Community Post

Updates on planning for June 20th “March for Youth”

(received this via the East Precinct Crime Prevention Coalition list. Not clear why this group is trying to organize a march at exactly the same time as the Juneteenth parade which happens every year!) 

Thanks to everybody who has participated in the planning process so far. Our next meeting is set for next Thursday (6/4) 7pm at the Rainier Vista Boys and Girls Club. I’ll keep information about the June 20th march/rally up to date here <http://tinyurl.com/oqty4c> :

  • Territory & the March/Rally Location – We spent the first half of the meeting discussing the difficulty of getting kids from the South End and Central Area together at Sam Smith park, an area understood to be CD territory. We talked about several different ways similar problems had been addressed in the past, like having an event at a place outside of any claimed territory. We agreed that the most promising strategies for overcoming this problem will take longer than the 3 weeks we have to get the march together. We agreed that we’ll be successful in overcoming the territory problem for the march to the extent we have kids doing the planning, strategizing, and outreach.
  • Outreach – the most important thing we’ll being doing in the next two weeks is getting the word out to kids in the Central Area, the South End, Seatac, Tukwila, West Seattle. Angela, Tamra, Denise, John, Franklyn, Sarah, and Kim all volunteered to hand out fliers. I’ll send out an e-mail by Monday morning to get this organized.

     

    • We talked about handing out fliers at schools (Franklin, Foster, Rainier Beach, Garfield) at 23rd/Union, 23rd/Jackson, door-to-door along parade route, at businesses near parade route, at community centers.
    • E-mail [email protected] ASAP if you need fliers and I’ll make every effort to hook you up ASAP.

       

  • Police Coordination Along the Parade Route – Officer Shin of the East Precinct attended and explained to us that there will be a Juneteenth parade at the same time a couple of blocks away in the Central Area. This will stretch police resources thin in the East Precinct. We will need to have a minimum of 250 people at either march site for marchers to occupy the streets. If there are less, we will use the sidewalks, with police blocking side street intersections as we pass them along our route. Since we want to have maximum visibility/impact, I think we should move mountains to get 250 people at both marches.
  • Other Stuff – if outreach is not your bag, there are plenty of other ways you can help in the next three weeks. We’re going to need people to pick up donated food/equipment, set up and take down the rally, cook hot dogs, and all manner of other tasks. The call for other volunteers will come out in the next two weeks – please be ready to jump in and help.
  • Mother’s Outreach Movement (M.O.M.) will be screening “Bastards of the Party <http://www.hbo.com/docs/programs/bastardsoftheparty/synopsis.html> ,” a documentary about the roots of Los Angeles gang culture, in the Central Area on June 5th and the South End on June 6th. E-mail Liz Ali ([email protected]) for more info.

    Thanks again everybody for helping to make this event happen. With all this energy and commitment, if we don’t watch out we’re going to end up doing some good. Best,

206-601-5646

John Hoole ([email protected])

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