FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 31, 2019
SpokesPerson: President, Seattle/King County NAACP EMAIL: communications@seattlekingcountynaacp.org president@seattlekingcountynaacp.org The Seattle-King County NAACP, wishes to make a statement about the displacement of women business owners in SeaTac. This is a gross injustice. The Seatac Center Mall was a deteriorating former Casino, and it was through the will and determination of immigrants, chiefly African Muslim, Latino, and Indian immigrant families to make Bokaro Mall as it’s known in the community today: the Heart of Seatac’s International District. The Seatac City Center Coalition has fought for two years to be heard by their representatives, only to be told that they don’t belong here because of their faith and the color of their skin. This is the same kind of bigotry and racism that the NAACP fought against in the Mississippi Delta in 1963, and with voter suppression in Georgia in 2018. The Seattle-King County NAACP calls on the City of Seatac and Inland Development to do the right thing, and we formally condemn the City of Seatac for their blatant indifference and racism. This must be said: Seatac is our Selma today. Just as former Alabama Governor George Wallace stood against the activists who wanted to march for freedom, Mayor Erin Sitterley and her allies on city council have time and time again stated, demonstrated, and pronounced that these Black and Brown lives do not matter to them. This is unacceptable. The only just resolution to this is for the City to come to a moral revival and acknowledge their responsibility to respect and appreciate their citizens here. Our citizens and proud business-owners must be protected and celebrated, not gentrified. No matter where they come from, the color of their skin, or the god that they pray to, they are Seatac, and here is where they deserve to stay.
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