Close to 500 people marched through Seattle after rallying briefly at Westlake Park and listening to words from Martin Luther King playing through a megaphone. Throughout the march, the protest would form a circle at intersections near sites relevant to issues of police brutality and almost anyone with something to say was given the opportunity to speak. Some of the younger protestors spoke through an adult translator but their passionate pleas for the right to exist spoke deeply to many, causing tears to be shed and cheers upon completion. The march wound through downtown Seattle, eventually marching to the SPD West Precinct where they again blocked the intersection. Demonstrators then walked up Capitol Hill on Pike before taking the intersection at Pine and 12th outside the SPD East Precinct. After a brief tour through downtown, the march eventually ended peacefully at Westlake Park.

Some see another Black Lives Matter march blocking streets and causing traffic in downtown Seattle, while others see another unarmed black man shot with his hands up, as was the case with Charles Kinsey in North Miami on Monday, July 18th. Kinsey, a behavioral therapist, was attending to an autistic patient in the street who was holding a white, toy truck in his hand. When North Miami police arrived, Kinsey lay on his back and put his hands in the air, but was soon shot by an officer who the president of the police union claims “The movement of the white individual made it look like he was going to discharge a firearm into Mr. Kinsey and the officer discharged trying to strike and stop the white man and unfortunately, he missed the white male and shot Mr. Kinsey by accident.”

After being shot, Charles Kinsey was flipped over on his stomach, handcuffed, and left bleeding for almost 20 minutes. Kinsey survived the shooting and recalls asking the officer why he was shot. The officers response, “I don’t know.”

Some see protest as ineffective, others see it as way for people to grieve together and find community through empowerment in taking the street. Some actions are more planned than others, some are more direct, some are subtle, but not everyone can attend every march, or every meeting, so having more than one option provides additional opportunity for engagement.

Capitol Hill Seattle blog covered the march as it made it’s way around the Pike/Pine corridor.