2002-2008
Early Efforts
Enabled by public institutions and government policy, Seattle has maintained a system of discrimination and racial inequality for most of its history. Segregation targeted Blacks/African Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, people of Mexican ancestry, and Jews.
office of Picture Floor Plans, 1964
Image 63932, Seattle Municipal Archives
Seattle is built on the traditional territory of Coast Salish peoples, who have lived in this region since time immemorial and continue to live here today. Since the arrival of white settlers in the early 1850s, Native people have been forced from their traditional lands through colonization and conflict, and with the support of federal and local laws. Asian American immigrants faced discriminatory laws and practices - including the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and Japanese internment during World War II - that prevented them from owning land and broadly limited their access to equal opportunity. Redlining and housing discrimination was legal in Seattle for many decades until years of organized efforts eventually led to the City's first open housing law in 1968. Calls for police accountability in Seattle began in the 1950s after repeated allegations of police brutality from Seattle's Black population, leading to incremental progress but with work still to be done. Urban renewal during the 1960s and 70s resulted in the displacement of many residents in predominately Black and Brown neighborhoods, as did the development of major projects such as the building of the Kingdome in Seattle's Chinatown/International District.
Legislative and policy efforts to address systemic inequity in the City of Seattle may be traced to the early 1960s. In 1962, in response to community protests and calls for legislation prohibiting racial discrimination in housing, Mayor Gordon S. Clinton established the Citizen's Advisory Committee on Minority Housing to study the issue. Ordinance 92191 established the Human Rights Commission a year later to promote equality and understanding among Seattle residents and to study, investigate, and make recommendations regarding discrimination. Following the passing of the City's open housing law in 1968, the Human Rights Department was established in 1969 and the City's first affirmative action program began in 1972. In 1978 the Department of Human Rights began administering a Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) Program, and in June 1980, Ordinance 109113 was passed to require "full and equitable opportunities" in City contracts for Women and Minority Business Enterprise (WMBE).
Office for Civil Rights 2002-2003 Biannual
Report. Box 1 Folder 6, Record Series
1802-G9, Seattle Municipal Archives
In November 1998, Washington State voters passed Initiative 200, prohibiting racial and gender preferences in state-sponsored programs. This effectively ended affirmative action in Washington's public institutions and prevented the City from setting goals for racial diversity in contracting and employment. In response, the City passed a series of ordinances in August 1999: the Fair Contracting Practices Ordinance; an ordinance to promote the use of small economically disadvantaged businesses in competing for City contracting opportunities, and an ordinance directing all City departments to promote race and gender equity in contracting.
In addition to legislation and policy, the City had offered various diversity and cultural competency training since at least the 1970s. Some City departments had been working specifically to address racial justice issues in the decade before RSJI was launched. An Undoing Institutional Racism staff group had existed in the Human Services Department (HSD) since 1993, and since 1999 the Seattle Office of Civil Rights (SOCR) had been coordinating a CityTalks Dialogue On Race program, providing voluntary lunchtime gatherings aimed at encouraging "honest conversations among City employees about race in the workplace."
In 2002, Seattle took steps towards developing a new and broadly ambitious initiative geared towards ending systemic, institutionalized racism in the City of Seattle. It would be the first of its kind in the United States.
2002-2003: Laying the Groundwork
"In this great city, we cannot ignore the fact that issues of race continue to divide us. We cannot reach our potential as a city when we fail to acknowledge issues of race and to demand that our government, as a vehicle for our hopes for a better society, do all it can to bring people together, to show the leadership, to help heal wounds in our community."
– Mayor Greg Nickels, 2002 State of the City
Soon after taking office in January 2002, Mayor Greg Nickels presented his first State of the City address and laid out the top goals for his administration. In addition to traffic, City services, and the economy, he focused on building community. He described how the work of building community would be "taken to another level, and I am talking about the most difficult topic in this nation – race." When he was in the community while running for mayor the previous year, he discussed with voters the fatal shooting of Aaron Roberts, a Black man who was killed by a Seattle police officer in 2001, and was "profoundly struck" by the different reactions he encountered. "Clearly," he said, "people have a different sense of their place in this city, their view of its history, their sense of how the city relates to them, and their perception of social justice." To begin to address this, Nickels directed the Department of Neighborhoods (DON) to "work with communities to address critical issues such as race and social justice."
In February, Nickels appointed HSD's Family and Youth Services director Yvonne Sanchez as the new Director of DON. A Race Relations & Social Justice Subcabinet was assembled, headed by DON and made up of directors from various City departments. Members of the subcabinet were tasked with initiating a dialogue about race in Seattle and making sure all City services were accessible to everyone. The subcabinet would play a key role in the initiative's organizing structure.
Justice Neighborhood Matching Fund Program
Box 3, Folder 7, Record Series
5751-13, Seattle Municipal Archives
That August, Mayor Nickels appointed Mickey Fearn from the Office of Policy and Management as the first coordinator for the initiative and tasked him with developing a working framework. The stated goals included elimination of disproportionality of all kinds, ensuring that those who are traditionally marginalized are able to participate in civic dialogue and have access to city programs and services, and aligning personnel and contracting practices with the commitment to racial and social justice.
DON began a pilot Race Relations and Social Justice program in April 2003, offering Neighborhood Matching Fund (NMF) awards to community projects geared towards improving race relations, addressing of issues of equity, fairness, and access, and building community to create stronger bonds and connections between people and neighbors. Out of 51 proposals received from a variety of neighborhood and community-based organizations 21 recipients were chosen, receiving $259,650 total in matching funds.
In early 2004, Nickels submitted a report on race and social justice work done under his administration so far. Accomplishments included DON's Race and Social Justice Neighborhood Matching Fund Grant Program, the establishment of a new Contracting Development and Competitiveness Center to help small businesses participate more fully in regional contracting opportunities, the development of a new Seattle Police Department Racial Profiling Accountability Plan, and the launch of a new "Don't Borrow Trouble" campaign combatting predatory lending practices in the greater Seattle area
discussion booklet cover, ca. 2004
Box 114, Folder 1, Record Series
3600-02, Seattle Municipal Archives
Between December 2003 and February 2004, the Seattle Office for Civil Rights' (SOCR) City Talks! About Race program presented the PBS video series "Race: The Power of an Illusion" as a free citywide training in three sessions. The series explores the origins and evolution of racism in the U.S. and illustrates how it connects to institutionalized racism. Under the Race and Social Justice Initiative, this three-part series would become a core training for all City employees.
2004-2008: The Initiative Takes Off
"What distinguishes this initiative from our past or recent efforts is that we are being intentional, strategic, and collaborative in addressing these challenges. We are sharpening the focus of our efforts. Initially we will address internal systemic challenges and forge collaborative efforts between all of our City departments, and collaboration with other public institutions and community based organizations whose missions, programs and services intersect with our race and social justice goals."
– Mayor's Race Relations and Social Justice Narrative and Framework, April 2004
By March 2004, Mickey Fearn had completed a working framework for the Race and Social Justice Initiative. Mayor Nickels moved administration of the RSJI program to SOCR, and work under the initiative began focusing on the City's internal programs and operations. A coordinating team of five OCR staff members met weekly to plan and implement the initiative. This was groundbreaking work, as it was the first time a U.S. city had ever attempted a comprehensive anti-racism initiative of this kind. In addition to working in consultation with the Mayor's Office and several City departments, the coordinating team and other RSJI organizers drew heavily from knowledgeable people outside of city government in Seattle and across the country to help develop a model for action. Tools and resources from national organizations with deep anti-racism teaching experience, such as The People's Institute, Crossroads, Inc., and Western States Center, were especially useful.
SOCR formulated a set of principles that would provide direction for the initiative's work:
- Focus explicitly on race and institutional racism
- Define institutional racism as "organizational programs, policies or procedures that work to the benefit of white people and to the detriment of people of color, usually unintentionally or inadvertently"
- Focus on root causes and solutions
- Concentrate initially within Seattle city government
- Achieve results
- Be a long-term project
- Be accountable to communities of color
- Use a community organizing model to move the work forward
Mayor Nickels requested that all City departments conduct a Race and Social Justice Assessment to identify any existing policies, practices, programs, and services addressing race and social justice issues, and identify areas where work was needed. The assessment asked departments to consider a series of questions exploring the four key areas of the initiative as a means of establishing a baseline measurement, with SOCR available to offer guidance during the process. Each department head was accountable to the mayor for creating departmental RSJI work plans, in addition to reports on progress and implementation. By 2005, all City departments had developed and begun implementing annual RSJI work plans.
Common themes arose from these initial departmental work plans and were identified as RSJI's five Central Concerns, and included Workforce Equity; Economic Equity; Public Engagement; Immigrant and Refugee Services, and Sustainability/Capacity Building. These issues continue to provide an organizing framework for RSJI work and trainings across all City departments.
Each department created its own Change Team, a group of employees from within the department tasked with guiding and supporting the department's work plan implementation and supporting its RSJI activities. In addition, a cross-departmental Core Team was assembled, comprised of about 30 people who were tasked with working on citywide RSJI issues. Core Team members received training in analyzing and dismantling institutionalized racism, group facilitation, problem solving, and strategic action planning, equipping them to provide training and facilitation for City employees and reducing the need to use outside consultants. Teams continued to be established over the years, through Core Team V in 2017.
resource fair, SOCR published regular RSJI
Bulletins to communicate information about the
initiative across city departments.
Race and Social Justice Initiative Bulletin,
Issue 7, October 2006
Box 22, Folder 6, Record Series
4616-02, Seattle Municipal Archives
A new RSJI inweb site providing resources for City employees was launched in August 2004. In an email sent to all City employees that month, Mayor Nickels encouraged citywide participation in the initiative. He also announced the introduction of optional same-race discussion groups, or racial caucuses, as an alternative approach to discussing the "tough issues" that arose when talking about race.
Significant citywide policy changes were developed in 2007, when the Executive Change Team and Core Team introduced a new budget analysis and toolkit for all departments to use when drafting budget and policy proposals for mayoral consideration. The Racial Equity Toolkit (RET) required departments to consider the racial impacts of budget and policy proposals. Mayor Nickels finalized a working definition of workforce equity in 2007 and made decisions regarding the overall policy direction for workforce equity in City government based on recommendations from the Personnel Director who relied heavily on the work of the Citywide Inter-Departmental Team (IDT) on Workforce Planning and Equity. The following year, a comprehensive Translation and Interpretation Policy was created as part of the Immigrant/Refugee Central Concern, with Mayor Nickels issuing an executive order to departments to implement it.
Julie Nelson was appointed acting director of SOCR in May 2007, taking over for Germaine Covington, and in February 2008 she was confirmed as SOCR director. In 2008, Glenn Harris followed Mickey Fearn as RSJI Manager, and under their leadership RSJI broadened and strengthened.