Dear Superintendent Juneau, Director Halfaker, Chief Academic Officer DeBacker, Executive Director Starosky, Director Bush, Senior Assistant General Counsel Boy, and School Board Members, I am writing to urge you to reestablish the partnership agreement and the MOA with the Urban Native Education Alliance (UNEA) to secure Robert Eagle Staff Middle School (RES) building facility for […]

On December 12, I brought forward an ordinance to divest the City of Seattle from Wells Fargo, due to their investment in the Dakota Access Pipeline and a series of other unethical banking practices.  The ordinance also changes the City’s financial policies to make social justice concerns a factor when choosing where to deposit public funds. […]

For the last eight months, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe has led a historic campaign against the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), uniting hundreds of tribes, environmentalists, veterans and other activists inspired by their bold stand in defense of native treaty rights and the environment.   On Sunday, millions of people around the world celebrated news […]

This Thanksgiving Day, 2016, I sent the following letter to President Obama, calling on him again to end the police violence in Standing Rock and the Dakota Access Pipeline project. November 24, 2016 President Obama, Today, as millions of people in the U.S. celebrate Thanksgiving in the warmth of their family homes, the courageous indigenous Americans standing […]

Thursday in North Dakota, a police force backed by corporate paramilitary agents and armored vehicles moved against indigenous people and other activists courageously protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline. Organizers were beaten, maced, shot with rubber bullets, threatened with automatic weapons, and more than 100 arrested for having the audacity to stand up and protect indigenous […]

On September 12, 2016, the Seattle City Council unanimously passed a resolution in solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the nearly 200 allied tribes, numerous environmental organizations, and thousands of activists who have joined in the fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline. See my remarks below. Since April, despite a longstanding media blackout, we […]

It was an honor to celebrate Seattle’s first Indigenous Peoples’ Day alongside the activists and organizers who made it all possible. This action was long overdue, and media outlets from around the nation and the world correctly recognized the importance of what we have achieved in Seattle. See below for some of my interviews from the past few […]

After weeks of collaboration with Indigenous Rights activists, on Monday, October 6th, the Seattle City Council voted unanimously in favor of Resolution 31538, declaring the second Monday in October “Indigenous Peoples’ Day” in the City of Seattle. It was an honor to work with activists to draft the legislation, and to sponsor it. Check out […]

This week the Seattle City Council passed a resolution (PDF) on immigration reform rooted in the work of El Comité. I used this opportunity to place the immigration crisis within its proper historical and economic context. Watch my speech in Council Chambers and see the transcript below. Transcript of Speech as Delivered While speaking out in support of […]