Seattle’s commitment to immigrant communities, and assisted in the creation of a $1 million fund to help cover the legal costs of people facing deportation. Recently she proposed doubling that fund. Earlier this year, she deftly maneuvered a massive piece of police-reform legislation through a months-long process of potential pitfalls. While the legislation by no means solves Seattle’s police-accountability woes, it is an important step in the right direction. Where González has not led, she’s shown a laudable willingness to follow. In the debate over the $160 million North Precinct building, she listened to community concerns and put the project on hold. More recently she helped appoint Kirsten Harris-Talley, one of the activists who lobbied against the North Precinct, to the City Council as Tim Burgess’ replacement. Unlike González, challenger Pat Murakami has endorsed the #HousingForAllSeattle platform calling for reforms to sweeps and a dramatic increase in public-housing investment. But her actual platform features many NIMBY dog whistles, such as promising to “preserve the character and flavor of Seattle neighborhoods.” González’s inaction while police chase paupers around the city in circles is a serious mark against her, but we have little confidence that her challenger would be any more humane. Given her willingness to bend toward the moral cause on the North Precinct and other issues, we hope González will get similarly woke about our unsheltered neighbors during her second term.
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