© Amanda Voisard/for The Washington Post – Aly Conyers, 17, joins the sixth day of protests in Washington after the death of George Floyd.

TeamChild staff stand in solidarity with Black Lives Matter Seattle-King County. As lawyers for youth and young adults, we see that each of the systems we work in are designed and upheld within the structure of white supremacy to disproportionately harm Black people in our communities: education, the legal system, child welfare, housing, mental health and healthcare, and particularly policing. We further acknowledge that police brutality has a disproportionate and devastating impact on Black lives.

TeamChild continues to provide holistic civil legal representation for youth, and work toward anti-racism by challenging inequities within our own organization and finding appropriate ways to stand in solidarity with Black-led organizing efforts and community partners in our four regions to ask for direct action to dismantle anti-Black systems and policies of oppression. Our offices will be closed on Friday, June 12th and we support the demand for a statewide general strike and day of action.

We urge you to draw on the resources below (and to share new ones with us) to take action in the way that is right for you.

If you are joining a march or protest, stay safe and consider supporting a youth-led action:

• Seattle – Engage (Fri. 6/12)
• Seattle Children’s March (Sat. 6/13)
• Tacoma – Black Youth Matters March (Sat. 6/13)
• Tacoma – Stop Killing Us; I Can’t Breathe (Sat. 6/19)

Resources

Current Reading / Listening List: Black and Brown students and other Black-led organizers are demanding anti-racist action to end police violence in our communities. Read more and hear from some of them below.

• Teens have been gassed and hit with rubber bullets at protests. They keep coming back, Washington Post, 6/6/20
• Yakima School District commits to anti-racism, making change, Yakima Herald, 6/10/20
• ‘Police Do Not Belong in Our Schools.’ Students Are Demanding an End to Campus Cops After the Death of George Floyd, TIME, 6/5/20
• Take the Mic: Black teens speak out about police brutality and racism, KNKX Radio, 6/4/20

Countering Harmful Media Narratives:

In this news story from KREM2 Kurtis Robinson from neighbor organization Spokane NAACP reminds us to not get distracted by harmful media narratives and to stay focused on our relationships and on the urgent needs for change in law enforcement and the criminal justice system.

We also follow The Black Lens News in Spokane for helpful perspective.

Education and Action on Divestment from the Police and Investment In Black Communities:

• From the Movement 4 Black Lives: We demand investments in the education, health and safety of Black people, instead of investments in the criminalizing, caging, and harming of Black people. We want investments in Black communities, determined by Black communities, and divestment from exploitative forces including prisons, fossil fuels, police, surveillance and exploitative corporations
• From ‘The Guardian’: What does ‘defund the police’ mean? The rallying cry sweeping the US – explained
• From ‘Zinn Education Project’: Teach the History of Policing
• A Call to Action from COVID-19 Mutual Aid Seattle: Individual Sign On: Support the Call to Defund the Seattle Police Department
• A Call to Action and petition from King County Equity Now Coalition

For White Allies:

• Scaffolded Anti-Racist Resources

If you have resources to share that center Black voices and benefit young people and our communities during this time, please send an e-mail to [email protected] or tag us on social media: @TeamChild on facebook and twitter / @teamchild on instagram.