My Hand Raised in Support of Black Lives

After the trauma of the past few weeks since George Floyd was killed by the Minneapolis police, it’s been heartening to see so much support for Black Lives Matter in the community. Although the looting and violent incidents get most of the media attention, for the most part, protests here have been peaceful.

I’ve been especially excited about the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ) in Seattle, where the police station has been abandoned and left to what Trump has called “Domestic Terrorists” – people sharing music and poetry and leaving graffiti messages. Fellow Seattle urban sketcher Ellie Doughty has excellent sketch reportage coverage of the “peaceful anarchy” that is ensuing. It feels like the ‘60s!

Quoted from a New York Times article:

“Take back your city NOW,” Mr. Trump wrote in a tweet directed at Mayor Jenny Durkan and Gov. Jay Inslee that he repeated on Thursday. “If you don’t do it, I will. This is not a game.”Ms. Durkan responded with a tweet of her own: “Make us all safe. Go back to your bunker.”

All of this makes me proud to be a Seattle native!

With so many protests going on all over the nation, I was initially extremely concerned about the crowding leading to a spike in new COVID-19 infections. I’m still concerned, but over the past couple of weeks, I’ve also seen how important the solidarity has been in healing the community. Although my heart is committed to the changes our country must make to ensure social justice for everyone, I am not brave enough to stand with the crowd and express myself. I’m grateful to people like Ellie for giving voice to the cause in a way that is especially meaningful to me – with her sketches. If I were several decades younger, I would like to believe that I would be in the CHAZ sketching with her.

I took a break from the black sketchbook to observe
National Ballpoint Pen Day