This article is featured courtesy of Donna Miscolta, Project/Program Manager, King County Solid Waste Division      

Luna, Alice, and Saraphina are friends. They live in the same building. They’re of different generations – Luna is a kid, Alice an adult, and Saraphina a 90-year-old widow. But these three black females are bound together by something burdensome – a fear of not being safe in the world.

They’re fictional characters in a one-woman play by local writer, performer, and educator Anastacia Tolbert. In 9 Ounces, the characters come alive, expressing in realistic actions and speech, their joy, hope, anger, and the everyday tenacity required for them to “keep it moving.”

In her review of the play, which Tolbert has performed at various venues in Seattle, writer and activist Natasha Marin describes the opening:

We see a black woman with short hair and an oversized white dress shirt and jeans trying not to smoke a cigarette.  She paces and stops in front of the audience before removing her shirt to slap her own ass, check her teeth, and admire the muscle tone of her arms. The audience is her mirror and what we are seeing is a black woman appreciating, or trying to appreciate herself. This is already kinda radical. Fer real.

King County employees have the opportunity to see 9 Ounces as part of the ESJ Literary Project. The performance is being paired with a workshop titled “Privilege, Point of View, Perception, and Poetry” that will explore the social justice issues in the play.

Using the play 9 Ounces as a foundation, we will discuss privilege, point of view, and perception as it relates to social justice issues (racism, classism, sexism). We will examine societal perceptions of Luna, Saraphina and Alice and engage in meaningful and challenging small group and large group discussions. We will actively use our creativity as a conduit for social justice poetry and wrap up with tangible ways to be better allies and change makers.  

The play will be performed at the Wing Luke Museum’s Tateuchi Theater on June 22 at 2 pm. The running length is approximately an hour and 45 minutes with a brief Q and A to follow. Attendees of the performance will sign up for the follow-up workshop on either June 26, 1:30 to 3:00 in the King Street Center 8th floor conference room or June 27, 10:30 to noon in the Chinook Building in room 121.

The performance and workshop are part of the Reflecting on Race and Racism series begun last year as part of the ESJ Opportunity Fund. The series is now funded by the Solid Waste and Wastewater Treatment divisions. The first event of 2017 occurred on March 21 and featured a panel of five literary artists who shared their poetry. Hate crimes, implicit bias, and cultural stereotypes were among the issues that arose from these works and formed the basis for a discussion facilitated by Caprice Hollins, co-author of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. About a hundred King County employees attended the event. Here are a few of the numerous comments received:

I hadn’t considered the emotional toll creating art to clarify, address and combat racism would have on artists of color. I felt disappointed in myself for not recognizing that earlier. How did I miss this very important piece of the puzzle?

The candid conversation was the most influential and thought-provoking.

This fed my soul. I think that working for the government can easily become dehumanizing with the bureaucracy and politics, so having a space which allowed for emotions and creativity completely refreshed me. This is the kind of stuff that matters to me, and it’s the kind of stuff I think we should be discussing more and more. I loved this!

King County employees can sign up for the 9 Ounces performance on the King County Employees Trainings page. Once you register for the performance, you will receive instructions for signing up for the workshop.

Members of the panel and moderator ESJ Office Director Matias Valenzuela.

King County employees had the opportunity to attend an April 26 May Day celebration focused on protecting immigrants and refugees that featured a panel of guest speakers and a spoken word artist.

More than a seasonal holiday celebrating the arrival of warm weather in the Northern Hemisphere, May 1 has also shared its stage as International Workers’ Day since the 1880s. “It’s interesting that in much of the rest of the world, May Day is Labor Day. But, increasingly, there is more activity and things that are happening around May Day here, nationally and locally in our region,” said Matias Valenzuela, Office of Equity and Social Justice Director. “Increasingly, too, our immigrant and refugee community has been very active, and the advocates have been very active during May Day as a period to fight for immigrant and refugee rights. That’s the connection that we have today, the focus on immigrant and refugee issues.”

More than 40 percent of King County’s recent population growth has consisted of those born outside of the U.S., more than one quarter of county families speak a language other than English at home, and more than 170 languages are spoken here.

Members of the panel shared stories of their organizational responses to immigrant and refugee concerns. The panel was moderated by Office of Equity and Social Justice Director Matias Valenzuela, and consisted of:

• Aneelah Afzali, founder and executive director of the American Muslim Empowerment Network, a new initiative launched by the Muslim Association of Puget Sound (MAPS)
• Mozart Guerrier, executive director of 21 Progress
• Diane Narasaki, executive director of Asian Counseling and Referral Services (ACRS)
• Hamdi Abdulle, executive director of Somali Youth & Family Club
• Mauricio Ayon, political director of Service Employees International Union Local 6.

“We are seeing a lot of fear and anxiety – as you can imagine – in light of what is happening, particularly at the time of the executive orders and the travel ban for those from Muslim-majority countries, and there are a lot of questions as well,” said Afzali, whose organization serves more than 5,000 families.

“How do we bridge the gap of all the amazing work that’s been done over so many years in this region, with folks deciding to retire – and the leadership gap – how do we make sure that the next generation of folks get the support, the skills, and the opportunity to take action in their own community so that this just doesn’t end right here, but so that we can continue to see this region progress and prosper?” asked Guerrier. “Half of my staff has varying levels of status, and almost all of us have people in our families who are undocumented, or who have had a criminalized experience. … Why aren’t we actually having concrete conversations around what access actually looks like, and not just simply making policies?”

Guerrier concluded with the thought, “When we think about migration, we often don’t think about race. Race is a very key element in how deportations occur.”

“We’re compelled to assist our community by educating the community about what’s going on, what their rights are, and what they can do in culturally competent and linguistically accessible ways,” Narasaki said. “This is why ACRS is joining with other organizations in hate crimes and ‘know your rights’ trainings to reach our community.”

Last month, King County Executive Dow Constantine and County Council passed a $750,000 funding strategy to help residents navigate the path to citizenship and support community organizations working in immigrant rights and education.

View the King County website for more information about current ESJ efforts.