Muted Racism in Seattle

The three grievances of the black community - job discrimination, housing bias, and de facto school segregation. [1]

Seattle's 'Liberal Facade'

The history of racism in Seattle often surprises people because the city has a reputation for being very liberal and open-minded. Despite racism not being as overt and intense as it existed in the South, black communities in Seattle were still experiencing indifference and social hostilities. Seattle’s ‘liberal facade’ was problematic because it masked a much deeper story of systematic racism and oppression that was born from whites deep-seated fears and anxieties surrounding race.[2]

“ Racism does not have to be violent to be intolerable.” [3]

After WWII, Seattle saw a large increase in its black population as they came west to work in the regions defense industries.[4] As they began to integrate themselves into the city, they were continually met with discreet forms of racism, as they were unable to find jobs and were given limited housing options that were often deteriorating. The black community was being socially quarantined into Seattle’s central area.[5] This muted form of racism allowed white people to disconnect from the racist reality that existed within their city. White residents in Seattle “isolated themselves from any knowledge or concern about the local black population and its plight” by ignoring local race issues and avoiding neighborhoods that were predominantly black.[6] In their, mind there was no racial problem because there were no visible signs of racism, such as Jim Crow or hate speech, that was more prominent in the South. The enemy in Seattle and the Pacific Northwest was ultimately white indifference and ignorance of these racial issues. As we see throughout history, racism had merely shifted its form to fit the needs of the people in power.

The overlap of housing bias and hiring discrimination resulted in segregated communities and segregated schooling concentrated in Seattle’s central district. The schools that black students were forced to attend were second rate facilities with low resources and limited access to good teachers and staff, resulting in lower test scores and lower graduation rates.[7] The racial segregation in Seattle’s public school system was a direct reflection of de facto segregation because spaces that were supposed to be integrated were not due to housing and employment discrimination that left black communities confined to certain poor neighborhoods.[8] This segregation was part of a much larger cycle of racial discrimination that had embedded itself as the status quo.

[1] Quintard Taylor, “The Civil Rights Movement in the American West: Black Protest in Seattle, 1960-1970” The Journal of Negro History, (1995).

[2] Ibid.

[3] Kurt Schaefer, “The Black Panther Party in Seattle, 1968-1970” Seattle Civil Rights & Labor History Project. 2005.

[4] Quintard Taylor, “The Civil Rights Movement in the American West: Black Protest in Seattle, 1960-1970”, The Journal of Negro History (1995): 2.

[5] Kurt Schaefer, “The Black Panther Party in Seattle, 1968-1970” Seattle Civil Rights & Labor History Project, (2005).

[6] Quintard Taylor, “The Civil Rights Movement in the American West: Black Protest in Seattle, 1960-1970” The Journal of Negro History (1995): 2-3.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Brooke Clark, “The Seattle School Boycott of 1966” Seattle Civil Rights & Labor History Project, (2005).