Seattle City Council 2/3/2020

Well, good afternoon, everyone.

Thank you for being here.

Today is February 3rd, 2020, and the Seattle City Council Committee, full committee of the council, will come to order.

It is 2.05 p.m., and I'm Teresa Mosqueda, the president pro tem for today.

Thank you all for joining us.

We do have a packed house up here, and we have a packed house downstairs as well.

As is true in the past, we have allowed many signs, as you can see in the audience.

If you have a large sign, though, we're asking folks to either hold them down, as I can see what the letters say, or if you want to, you're allowed to stand at the back and hold your sign, but we can't have them standing in the way of the camera.

So I appreciate you listening to the folks who mentioned that prior, but I just wanted to I mentioned that for anyone who is downstairs or any folks who are coming in now, that is why we're asking folks to keep their signs a little bit low.

If you do want to hold them, please do go to the back so that they can be held up back there.

Thank you so much.

We are going to begin our presentation today after we get roll call started here.

Before we start with roll call, I would like to have the clerk go ahead and call the roll and then I will be excusing Council Member Juarez.

Peterson.

Here.

Sawant.

Here.

Strauss.

Juarez.

Lewis.

Here.

Morales.

Here.

Council President Pro Tem Mosqueda.

Here.

Five present.

Thank you.

If there's no objection, Council Member Juarez will be excused from today's council meeting.

Hearing no objection, Council Member Juarez is excused.

As it goes to presentations, the next item on our agenda, I am not aware of any presentations today.

Wonderful.

Seeing none, we will move forward.

The minutes of the July 21st and 27th, 2020 City Council have been presented and reviewed.

I don't know what I said, but the minutes of the January 21st and January 27th, 2020 City Council agenda have been reviewed.

If there is no objection to these minutes, they will be signed.

Hearing no objection, the meeting minutes are going to be signed.

Moving on.

If there's no objection to the introduction and referral calendar, the calendar will be adopted.

Hearing no objection, the introduction and referral calendar is adopted.

If there's no objection to the agenda, today's agenda will be adopted.

Hearing no objection to the agenda, the agenda is adopted.

At this time, we are excited to welcome all of those who've come for public comment.

We are going to make sure to keep the comments relevant to anything that's on today's council agenda or our introduction and referral calendar.

I'm sure many of you have already reviewed our short calendar for today, so I know your topics will be on point.

Given the large number of people that are here, we are going to limit council presentations to one minute for individuals and two minutes for groups.

I appreciate folks staying within that time frame.

We have over a hundred people already signed up to testify and my hope is that we can get through everyone.

We will take a break at or a pause at 20 minutes in so that we can potentially consider extending the agenda to try and accommodate as many folks to speak as possible.

I will also note that I know that this has come up on the council agenda a few times prior.

There's been two opportunities to publicly testify, the first having a 30-minute time frame, the second having an hour and 20-minute time frame.

So I appreciate you limiting your comments to one minute per individual and two minutes per group.

And as you have already been told, thank you for bringing your large signs to the back there.

As folks are speaking, please don't hold up your signs too high so that people in the audience and the cameras can still see.

Aretha will be reading into the record the names of the folks who are here to testify, and we will make sure to read three names at a time.

As we read three names, please line up three at a time to each of the microphones so that we can keep this going quickly and so that we can hear from as many people as possible.

I will note that we do not allow booing.

I do not want to hear booing here.

I know that there's a lot of people here that would like to support what other people have to say.

If you'd like to show signs of support, this is going to be welcome.

And that will also keep us moving along so that we don't have to pause for applause.

So again, this would be welcome for any applausing.

But I really am going to discard booing.

With that, I want to make sure that folks have a chance to get up to the microphone, given that we do have some people downstairs.

And before we do, as per our custom, elected officials have a chance to come up first.

And so with that, I'd like to welcome up Council Member from the City of Redmond, Varishka Khan.

Do we have Council Member Khan in the audience?

Okay, wonderful.

Thank you.

Come on up.

And as she makes her way to the microphone, Aretha, could you please read into the record the first three people that will speak after her?

The first three names are Padma, Ram, and Shampad.

Wonderful.

Welcome.

Thank you, Council Member, for being here.

And is this individual with you?

No.

Okay.

Just as a reminder, we're not going to have folks stand up next to anybody who's testifying that is not there as a group.

Okay, go ahead.

Thank you for the opportunity.

As you mentioned, my name is Varsha Khan.

I'm a city council member in the city of Redmond, and I want to speak in support of the resolution today.

I believe it is an important testimony and a statement to the community that lives in the city of Seattle as well as in the wider region.

Coming from the city of Redmond, which is now...

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry, council member.

I've already said that we're gonna not have signs on either side.

Okay, so for folks who are waiting your turn, you're welcome to stand up and wait in line behind, but you need to, everybody needs to put their signs down.

Including the gentleman there.

You're not with a group.

Thank you.

I'm next.

You are, sir, but thank you for waiting and putting your sign down, I appreciate it.

Okay, so if you're not, if your name is not called, I do not want you standing behind the person testifying.

Council Member, I'm sorry for the interruption.

Please continue.

Thank you again for the opportunity.

Coming from the city of Redmond, which is a majority-minority city, and a large South Asian community, we're directly impacted by the resolution that is presented today.

Coming from the Muslim community myself, we house the largest mosque in the region, the Muslim Association of Puget Sound.

And as a community, we're currently facing a need for defense against hate crimes, against discrimination locally here in our region.

But what we face is not in isolation to the geopolitics of the world that we live in.

given the fact that we, as a large minority community or the large South Asian community, do directly have individuals with family members and folks who are not necessarily citizens of the United States yet, but who do require to go back home, there is an absolute and important need for a resolution to support the community members that are impacted by the Islamophobia of India CAA bill.

As a Muslim community member in the city of Redmond, I can attest to the fact that That rhetoric has already impacted us here locally in our region.

Community members of the Muslim community do feel unsafe because of the language that is being spread, because of the hatred, because of the bigotry that is being perpetuated.

And so I ask and I urge that this council please do stand in solidarity with an already attacked community.

We have recently, just as of yesterday, saw an expansion of our Muslim travel ban.

This resolution, in fact, is a statement against what's happening at the national level, at the geopolitical level, and stands in solidarity with the community here.

So I urge you to please pass this resolution today.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Councilmember.

Thank you for being here.

Aretha, could you please read into the record the three names that you already mentioned and the three names that will follow?

The next name is Ram.

After that is Shampad.

Then following Ram and Shampad will be Atul, Archana Sunil, Michael Parker, and Padma Ayala.

Wonderful.

Padma, welcome.

She was before me.

Oh.

Yeah, Padma.

She was first on the list.

Padma, I'm sorry.

Thank you.

Very good afternoon, everyone.

My name is Padma.

I'm speaking as a group here.

I love Seattle.

I did my undergrad, master's, worked in Seattle, and we pay tax to the city.

I strongly oppose Council Member Shama Sawant's resolution on 31926. It is totally misleading, irrelevant, and opposes basic human rights.

I'm here to share my experience on basic human rights which were violated on a PIA flight and at the transit lounge at Karachi International Airport.

A few years ago, my husband and I flew from Saudi Arabia to Bombay due to family emergency.

We had to take the immediate available airlines and got into this unfortunate, totally discriminated situation.

Our horrible experience started as we boarded the PIA flight and it finally ended only after we boarded Air India flight to Bombay.

Our feelings were terribly hurt.

We were insulted in many situations.

Staff exhibited disrespect, displayed absolute hatred in every way they could.

We were the only two Indians on that flight and were put in a state of fear just because we were Hindus and vegetarians.

We were denied the requested vegetarian meal, rudely said that we have no such thing and can offer only non-veg instead.

With the fellow passengers, the flight attendants loved conversing sarcastically off and on, insulting Hindu values, traditions, and ways of worship.

Even at the transit lounge, when we asked for vegetarian food, the response was, just one day, it is okay to eat meat.

We have meat in the salad also.

It was a total display of pure animosity towards Hindus on vegetarianism and because we continued our faith on not to eat the offered non-veg.

Having faced this horrifying situation, one can very well imagine the kind of brutality and terror these 37,000 minority people would have gone through each and every day of their life in all these three Islamic countries, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh.

My conclusion here is Indian government is offering these deserving minorities their basic right to live.

I strongly recommend Ms. Sawant to support CAA and NRC, do the best that is needed for Seattle and the United States.

Thank you, and God bless America.

Thank you, Padma.

And the microphones will be cut off at the end of the period.

And I really appreciate folks who are doing this as a show of solidarity to keep us moving forward.

Again, this at the end, if you support it, and that will keep us moving.

Welcome and thank you for waiting.

Ram?

Thank you.

I'm part of a group, so I'm speaking for three people.

So, good afternoon, Council.

As somebody who does business in the city, I urge you to vote against this resolution.

Ms. Salen's motion is based on distortions and inaccuracies, and I'm going to talk about just two of them.

There's an allegation that CAA is going to deprive over 200 million plus Muslims of India of their citizenship.

That is false.

That is categorically false.

CAA has nothing to do with Indian citizens.

Not one Indian will lose his citizenship, his or her citizenship because of CAA.

If that was the case, I would be on the other side protesting their rights.

Not a single Indian citizen will lose their citizenship.

Number two, CAA allows for expedited, fast-track naturalization of government-sponsored persecuted minorities from three countries.

Now, the key word is government-sponsored persecution.

And in these three countries, it's only Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, and Buddhists.

They are the people that are persecuted, they're converted, they are murdered.

They lack even the basic necessities and opportunities.

So I ask you, do they deserve to be killed because of their religion?

Are they the children of a lesser God?

No, Ms. Savant.

Those refugees deserve no less than you.

They are part of the one humanity.

Now, it's also alleged that CIA is discriminatory and fascist because every religious group is not covered by this law.

Again, I'm sorry, that is the height of hypocrisy.

I'm sure all of you are aware of the Lautenberg Amendment that President Obama signed, giving fast-track path into the United States for persecuted minorities within Iran.

Guess what?

It's Jews, Christians, and Baha'is are covered under Lautenberg.

Muslims are not.

Why is that?

They are not subject to government-sponsored persecution.

Now, I ask you, is President Obama a bigot because of this?

Thank you very much.

So, Ms. Savant, you know, he is not a bigot.

You know, this resolution is bigoted.

Okay, appreciate it.

Okay, the next person is Shom 5. And as a reminder to folks, if you are coming up as groups, the folks who are with you can't also speak later on, okay?

So they're making a decision to speak as well.

Okay, go ahead.

So I'm in a group, sorry.

Okay.

Hi, good afternoon, dear council members and everyone.

I am Shampad, I'm a Bangladeshi Hindu.

I just came here to show some facts.

In 2001, Jamaat BNP Allied Party came to power in Bangladesh.

As soon as they came to power, rampage of persecution started against minority.

Twelve years old girl, Purnima Shil, a Dalit Hindu girl, was gang-raped by 30 men and her helpless mother was crying, please rape her one by one.

She is too young, otherwise she will die.

That news got viral.

During that time, 10,000 rape cases were documented in Bhola Borishal in Bangladesh.

Imagine the scenario of minorities in the entire country.

Similar riots happened in 1990 as well.

The condition of minorities in Pakistan and Afghanistan is even worse.

I have personally witnessed, experienced those horrible days in 2001 where we feel hostile in our own country.

As we can't say anything on social media or anywhere, those who are opposing CAA, I just wanted to ask them a simple question.

Did those poor persecuted minorities who are already staying in India for 20 to 30 years, did they get Indian citizenship, yes or no?

If the answer is no, then CAA is a policy made by Indian government to those poor persecuted minorities, just like USA made special provisions to give citizenship to Jews during World War II under Lautenberg Act.

Why Muslims are not included?

Because persecuted Muslims don't want to go to India.

So they are not in that list.

I have Bangladeshi Shia friend, Ahmadiyya friend.

They also face persecution.

Did they went to India?

The answer is no.

The persecuted Shias went to Iran.

The persecuted Ahmadiyyas went to Bahrain.

Bangladesh gives shelters to five million Rohingyas and many other Middle Eastern countries or even Europe and USA also give asylum to Rohingyas.

But these poor persecuted minorities from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan, there has no place to go except India.

Can you show me any poor persecuted minorities from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan anywhere in the world except India?

The answer is no.

I request everyone to take decision.

Aretha, please let me know the next three names.

Thank you, sir.

The next three names are Atul, Archana Sunil, and Michael Parker.

I'll speak as a group.

OK, let me just double check.

Has your name been called, sir?

The group of Sanjay.

Your name?

Yeah, Michael Parker.

OK, great.

I was just making sure, because I thought you were part of the previous group.

OK.

I'm speaking as a group.

OK.

Sanjay and Sanjay with me?

Go ahead.

My respects to all.

I work in Seattle as a resident since 2001. It's my plea to you all to vote no for Resolution 31926. India's CAA is a path to citizenship for persecuted religious minority of Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan.

Now, who are they?

After independence of India and Pakistan in 1947, the Islamic nations of Pakistan and Bangladesh had 23% of the population that was religious minority.

Today, these numbers dwindle in Pakistan to less than 3%.

I want to ask the council, how do you think they lost 20% of the minority population, while India proudly grown its minority population from 15% to 22% during the same period of time?

I want to ask Honorable Counsel, how many Prime Ministers and Presidents did Pakistan and Bangladesh have that belonged to minority community over the decades, while India had several Presidents, Prime Ministers, and top leaders from Sikh, Christian, and Muslim community?

I want to ask honorable council, do you know how many religious minority people are killed, jailed, and punished under the draconian Pakistani blasphemy laws with atrocious scope of theirs?

Does that not tell us a glaring story on Pakistan's minority rights and how they are ruptured every day?

Hence, I urge the council to be laser focused on the laws and the spirit that we're discussing about and its intentions and not get drifted away with any preconceived impressions of India's current leaders, any prejudices formed, or any rhetoric based on a couple of news articles.

CA is truly humanitarian move, and we, Seattle, cannot be on the wrong side of the history.

Opposing India's Citizenship Amendment Act, this law, is a raw bigotry.

Please don't do this.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Archana?

Yes.

As someone who does business in Seattle and takes pride in showing Seattle to visiting friends and family, I ask you to oppose 31926. Pakistan was created from undivided India in 1947 as per the desire of the leader of the Muslim League, Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

Muslims crossed over to Pakistan and many Hindus, Sikhs, Christians and others crossed over to the newly divided India.

while some of them were unable to cross over to India, and to them Mahatma Gandhi said, and I quote, if Hindus and Sikhs in Pakistan feel unsafe and wish to come to India in the future, they can come at any time without hesitation.

It will be the responsibility of the Indian government to provide them jobs, shelter, citizenship, and a respectable life, end quote.

Dear council members, all the CAA does is fulfill that overdue promise.

Ms. Sawant's resolution conveniently ignores this truth.

From 1941 to 2015, the Hindu population in Pakistan, for example, has dwindled from 15% to less than 3% due to rape, forced conversions, and other human rights violations.

In Bangladesh, religious minorities have gone from approximately 23%- Thank you very much.

Michael, I appreciate your patience.

Aretha, I'm going to have you read the next three people after Michael.

Thank you, ma'am.

Your time is complete.

I'm sorry.

We've already seen Mr. Ram before.

You have three people.

It's welcome as a group, but it has to be three separate people, and people have already taken their time to come up.

Go ahead, Michael.

Right after Aretha.

What's that?

As a group.

Okay, can you show me who that is?

Oh, that's a shame.

Okay.

I'm going to let you speak as a group, but I want to be really clear with folks.

The group is intended to allow multiple people to speak.

I appreciate what you have to say, and I'm sorry that that was not clear, but only the three people who have not come up before can come up and speak as a group.

So we're also happy to take written testimony.

Aretha, can you read the three people that come up after Michael?

After Michael would be Padma Ayala, Shiva, I cannot say the last name, and Ashish.

Okay, Michael, go ahead.

Honorable council members, I'm happy to be here and share my personal opinion and perspective on this, and it may be unique to almost everyone in this room.

Basically, I have three direct immediate relatives who were put into internment camps here in Washington, just for being Japanese Americans.

And so it hits home when I hear about minority suffering.

And also I worked with NASA, which is the Native American Students Association in Oregon, to build their lodge at the college.

And so I've dedicated my life to indigenous struggle and to help you know, make up for the debt we owe the original inhabitants of this country.

And so basically, I went to India to see the condition of these Bangladeshi refugees.

For myself, I wanted to see on the ground what they were going through, what was their experiences.

And I was horrified to see they're totally neglected and they have no land, so they build homes hanging over sewage canals.

I asked them, where's amnesty?

Where's the United Nations?

Where's the Indian government?

Nothing.

No one's helping them.

And I haven't been able to do anything to help them.

And then when I heard about this bill, it was the first ray of hope in their lives, that now they're getting full citizenship, like every other Indian in that country of India.

And so for me, it was great news, and it touched my heart.

And then when I started seeing the protests and all that, I was confused about it.

Because I understand everyone's here, and they're very sincere in their humanitarian efforts.

And I have good news to share with all of you.

The fact is, in 2015, the Narendra Modi government gave almost 15,000 Bangladeshi Muslims citizenship in India, in 2015, years before this CAA bill came about.

And so these rumors and these lies going on that the Muslims are being forgotten and neglected is false.

And so all of you, this is good news.

It's something to celebrate.

Thank you, Narendra Modi, for helping all Indians.

The next person is Padma.

Padma?

Padma.

Hi Padma.

Go ahead Padma.

Okay go ahead Padma.

Thank you council for this opportunity and I'm here to express my opposition to member sovereigns.

Resolution 31926. My name is Padma Ayala.

I'm the daughter of Sri Subbarao Ayala, an attorney and a labor union leader who dedicated his entire life in the service of the poor irrespective of their religion, race and gender.

An asbestos shed was our house along with us lived in many Muslims and Christians.

Yes, I do come from the grassroots.

Before I speak about the CAA, I want to quote what Mahatma Gandhi once said, Hindus and Sikhs and other minorities of Pakistan who do not wish to live there can come to India.

It is the duty of the government of India to ensure a normal life for them.

So I'm not quoting Gandhi because he's father of the nation, nor he's an inspiration to many, be it ML King or Mandela or President Obama, but I'm quoting Gandhi because when the entire nation was celebrating India's first Independence Day in 1947, Gandhiji was working at the east Pakistan border, immersed in saving the lives of minority Hindus.

Are we saying Ms. Saban knows more about India than Gandhi?

The CAA is a sign of modernity and humanitarian values.

It is an extension to India's tradition of giving asylum to the persecuted masses from all over the world.

In the past, India gave asylum to the persecuted Syrian Orthodox Christians in the 4th century.

and persecuted Zoroastrians in the 8th century, and many times to the Jews whenever they were in trouble.

I'm sure, Council, you will agree with me that to understand a problem related to a country, it needs a deeper perspective.

And if the Council cannot invest such time due to their existing priorities and problems, it is understandable.

I hope the council will not fall prey to the people's greed for power and other ulterior motives.

Lastly, your vote for Kshama is a vote for rape for Hindu and Sikh minor girls.

Your vote for Kshama is a vote for minority oppression.

Your vote for Kshama is a vote against truth.

And your vote for Kshama is against citizenship to several minorities who escaped fascism.

The next person is Shiva.

Shiva, and again I'd remind folks we're losing time for people to speak when you don't do this for applause.

Shiva is next.

I work in Seattle and I'm against 31926. I'm reading from the United Nations report on the status of women in Pakistan in 2019. Quotes open, Pakistan portrayed religious minorities as second class citizens and breed intolerance, discrimination, and violence.

Christian and Hindu communities remain vulnerable, especially women and girls.

Each year thousands are abducted, raped, killed, or forced to convert or marry Muslim men.

Quotes close.

Through CAA, India is giving a life of dignity to such minorities who were fortunate enough to escape Pakistan.

Unfortunately, Mrs. Sawant has no regret for the persecuted, terrorized minorities of Pakistan and Bangladesh, as they are not her vote bank.

She is fueling her political ambitions on the bodies of minorities by colluding with the people and groups backed by Pakistan and its terror agency, ISI.

In fact, there are people here today who are from Bangladesh and Pakistan, and they are pretending they are from India and are Hindus.

And I hope you don't want to fall for that trap.

Thank you very much.

Aretha, could you please read the next three names?

The next three names, please.

Yes.

The next three people will be Jagdish Sharma, Sandesh Kumar, and Lavanya Reddy.

Thank you.

And as we do so, I want to remind folks, you're here to testify on items on the agenda, and we welcome any perspective.

We do not welcome attacks on individual council members or impugning motives.

So I just want to reinforce that.

And we'll happily hear any conversation, though, about policy.

Again, no applausing today.

We're trying to get through as fast as we can, and no booing.

Jagdish?

I'm sorry if I mispronounce that.

Aretha?

Jagdish?

Jagdish?

Oh, yeah.

Thank you.

Madam President, my name is Jagdish Sharma, Chair, Indo-American Friendship Forum, and I'm against Resolution 31926. At the economic front, we co-sponsored with the Trade Development Alliance of Greater Seattle by organizing many meetings with Greater Seattle business leaders with several ambassadors of India to the U.S.

At the social front, as a president and board member of the Ethnic Heritage Council of Seattle, we partnered with the city of Seattle to organize naturalization ceremonies at Seattle Center for almost six years.

In my humble opinion, Council Member Sound has a lot of misinformation about CAA and NRC, unfortunately.

CAA does not take away the citizenship of any Indian citizen, including 200 million Muslim citizens.

Rather, it provides citizenship to the persecuted minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan.

It is very similar to our Lautenberg Act.

NRC is a separate process.

NRC rules and procedures for the country are yet to be decided.

NRC is merely a normal process to register individual's name in the citizen's register.

Citizenship of any person is decided on the basis of the citizenship rules on 2009. For a diverse and cosmopolitan city like Seattle, which has a history of communal harmony and brotherhood, The resolution may act as a major divisive force.

Such a resolution also have detrimental effect in the overall context of the Indo-U.S.

relations.

And Seattle has very challenging issues right here.

Homelessness, affordability, crime, safety.

I think we should focus on those ones, rather save our energy resources.

I strongly urge all the council members.

Appreciate it.

Thank you for your patience, mister.

Thank you very much for your patience, Shiva.

I am Shiva Varadarajan.

I oppose this resolution.

Working in the downtown area for over a decade now, it's common for me to witness homeless people on the streets, many under influence of drugs, or even administering one themselves.

It's a very common scene for me.

I walk my parking lot to my work, making me ponder every day what city can do to address such a crisis.

Shouldn't our focus be Seattle's own problem and take up this issue?

The emotionally charged opposition, Ms. Sawant's lobby, is indulging in sheer fear-mongering and dividing Seattle communities for easy political brownie points.

I see it feeding off of misconstrued conjecture, leading to fear-mongering and hatred.

It's potentially leading to an unrest, the same kind of unrest which we saw in India, where we saw trains torched by miscreants.

And this just happened very recently.

The population of minorities in Pakistan and Bangladesh went down from 23% to under 2%, a massive cleansing of minorities in millions, which means either they were converted or they were migrated, which I don't know which country is welcoming them, or they were eliminated.

Empirically speaking, any remaining minorities in this country would perish in few years from now if no action is taken.

If this trend continues, what would be the answer the council has when it becomes zero in those countries?

Section five of Indian citizenship law currently allows any migrant from any nation to come to India All this law does is fast track citizenship for few thousands of deprived, persecuted minorities and nothing more.

It's fast tracking it from 11 years to 12 years to six years.

And that's it.

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much.

Santosh.

Thank you, sir.

I'm Santosh Kumar.

I'm a resident of Seattle University District for the last 35 years, or actually 50 years.

I am against the resolution, and I have a few points to make.

First, in today's gathering, you will notice the banner saying genocide in India.

Yes, there is a genocide in India, but it's a genocide of Hindus in India.

The Hindus in 19...

Hindus in 1950 made 80% of the population.

Hindus today in India make only 65% of the population.

That's point one.

The other major point is that India has had several million people arriving in its territory from the neighboring countries over the last, let's say, 50 years.

Now this group of people consists of two groups.

Group A, who are 200,000, They are the persecuted non-Muslim population for which the government of India has laid a CAA Act, which is a fast track citizenship track.

And you are hearing.

For the second group.

Thank you, sir.

That's your time.

Council members, we have hit the end of our 20-minute time period.

I would like to ask for the Council's indulgence.

If it pleases the Council, I would like to suggest that we continue to hear public comment for at least another 20 minutes.

If there's no objection to the public comment period being extended another 20 minutes, I'll say 22 minutes, to get us exactly to 3 p.m., I'd like to entertain that suggestion.

Hearing no objection, and a thumbs up.

Thank you, Council Member.

We are hearing no objection, and so we are going to go ahead and extend the council comment period for another 22 minutes to 3 p.m.

Aretha, please read into the record the next three people, and I know we have one person up in the ducket, too.

Okay.

The next person up is Lavanya.

After Lavanya will be Venkat Iyer, Guru, number 14, Amrik Singh Kamal, and Payavi Brave.

Wonderful.

Thank you.

Lavanya, thank you for your time, for your patience.

Lavanya, your time is starting.

I'm Lavanya Reddy.

I'm the Vice President of the National Federation of Indian Associations.

Go ahead.

Pardon?

Okay, greetings of peace.

I'm Lavanya Reddy, Executive Vice President of National Federation of Indian Associations, and I live 30 years in Seattle.

I'm against 31923 resolution today.

Seattle has major drug and homeless people problems, and we have violence on the roads, and gun shootings, and very safe fourth avenue.

Every day we look at them and wonder what Seattle Council is doing, okay?

And your resolution won't affect India, it affects us, the people who are living in Seattle.

You should build bridges, not burn them, okay?

You are dividing among us.

And Seattle was declared as a sister city to Hyderabad by Christine Gregoire a few years ago.

And it would affect business and trade with India.

And India gave $80,000 Gandhi statue to Washington as a gift.

and we were working 15 years to get the Indian consulate in Seattle.

If you pass, you deprive us that opportunity.

And I would ask one question to Sabah, because if you deprived India who gave you birth, what is the guarantee tomorrow you don't deprive United States?

Answer me, please.

Okay, the next person is Venkat.

My name is Venkat Iyer.

I'm a resident of Seattle area since 1997. Now I'm here to present my case against Resolution 31926 because this resolution is based on blatant lies and it's an attempt to mislead the Seattle City as well as the community for ulterior motives.

Let me start out by saying that India got partitioned in 1947. Before partition, the India's founding father, Mahatma Gandhi, basically promised the minorities of Pakistan and Bangladesh, which used to be East Pakistan, that if the minorities in those countries felt unsafe, they could always return back to India.

Now let me give you an example of the atrocities that is happening in Pakistan and Bangladesh.

On January 26 of this year, just a week ago, a minority Pakistani woman was abducted from her wedding ceremony.

a repeat wedding ceremony, forcibly converted to Islam, and married off to a Muslim man.

The Pakistan Human Rights Commission has stated this is not an isolated incident.

It says that over the last 15 years, 7,500 cases have been reported just in the province of Sindh, and the national score runs into tens of thousands.

A minority population of Pakistan has dwindled by 8x.

over the last 50 years, and in Bangladesh by 3x.

That's nothing but genocide.

That's nothing but ethnic cleansing.

Okay?

31926 is based on complete lies.

It does not take away citizenship of the 200 million plus Indian Muslims as is being coded.

India doesn't stop Muslims of other countries or anybody else from acquiring citizenship.

In fact, the most famous Bollywood singer Adnan Sami was born in Pakistan.

He's now a proud Indian and was recently awarded the Padma Shri, which is the highest civilian award one can get for excellence in music.

This resolution is blatant lies.

It's been brought up here to promote divisiveness in the community.

I would strongly urge you all to reject it.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Guru?

Guru?

Is that you?

Oh, hello.

Thank you.

Go ahead.

Good afternoon, Council Members.

I am actually Amrik Sinkimo and I'm from National Federation of Indian Associations.

And I have been living here in Seattle area for the last about 41 years.

I lived in Seattle, but now I have a business in Seattle.

Citizens Amendment Act and National Registry of Citizens are not discriminatory to any minorities.

CIA gives the legal status to those minorities living in India before 2015 from Islamic states of Asia where Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Christians and other minorities have been constantly either converted forcibly or simply killed or for the last about seven to eight decades.

India, unlike any other country in the world, is the only country that give protection to the minority through CAA.

Now, I want to give you some Google research.

Hudson Institute talks about minority population.

And also, Farhanaz Esfani, who is the media advisor to the president of Pakistan from 2008 to 2012, she write in her book, purifying the land of the pure.

Basically the stats are the non-Muslims in 1947 comprised of 23% of the population.

Now by 2011, that population has gone down to 3.7%.

In Bangladesh, non-Muslim comprised of 22% of the population and their share in 2011 fell to 7.8%.

Minorities continue to suffer and turning to India as a savior.

CAA benefits over 31,000 Hindu, Sikhs, Christians, Jains, and Parsis by granting them legal status.

It is equivalent to the MNSC law that we are all asking here from our government.

India is the largest democracy and enjoys a great relationship with our country.

Let's try to understand the issue.

Ask those who are getting the citizenship.

Thank you very much.

And you were Amrik, is that correct?

Okay, thank you.

I accidentally missed Guru.

Okay, thank you.

Please go ahead.

As an immigrant citizen of this country for the past 12 years, I'm here to speak against the resolution by Council Member Kshama Sawant.

Let me begin with a list of legal laws and verdicts the council must go through to understand the CAA and NRC before making a call.

The CAA is based on the Foreigners Act of 1946 and the Citizenship Act of 1955 and about six subsequent amendments in 1986, 1992, 2003, 2005, 2015 and as recent as 2019. But as the NRC is based on an act called an IMDT Act, which was Illegal Migrants Detention Act, Prevention Act of 1983, and Assam Accord of 1985, and the Supreme Court of India verdicts of 2005, 2006, and 2014. I hope the council took the time to read, understand, and assimilate these acts, amendments, and laws before deciding to hear on this resolution.

If not, it runs the risk of hurting the very democracy it attempts to protect by fanning the separatist forces.

There are three key questions to this council that I want to propose.

What are you basing your decisions on?

Laws of the world's largest democracy?

Or a newspaper at your local coffee shop?

Who are the real minorities that you are supporting?

one agreed to by the Supreme Court of a sovereign nation, or one invented by the media.

What are you supporting?

Largest democracy in the world, or separatism masquerading itself as liberalism?

Resolution 31900, passed by this council on 9th September 2019, starts with reclaiming the inherent responsibility of the city to protect its most vulnerable populations.

Ask yourself if it is wrong for a country to do the same.

Thank you.

And please introduce yourself.

Pallavi.

Thank you.

Go ahead.

Mehak Keshwani, Nimita Chandan, Jagjit Kaur were abducted, raped, and forcibly converted in Pakistan.

Nimrata, a medical student, was brutally murdered afterwards.

These are just three names out of over 1,000 girls from Hindu, Sikh, Christian, Jewish, and Buddhist communities that face the same fate as Nimrata or are sold into the Chinese flesh trade.

Dear council members, imagine yourself or your daughters in Mehak's or Jagjit's place.

Washington State is among top 10 in settling refugees.

Can Washingtonians in good conscience denounce a humanitarian law that embraces refugees and offers them a life of dignity?

A vote against CAA is a vote against humanity.

Please reject Resolution 31926. I thank you for the opportunity to speak.

Thank you for your time.

As we started with the Council, we have asked individuals who are elected to come to the microphone in advance.

I want to apologize to Council Member Raees Khan, who's a Council Member from the City of Mukilteo.

If the Council Member is here, they're welcome to come up to the microphone.

Welcome, Council Member.

And then after that, I'll read the next three items.

Deepra and Group, Anila and Group, and Mashish, Care and Group.

Go ahead, Council Member.

Thank you for waiting.

Thank you so much for giving me a chance.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Go ahead.

Council Member, I just want to start.

I'm going back so many years, what happened in India.

India used to be ruled by all the Muslims, and the Muslims built basically India.

The Taj Mahal, I'm telling you, I'm telling you.

What Muslims have built?

Muslims built Taj Mahal.

Sir, just one second.

Everybody, we've been really good- Muslims built Taj Mahal.

Sir, Council Member, one second please, Council Member.

Everybody, we're going to continue with public testimony.

You've been really great about letting folks talk so far, so please continue.

So we all, when I say the Muslims right, we Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, and everybody, we got together, we built India.

Okay?

Then we built a Taj Mahal.

Qutub Minar.

Who built a Taj Mahal?

We were so pleased with everyone, but now it started with a person who has two fake degrees and putting the Muslims down.

This is very unfair.

So today, right, we are here.

We left our jobs.

We left our home.

We are here to ask something.

It's called equality.

So we are here to ask everyone here in the council to give us a chance.

Listen to the people who came from far places.

This is NCR.

Why?

I mean, if something is happening, it should happen to everyone.

So why are we here today?

If something happens to India, should happen here same way.

How we feel the pain here.

Today we are suffering.

We should help everyone, including Muslims, Sikh, Hindus, everyone.

There is opposition.

Why they are supporting?

I mean, we want to have a peaceful life like everybody else.

I mean, what's going on, what happened in India?

Why?

People come and go.

We have seen so many Modi's, we have seen so many people, there's so many kings, the presidents that come and go, but our values should remain the same.

Today we are here, a banner called togetherness.

We have to bring the peace, justice to everyone.

We should give chance to all the people.

around the world to live peacefully.

Like citizenship paths here, right?

Just like United States, they might have same thing over there too.

But add Muslims, add everyone, add everyone people who deserve the citizenship.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Council Member Khan.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Khan.

We appreciate your time and you're welcome to Seattle anytime.

Thank you, Council Member.

We have Deepra and group.

Ma'am, ma'am, we are going to continue reading.

Deepa and group.

Thank you.

Thank you.

My name is Deepa Sivarajan.

I'm here with the Coalition of South Asians who have come to ask you to vote yes.

Everybody.

Okay.

Ma'am, ma'am, we are going to try to get to everyone.

We're going to try.

People, folks, what I've done, all right, we're gonna have to shut this down.

We have had 50 minutes of individuals coming in to speak as groups.

What I'm trying to do is get as many people in as possible, recognizing there's folks downstairs and upstairs.

I will ask those who are being disruptive to leave if we have to.

What we have in front of us is a list of groups that have come.

I have read three groups, I have read three groups, and we will continue with the list.

I know, and I'm going to go back.

So, right now, we have already entertained 50 minutes.

We will end public testimony if these three groups go forward.

We are going to hear from three groups, folks.

Three groups.

All right.

I'm coming back to the list.

I'm coming back to the list.

At this point...

At this point, Council Colleagues...

Can you please listen to the council president?

I have tried, I have tried to make sure that we get through this list.

Right now we have over a hundred people who have signed up.

What I have done, what I have done is I've allowed for the first two full sheets to happen.

However, we have a bunch of folks who've also signed up downstairs and I've asked three groups to come up to represent as a group.

Now, we're gonna do those three groups.

those three groups and we will resume with the list as long as we can.

The alternative is that we end public testimony.

We're going to go ahead and take a recess.

I'll take a five minute recess.

Five minute recess.

That's okay.

So everybody, I apologize for the delay.

I understand that folks were concerned about the process that I outlined, so let me get through the next few announcements without interruption, please.

My intent was to try to get through as many people as possible, and in doing so, allow groups to have a little extra time.

I looked for items on the names that had groups.

I understand that caused frustration because many people have been lined up for a long time.

I do want to hear from as many people as possible.

So what I'm going to do is ask for our council colleagues to consider extending public comment for another 15 minutes.

I will go back to the list, which does appear to be individuals.

I apologize to the groups that have also signed up that are not able to speak today.

I will have to cut off public comment at 15 minutes.

I will say that we have received hundreds of emails.

And those individuals who are waiting downstairs, I know that you also have waited a long time to come upstairs.

And so my intent was to try to get some folks from downstairs as well up.

But what we're going to do is we are going to have the list I will read through the next 15, sorry, for the next 15 minutes, and I will go back to the individuals that were next on the list and not search for the groups.

It was my intent to try to get groups up.

And so I do apologize for the missed opportunity to hear from the folks who aren't able to speak today, but we would love to take written comment and appreciate your understanding today.

With that, council colleagues, I would like to ask for you to extend public comment for another 15 minutes to 318. Hearing no objection.

Did you have a comment?

Yes, as long as proper decorum is put in place, you know, no shouting, no jeering.

I would like to see good decorum for the remaining 15 minutes.

Everyone here has been very patient and very listening.

So please respect the President Pro Tem's requests and I will back you up on that.

Thank you very much, Council Member Strauss.

We appreciate that.

Hearing no objection, The public comment period is extended 15 minutes to 3.19.

I also recognize that Council Member Lewis, you have a hard stop at 4 and you have the five items on the agenda.

So we are going to get to your items before the 4 p.m.

period.

With that, I do apologize for the confusion and I would love to take your written comment because I'm going to go back to the list of individuals.

The next three people to speak are Bakiti, Joshi, Sashi, Shinji, and Aretha, could you mind reading the next individuals?

The next three names are Bhakti Joshi, Shashti Singh, and Dhirendra Dhawar.

That is numbers 17, 18, and 19. Go ahead, ma'am.

Thank you very much for your consideration, Council.

I really appreciate it.

Good afternoon, my name is Bhakti Joshi.

I request you to vote no for Shama Sawant's Resolution 31926. I have maintained sources of information that I'm about to share here.

I'm going to read the names, simply read the names of the girls of marriageable age from the countries covered by CAA.

These girls were abducted, forcibly converted, or forcibly married only because they belonged to minority in those countries.

Number one, Jamna, age 12, place, Sajawal, Sindh.

Number two, name, Rinkal Kumari, age 19, place, Mirpur, Sindh province.

Number three, name, Namrita Chandani, age around 20, place, Bibi Asifa Dental College, Larkana, Pakistan.

Number four, name, Jagjit Kaur, age around 20, place, Nankana Sahib, Gurdwara, Pakistan.

Number five, Anwar Masi's daughter.

Thank you, ma'am.

And we're happy to take your written comment.

The next person, Shashi.

Good afternoon, everyone.

I am Sashi Singh, and I am here to oppose Ms. Chavan's Resolution 31926 against CAA, NRC, and India.

The CAA provides fast-track citizenship to prosecuted people of minorities from India's three neighboring countries.

who have been living in India before December 31st, 2014. They were living in those countries without basic human rights.

The CAA passed in the Indian Parliament with the support of India's opposition parties.

Right now the NRC is not any issue at this stage because it's implemented only in one state of India on Supreme Court's order and supervision.

And the statement regarding NRC in the resolution are incorrect.

I request the council to support CAA.

It provides opportunity to the prosecuted minority.

Thank you, ma'am.

The next person is Pradeepra.

The next person is...

Sir, we're only doing one minute so that we can get through as many people in this 15 minutes.

My name is...

I work in Seattle.

Resolution 31926. There you go.

Thank you.

NRC is not yet law in India.

Speculating about NRC is like planning for divorce before marriage.

NRC was carried out only in the state of Assam because of an agreement in 1984. Assam is complicated because of the presence of a large number of refugees due to Pakistan's genocide in Bangladesh in 1971. I'm listing the following 24 documents that are valid proof of citizenship in Assam.

1951 NRC, electoral rolls, land and tenancy records, citizenship certificate, permanent residential certificate, refugee registration certificate, passport, LIC, any government-issued license certificate, government service, employment certificate, bank post office accounts, birth certificate, board university educational certificate, court records processes.

If you do not have any of the above documents, an additional eight common documents such as a ration card or land document of a parent, grandparent, or great-grandparent are valid.

There are tribunals and courts one can appeal to.

Ms. Sawant's resolution is misleading and fear-mongering on NRC.

Here is also a petition signed by over 11,300 Indian Americans asking you to reject this divisive resolution which doesn't even concern your taxpaying constituents.

Thank you very much, sir.

And we will have you take the document.

Appreciate it.

Maritha, could you read the next three people, please?

Yes, the next names are Manothar, Kiran and Nagarishwara.

Okay, do we have Manothar?

Okay, thank you.

Respect council member, Namaste.

My name is Manohar.

I live in Redmond.

I'm here to speak against Resolution 31926 and all my personal views.

The Resolution 31926 is deeply flawed, misguided, and will negatively impact the state of Washington and U.S.-India relationship.

Not only should this Council drop this resolution, I request Council to support India's CAA because it protects the most vulnerable people, grants them the religious freedom they were denied and persecuted in their home country, Please kindly help our extended family, friends, brothers, and sisters who are in the deep need.

Make their dream of freedom come true by opposing the resolution 31926. Thank you.

Thank you.

Kamir?

Kirman?

Kiran?

Okay, and the next three, Aretha?

The next three are Nagueshwara, Milind, and Rama.

Wonderful.

Go ahead.

Namaste, everyone.

I am Nageshwara, and I'm living in Seattle in the last 10 years.

And I request honorable council members today to reject Resolution 31926. Let me talk about what CAA is created for, right?

So, CAA is created to provide the citizenship in a fast track for minorities who are persecuted in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan.

CAA does not talk about or intend to remove citizenship for anyone in general.

NRC is also mentioned in the resolution.

So NRC is mandated by the Supreme Court.

It's not by the government, but by the Supreme Court of India itself in the state of Assam, so that the state will know clearly who the citizens are and thereby helps the government to provide all those benefits and the subsidies to the state citizens and the country citizens rather, so that they all enjoy all the benefits like anybody else.

And India provides, by the way, reservations to minorities like unlike any other countries and I strongly request Thank you, sir.

Appreciate it.

Next.

Go ahead, sir.

We have Milan.

Okay, Milan, Rama.

Okay, Rama.

My name is My name is Bilin Kulkarni.

I'm a District 7 voter in Council Member Lewis' district.

I support Seattle as a welcome city to all.

My name is Milind Kulkarni.

I'm a District 7 voter.

I support Seattle as a welcoming city to all.

I ask you to vote no on this resolution because of the following questions.

Question number one, are you 100% sure that this resolution makes factually correct statements on which you can put your own credibility online?

Question number two, has the council had a chance to review the history of 4,000 years history of India, its culture, and how it shaped people's sentiments?

Question number three, have you studied human rights violations in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh to understand the necessity of India's Constitutional Amendment Act?

And question number four, are you sure that the council is not being played by extremist ideology?

Please say no.

Thank you.

Rama?

Rama?

I am here today because I believe in humanity and it is my responsibility to show solidarity and support for all those millions of persecuted minorities who are already killed brutally in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

And those who escaped those persecution and seeking helping hands, India has taken the step to embrace them and provide the path to better life and future in India through CAA.

That is the symbol of true India, where every single citizen of India is treated with dignity and lead life with no discrimination on religion, caste, creed, and sex.

It is very evident from the fact that how minority population has increased and flourished in India since independence.

At the same time, you have to note down that minority population has been persecuted and decreased in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan.

It is my moral responsibility to oppose 31926 resolution on this ground, and I'm here with the belief that the honorable council members will verify facts and not spread by myth and lies.

Thank you very much, sir.

The next three council members, or the next three public speakers, Aretha.

Anu Kumar, Rahul Talambal, and Manohar Bodke.

And those last two folks, just a reminder, we're going to do one minute for everybody here.

Go ahead, sir.

Good afternoon, brothers and sisters of Seattle.

I'm here to request you to reject the resolution 926, which is against CAA and the persecuted minorities.

And after gathering all the thoughts here with all the folks present here, I'm actually left with only this piece of paper.

which is not a Facebook post, this is a reality check of what is going on till today.

Even now, as we speak, many of our sisters, daughters and mothers are being persecuted even now.

It's not an issue that is done and dusted, it is still ongoing and this is the fate of many of the non-Hindus.

sorry, the state of non-Muslims in Pakistan, and this is a recruitment program from Pakistan Rangers that allows the non-Muslims to be only part of sanitation workers or sweepers or cleaners.

So this is the reality that we are actually opposed to, and we want to protect those minorities.

Thank you.

God bless America.

God bless humanity.

Raul?

Hello.

Honorable council members, I'm Rahul Tarambale, working in Seattle.

I'm here to oppose Kshama's 31926 resolution.

I just want to share one thing.

My 12-year-old read CAA, and he told me, you know what?

The citizens who will lose citizenship because of CAA from India, including Muslims, other religions, caste, women, LGBT, the number is zero.

Nobody's going to lose citizenship.

Since through various authentic sources it is established that the details in the resolution are incorrect as a law-abiding citizen and taxpaying citizen, I would urge council members to focus on current burning issues in Seattle.

Can we make Seattle safer?

Can we solve day-to-day issues?

Can we improve living condition of homeless and needy?

That will justify my tax money.

This beautiful city will always be welcoming city to everyone, but such resolutions which spread fear based on the lies, factually incorrect data driven by political ambition.

Thank you.

Thank you, Manohar.

And we're happy to take written testimony.

Aretha, the next three names, please.

Yes.

Number 27, Manohar Bodke, Keshav Murthy, Anyeha Singbotar.

Sorry, I can't read the handwriting.

And one more.

One more.

Suresh Pearson.

Thank you.

Go ahead, please.

Hi, my name is Keshava Murthy.

I'm associated with several Indian cultural associations here in Seattle.

Just speak a little closer.

There you go.

So I am here to oppose, I repeat, to oppose Shama Sawant's Resolution 31926. I support India's CAA.

It is one of the best human rights acts passed in that region.

CAA is exactly what Mahatma Gandhi, who is the world's greatest human rights champion, So soon after independence, he proposed, like, after, like, it's CAA.

At that time, Mahatma Gandhi said, India should accept and give citizenship to any religious minorities from Pakistan.

At the same time, like, all the other, like, you know, from since that time, there are several political leaders who also, like, proposed the same thing since then.

So CAA is passed by Indian Parliament, which is the world's greatest democracy, with a majority of four to one.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you for waiting.

I have a few questions for you guys.

Do you guys really have so much time to understand thousands of years of history of India?

What happened?

and then intellectually vote on the resolution with your full conscience.

I don't think so.

Solve my issues.

I am a taxpayer.

I want my city, Seattle, to be improved and I want my city to be made better.

Invite jobs.

Why are we here talking about some different, biggest democracy in the world and discussing what they should do?

Why should we poke our nose in there right now?

And when we have similar laws, why are we voting on some hypocrite resolutions?

I have a few more things.

Why are we here wasting so many taxpayers' money and talking about this resolution, which is not going to produce anything?

You don't have legal authority, definitely.

And who gives you moral authority to talk about something which happens in the biggest democracy?

Solve my problems at home and reject this resolution and stop wasting time.

Okay.

Go ahead, sir.

Go ahead.

My name is Manoj.

I'm here to suggest the council members strongly oppose the momentum.

I have some few points to share with you.

Number one, after CIA came to exist, two Pakistani Muslim women got citizenship.

Haseena Bain in Gujarat and Kandiji in Pakistan.

Poonch Jammu Kashmir.

The second point I would like to point here Pakistan's first law minister who was a Dalit has to flee Pakistan in six months because of He was against the minorities and Dalits in Pakistan.

And he resigned.

If CAA was there, probably he would have been lived there and a citizen in India, as a citizen of India.

So I strongly support CAA and I advise the council members to oppose.

Thank you.

And because we called your name right before 319, go ahead, please.

I'm Sirish Fazil.

As a greater Seattle resident, I oppose Ms. Sawant's resolution of 31926. Not just this council has a local standing, also it has completely based on narrative of anti-India forces.

CA does not have a single word of exclusion.

Rather, it gives citizen rights to prosecuted minorities in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan, who are waiting for justice for over 70 years.

Coming to mass hysteria of CAA plus NRC, basic question to ask is, does scope of CAA extend to application to National Wide NRC?

No, not at all.

CAA has a cutoff date, December 2014. Claiming CAA will benefit to people excluded from National Wide NRC on a future date is illogical, absurd, and misguiding.

Ideally, discussion should be on atrocities on minorities in these countries and their motivation of the persecution.

Is this resolution attempt to whitewash these atrocities?

Unfortunately, victims have no say in this process.

Seattle has big problems, so council members have to spend their resources effectively.

Thank you very much, sir.

I want to acknowledge that there's many people who've signed up who didn't get a chance to testify today.

So to those listening downstairs and to those in the room, we appreciate you being here.

I apologize for the confusion earlier.

This is my attempt to try to get as many people heard as possible.

So, and to my colleagues, apologies for having to take an intermission so that we could actually hear as many people as possible.

We are going to, at this point, close public comment and we are going to move to the first item of business.

I will warn folks, though, that as we move forward with today's agenda, I know that there is going to be a vote on this today, and there's going to be people who are supportive and people who are not supportive.

We want to make sure people can hear the process.

So if there is another disruption like the one we had earlier, I will unfortunately have to ask for the room to be cleared.

Please continue to show support or disapproval in the hand motions that you have been doing, but we need to get through the rest of today's agenda.

So thank you again for your understanding of where we are at, and I appreciate those who publicly testify, and to those who didn't, I look forward to hearing more from you as you continue to send emails and communicate with us, and apologies that you did not have a chance to speak today.

Please read into the item the report from City Council.

Please read item number one.

Oops, let's do payment of bills.

Please read the title.

Council Bill 119737, appropriating money to base our ardent claims for the week of January 20th, 2020 through January 24th, 2020 and ordering the payment thereof.

Council colleagues, I move to pass Council Bill 119737, which is just the payment of bills.

Second.

It's been moved and seconded that the bill pass.

Are there any comments?

Seeing none, please call the roll on the passage of the payment of bills.

Peterson.

Aye.

Sawant.

Aye.

Strauss.

Aye.

Lewis.

Aye.

Morales.

Aye.

President Mosqueda.

Aye.

Six in favor, none opposed.

The bill passes and the chair will sign it.

Please read the report to City Council, item number one.

The report of the City Council, agenda item one, resolution 31926, reaffirming Seattle as a welcoming city, expressing the Seattle City Council solidarity with the Seattle South Asian community, regardless of religion and caste, and opposing India's National Register of Citizens and Citizenship Amendment Act.

Wonderful.

This has been introduced by Council Member Sawant.

Council Member Sawant, I'll ask you to do an intro to this, and I understand there's an amendment.

Council Member Sawant.

Thank you President Mosqueda and with your indulgence I want to make several remarks and I appreciate in advance my colleagues bearing up with that and also I wanted to just add as you said President Mosqueda that Councilmember Lewis has an amended version of it which I'm going to support.

But before that, I want to make these comments.

And also, if you would let me make some closing remarks after others have spoken.

I'm hoping that maybe we can have the majority of the comments at the end for the closing, if possible.

Go ahead.

Go ahead.

Okay.

Thank you.

By approving this resolution, the Seattle City Council will show that the city's legislative body will stand with the widespread protest movement, courageously facing brutal police oppression throughout India against the National Register of Citizens, the NRC, and the Citizenship Amendment Act, the CAA, which, in tandem with each other, threaten to strip away the basic rights of hundreds of millions of people.

By approving this resolution, the City Council will go on the record opposing religious persecution and Islamophobia, the discrimination, scapegoating and oppression of Muslims, poor people and marginalized communities by the Hindu fundamentalist regime of the Bharatiya Janata Party or the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

By approving this resolution, the City Council will show that we understand that the fight against the right-wing and bigoted agenda of the BJP and of Modi is not separate from, but in fact inextricably linked with the struggle of American progressives against the bigoted agenda of Trump and right-wing Republicans.

That we cannot fight Trump's Islamophobic agenda if we also do not oppose the rise of the far-right globally.

Only late last week, the Trump administration expanded the Islamophobic and racist Muslim travel ban to include six additional countries.

By approving this resolution, the City Council will urge the United States Congress to support legislation censuring the Indian BJP government for adopting policies that are discriminatory to Muslims, oppressed castes, women, indigenous, and LGBTQ people.

By approving this resolution, the City Council will draw a historic line in the sand, recognizing the ominous similarities between the NRC and the CAA, and the early Nuremberg Laws enacted by the Third Reich in 1930s Germany.

Recognizing the credible news reports that the Modi regime has already put many people in the state of Assam in detention centers and that new detention centers and prisons are being built as we speak.

As a reminder to folks both in the room and to folks who are downstairs in the viewing audience, I know there's a lot of people who want to hear the details, so please continue with your hand motions.

I am looking at your comments.

And folks downstairs that we can't see, please also respect the folks who want to hear the comments that are happening so that we can get through this.

Council Members Swann, please continue.

Thank you, President Mosqueda.

Before the concentration camps and the death camps, the Nazis enacted the Nuremberg Laws, including the Reich Citizenship Law, which redefined German citizenship to exclude Jewish people.

The result was the isolation of Jewish communities, making them an increasingly easy target for scapegoating.

The CAA and NRC have ominous echoes of these laws.

As the Board of Directors of the Kadima Reconstructionist Jewish Community said in their statement supporting this resolution, quote, within living memory, policies closely parallel to these were among the first steps taken by the Nazi government of Germany in the 1930s and are now recognizable as the initial steps to the Holocaust.

Policies such as these were central elements in centuries of systematic oppression of Jews, especially in Europe, unquote.

On the other hand, if the City Council does not approve this resolution, it will send a chilling message that for elected officials like us, taking a stand against dangerous policies that have outlines in them of past horrors only comes when it is convenient and when there is no political courage involved.

I sincerely look forward to each one of us up here on the dais taking the morally correct action today by voting yes.

It is ironic for the Modi regime that while they are attempting a deeply divisive tactic, it has ended up unifying Indians and Indian immigrants in a way that I haven't seen in my own lifetime.

I want to thank all the hundreds of Seattle's Indian immigrant community members who helped draft and push for this resolution.

It has been a real movement from all parts of the Indian American community.

Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs, and atheists across all castes from India have come together to voice their opposition to these discriminatory and unjust laws.

I specifically wanted to commend the courage and leadership of members of the Dalit community in the Seattle region, because I know how much courage it takes for people from a oppressed caste to speak out, even outside India, given how given how entrenched the caste system is even in Indian communities outside India.

I thank Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal for using her position to speak out against the atrocities in Kashmir, and I know she will be speaking out on the CAA and RC issue as well.

I specifically thank Redmond Council Member Varisha Khan for coming here and speaking up in favor of the resolution.

I thank leaders like Anila Afzali and the Muslim Association of Puget Sound, or MAPS, and many other organizations who have sent statements strongly urging that the Council pass this resolution, including Amnesty International.

Kadima Community, as I mentioned before, API Chaya, One America, the City of Seattle LGBTQ Commission, the Council on American Islamic Relations, and the Indian American Islamic Council, the group of 42 civil and human rights lawyers of South Asian origin living in the United States who sent us a letter of support, as did Hira Singh, who sent us a letter from a group of Sikh organizations, and also Imam Fuad Muhammad of the Seattle area, Al Furqan, Islamic Center.

Our movement here in the Pacific Northwest also sends a message of solidarity to the young people, students and workers all over India who are fighting back with mass ongoing demonstrations on university campuses and strike actions since December.

Special mention of the courage of students at Jamia Millia Islamia and the peaceful occupation at Shaheen Bagh.

On January 8th, there were united protests and strikes across India against these authoritarian laws and against the devastating economic policies of the Modi government.

This was the largest general strike ever in global labor history, with Bloomberg newspaper reporting that 250 million people from banks and transport services in the cities to farmers in rural areas stopped work to participate in the strike, grinding the whole country to a halt.

It is telling that virtually no one who spoke against the resolution had anything to say about the National Register of Citizens.

Last year, in the Indian state of Assam, the BJP government created an updated National Register of Citizens, NRC.

People were forced to prove with documentary evidence that they were Indian citizens And if one had even a modicum of honesty, one would have to call the documentation requirements under the NRC absurd on the face of it, and only logical when you see that it seeks to fulfill the specific agenda of snatching away citizenship rights from large numbers of people.

The NRC rules for documentation require that if you were born before 1971, like myself, if you have to have your birth certificate, but if you were born after 1971, like myself, I mean, in other words, if you are younger than 48 years old, you must have pre-1971 documents with your parents' or grandparents' name on it, and documents proving your relationship with your parents and grandparents.

According to these rules, someone like myself who was born after 1971 would actually be unable to provide the required documents.

What the Modi government found through the pilot project they did in the northeastern state of Assam is that it is impossible to carry out the NRC without also rendering large numbers of Hindus stateless, unless the BJP found some way to target it directly on Muslim Indians.

That is the reason for the Citizenship Amendment Act, the CAA, which gives citizenship without documents to people of some religions, including Hindus, but specifically not to Muslim people.

So, because I happen to have a Hindu name, Even though I don't have the documents, even though I was born after 1971, I would still get my Indian citizenship under the NRC update despite not having the documentation.

The BJP government claims that the CAA is a humanitarian act aimed at supporting persecuted refugees and the NRC is nothing to worry about, but the experience in Assam proves otherwise.

Also, if the CAA were truly about refugees, why is the regime building detention camps?

Why doesn't it allow refugees to come to India instead of retroactively applying to people who immigrated before 2014?

If the CIA allows Indian citizenship for oppressed religious minorities in three neighboring countries, why does it pointedly overlook the oppression of the Shia and Ahmadiyya Muslim communities in those countries?

If it was about supporting refugees, why does it exclude persecuted minorities in other countries in the region, such as the Rohingya people, who are predominantly Muslim, who are facing genocide in Myanmar, and the Tamils of Sri Lanka, who happen to be the largest refugee group inside India?

Unlike Modi's BJP government, our movement truly supports the rights of all refugees regardless of their religions and we do not support overt religious discrimination.

I will close my comments for now and then I would like to come in at the end.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Council Member Lewis.

Okay, this is the first warning.

I'm going to give two warnings because I've already given a precursor.

We are going to get through this.

Please continue to use your hand gestures as you have so that we can get through this.

Council Member Lewis, I understand that you have an amendment.

Would you like to introduce your amendment?

Yes, thank you, Madam President Pro Tem.

I am seeking to introduce an amendment, I believe it's the only amendment on this afternoon, to the resolution 31926. I believe that amendment has been circulated for council members to consider in a review.

It adds just one clause into section two of the resolved sections to change the language, well, to rather add language for us to be calling on Congress to take action in response to our resolution rather than just sending what we're sending to the Indian government.

The basis for that request is that I tend to think that when we engage in these resolutions that involve things outside of the jurisdiction of the city of Seattle, I think it's more in our wheelhouse when we are calling on our federal representatives who are charged with negotiations with other countries and international relations to take the formal action rather than us ourselves to be communicating with the Modi government.

So I think that this amendment helps us to capture the same attitude as the underlying resolution, but just making sure that we are targeting it towards folks that are in a position to do something about it.

I would add, this might have actually been a good amendment for a whereas clause, that Congresswoman Jayapal has been leading on similar issues and introduced resolutions in the House on this.

So I think that actually this is a resolution that would be received probably well by Congresswoman Jayapal.

So that's the basis of the amendment and I do so move it.

Okay, in advance of moving the amendment, let me go ahead and put this on our docket for official consideration.

I'd like to move to adopt Resolution 31926. Is there a second?

Second.

It's been moved and seconded that the resolution be adopted.

Now I'd love to entertain that motion for your amendment, if you could do that again for me.

And I do so move my amendment, Amendment 1 from Resolution 31926 to be considered.

It's been moved and seconded that resolution be amended as presented in Amendment Number 1. Are there any other comments on Amendment Number 1 as outlined by Councilmember Lewis?

Seeing none.

I'd love to have us vote on this.

All those in favor of the amendment as outlined by Councilmember Lewis, Amendment Number 1, vote aye and raise your hand.

Aye.

Any opposed?

None.

Any abstentions?

None.

There are five ayes as I see it up here.

And that means the motion carries, the resolution is adopted.

I'd like to now see if there's any, I'm sorry, not the resolution, the amendment has adopted.

Thank you very much for the parliamentarians in the room.

The amendment has been adopted to the motion.

So now we have in front of us the amended resolution, amended resolution 31926. I'd like to entertain any further comments on the resolution as amended.

I have a comment.

Yes, thank you Council Member Morales.

So last week, this body passed a resolution that offered a generic condemnation of all current and future oppression happening in the world.

I oppose that resolution.

even though it did acknowledge that there was oppression happening in India, and it was in reference to this resolution.

As a Mexican-American woman, it's unacceptable to me not to speak out against the tragedy that is happening on our southern border against families who are desperate to find a better way of life.

It is also unacceptable not to speak against the targeting on our northern border now, as we know that folks are being targeted for being Muslim as they come into this country.

And I have to say that as a Jew, it was not lost on me that that resolution passed on the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.

It's important that we stand up for human dignity.

for the right of people to find refuge from violence regardless of their religion.

India is a secular country and I have to say that every comment I heard today, most of the comments I heard today had an undertone of religious intolerance.

I think we need to speak up against that.

A program that detains people because of their faith, like our own shameful Muslim bans, must be rejected.

As elected leaders in our community, we have an obligation to speak up against oppression regardless of where it's happening.

And I do want to read a quick paragraph from a letter that we got from One America this morning.

Please go ahead.

From the Executive Director, Rich Stoltz.

It says, I understand that there has been some discussion as to whether non-binding resolutions condemning oppression in other parts of the world are worth the Council's time.

To the communities that One America works with, these issues are extremely close to home.

Resolutions like these provide a vital opportunity to demonstrate that their communities matter and that the world is taking notice of their plight.

And for this resolution, there is an obvious parallel to these laws and what the current U.S. federal government is attempting to achieve in its immigration policies.

I think it's important that we ensure that our own constitution in this country protects people from discrimination, especially if they're seeking refuge.

And as an elected leader, I think it is our obligation to speak up when we see tragedies happening across the globe.

This resolution urges India, the largest democracy in the world, to uphold its secular constitution and reject discriminatory policies, and I intend to support it.

Thank you, Council Member Morales.

Are there any other comments?

Yes, Council Member Lewis.

Thank you, Madam President Pro Tem.

So, you know, I was not prepared to vote on this resolution when it previously came before the council.

You know, having done my own independent research, having accepted a considerable number of emails from folks who have been providing feedback on this from the community.

You know, I am prepared today to vote in favor of this resolution as it has been amended.

Wow, you know, it sounds like I'm probably not going to get elected to the Lock Subha, but I got to say that in Looking into the issue more and looking into it more in depth, a lot of organizations that I'm very favorably disposed to have reached similar conclusions on the CEA is what the resolution has adopted.

The Economist, of which I follow the editorials very closely to, has editorialized and opined against the CAA.

You know, I did not run for Seattle City Council to pass resolutions regarding international matters.

I do not intend in my own practice here on the dais probably to propose resolutions like this, but the question haven't been posed to me.

The people of District 7 did send me here to vote and offer a position when they do come before me.

There is no other option for me than to support this resolution and call the CAA what it is.

I will therefore be voting in favor of the resolution today, and I thank you, Councilmember Swann, for bringing this forward.

Thank you, Councilmember Lewis.

Any additional comments?

Are there any additional comments?

Council Member Sawant, I believe you would like to close us out.

I will also just go ahead and acknowledge that it has been important from my perspective as an elected official to make sure that we are raising issues that are of significance both here at home, nationally and internationally.

And having both been elected for the last two years and also previous to that being an advocate for human rights and labor standards, working families, it is important when people take up resolutions, even if it is not within the confines of the borders of the municipality that's being considered.

We have had cities, states, Congress take up resolutions condemning injustice in many different levels, and I would welcome any country who wants to raise questions, condemn US policies of incarcerating children, of separating families, of enacting wars of aggression, of pursuing oppression and occupation.

in countries around the world.

I welcome that type of criticism when it is in our country, and I think that it is important to raise concerns when we see injustice in other countries or in other areas.

Even here in Seattle, our words have an important impact across the globe and also locally.

I do want to acknowledge many of the organizations that you've mentioned and also say to folks who both testified today and who have expressed concern, we did receive your messages and I know many of you have been waiting for a long time to speak.

We've also heard from a number of the organizations that Council Member Sawant mentioned, including individuals who were not able to speak who I know are downstairs.

I want to say that I understand that you have been waiting a long time to speak, both the folks in this room that didn't get to speak and downstairs, and I really do appreciate you coming forward.

This is something that I think Councilmember Lewis referenced, that Congressionalwoman Jayapal has been very clear to outline her concerns, and I would encourage folks to look at the Washington Post.

opinion piece that was published on December 23rd where she articulates the concerns around the CAA and the NRC.

So I think that this is something that is not an individual pushing a certain resolution.

This is a community effort that we have heard from and also at the national level we know that there are many people that have raised this issue.

I will be in support of this resolution.

I look forward to you closing us out and then we will move to a vote.

Thank you, President Mosqueda, especially for recognizing that this is not something that's coming from an individual, but this has been a tremendous community effort.

And I also greatly appreciate the powerful comments from yourself and from council members Morales and Lewis.

And I hope that this resolution's passage will provide inspiration for other legislative bodies like city councils and state legislatures to do the same as well.

And I also wanted to add that such resolutions, as important as they are, will not be sufficient to defeat the Modi and BJP and Trump agenda.

We are facing similar questions, as you all have echoed, about how do we defeat Trump.

And there are lots of similarities.

Trump and Modi even held an odious joint rally last year in Texas called Howdy Modi.

Both Modi and Trump won their election not because their xenophobia and Islamophobia have majority support in either country, but because of the complete failure of the political establishment to address the needs of ordinary people.

People who hate the BJP voted for them in the elections last year.

This is the third and final warning.

This is the third and final warning.

Council Pro Tem, I would support you clearing the chamber.

Go ahead, Council Member.

Council Members, what?

Council Member Swan, please continue.

People who hated the BJP actually ended up voting for them in the elections last year because they saw no alternative after...

Alright.

Do you want to continue?

After decades of open corruption...

Alright.

The chair has asked the meeting to come to order and order has not been resolved.

If you do not Resolve this and come to order the room will be cleared I know folks want to hear this the room will be cleared or individuals will be asked to leave Is there security present Okay councilmember Security guards, I will ask that the individuals who are yelling please be removed from the room.

If they do, if they do quiet, they are welcome to stay.

People who hate the BJP ended up voting for them in the elections last year because they saw no alternative after decades of open corruption, privatizations, and neoliberalism by the Indian National Congress Party.

It's okay, continue.

You can leave.

So you don't have to clear the room.

I think they're leaving on their own.

I wish people could get this excited about homelessness.

And that people are taking their own initiative to leave Thank you for Thank you very much.

We understand that some folks have decided to leave.

They are welcome to leave.

Folks who are willing and interested in hearing the rest of the comments are welcome to stay.

Those who are being disruptive, we appreciate them walking out on their own accord, but we need to continue with this.

We have about three more minutes until we have to get to this last item council members So if you want to wrap us up, that would be appreciated Security Okay at this point At this point, we greatly appreciate those who have stayed in the audience.

For the viewing audience, some individuals have chosen to leave, so we are going to go ahead and ask security to let the folks who are still being disruptive get out of the room.

Great.

Council colleagues, the sponsor of the resolution has asked that we go ahead and consider the resolution in front of us.

At this point, I'd like to ask if there are any further comments.

Seeing none.

All those in favor of adoption of the resolution as amended, please vote aye.

Aye.

Any abstentions?

I saw no abstentions and no opposition.

There was five votes in favor.

The motion carries.

The resolution as adopted and as amended is adopted and the chair will sign it.

Still have some more items on our agenda.

We are going to go to items three through seven.

Items three through seven.

I know I was going to skip it.

Can I skip it?

Oh, I can't skip it.

Okay, great.

We have a few more items on our agenda.

I'd like to quickly do item number two because I understand there's been a change in the agenda that's been suggested.

Before we do that, report of the Sustainability and Renters' Rights Committee.

Please read the report.

Okay.

Oh, got it.

Let's do that.

Because we have a hard time deadline for our council colleague who needs to leave at 4, I would like to move that we hold item 2 until after consideration of items 3 through 7. And we will come back to item 2 at that time.

Council colleagues, I'd like to entertain items 3 through 7, report of the Public Safety and Human Services Committee.

Please read the items 3 through 7 into the agenda.

The report of the Public Safety and Human Services Committee, agenda items three through seven, appointments 1533 through 1537, reappointment of Tara Henriksen as member of Seattle Fire Code Advisory Board for term to August 31st, 2021, reappointments of Fritz Chess, Brad Middleton, and Hugo Sotelo as members of Seattle Fire Code Advisory Board for term to May 31st, 2022, and reappointment of Kurt Howell Lusting as member of Seattle Fire Code Advisory Board for term to December 31st, 2022. The committee recommends that these appointments be confirmed.

Wonderful, thank you.

Councilmember Lewis, would you like to speak to these appointments?

Yes, thank you, Madam President Pro Tem.

As folks are aware, Councilmember Herbold is not here to join us today.

The vice chair of that committee, Councilmember Gonzalez, is also absent.

So Councilmember Herbold asked that as a member of the committee I fill in on this matter today.

I'm more than happy to.

You know, as someone who, prior to serving on the Seattle City Council, served on the Seattle Human Rights Commission, the folks that serve on our boards and commissions are the lifeblood of civic service in this city.

And I'm really proud to formally move for items three through seven the appointments and reappointments of Tara Henriksen, Fritz Chess, Kurt Howell Lustig, Brad Middleton, and Hugo Sotelo.

As Council Member Peterson and Morales can also attest, we heard presentations regarding their service at the committee meeting, and it's really good to know that we've got such good folks who are on this really important advisory board.

So I would just ask that we confirm them and would move the appointments.

Wonderful.

Any additional comments?

Great.

It's been moved that we confirm the nominees in items three through seven.

Those in favor of confirming appointments 1533 through 1537, please vote aye and raise your hand.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Any abstentions?

Wonderful.

Madam Clerk, from up here, I see six votes for aye.

The motion carries and the appointments are confirmed.

Thank you, Council Member.

Let's go back to item number two, report of the Sustainability and Renters' Rights Committee.

Please read the report into the record.

The report of the Sustainability and Renters' Rights Committee, agenda item two, Council Bill 119726, relating to termination of residential rental tenancies, prohibiting evictions in winter months, and amending section 22.206.160 of the Seattle Municipal Code.

The committee recommends that the bill pass as amended.

Wonderful.

Council Member Strauss.

Council Member Pro Tem, I move to hold Council Bill 119726 until February 10, 2020.

It has been moved, I will second that, to...

May I second that?

Okay, great.

It's been moved and seconded that we hold the bill until February 10th, 2020. Are there any additional comments?

No?

Looks like...

Can I... Yes, please, Council Member Morales.

Ask why?

I'd be interested in voting.

I think I feel like we've discussed this bill and are there additional amendments that are forthcoming that we need to anticipate?

Thank you, Council Member Morales.

I see heads nodding this way, Council Member Strauss.

I myself have a number of amendments to bring forward and we'll be sharing those with your office council members who want shortly and I believe that this bill has a little bit more work to have accomplished before it's ready for full council.

Council Member Sawant.

I'll just quickly add that we, in response to Council Member Morales' very apt question, that we did have a very energetic discussion and thorough discussion in the Sustainability and Renter's Rights Committee on January 23rd.

And in fact, the legislation that was discussed was itself an amended version based on the feedback we had already received from tenant rights advocates and also small landlords.

I am happy to look at amendments that are forthcoming, but I would really urge the council offices to send us the amendments as soon as possible so that we have time to review them.

Wonderful.

And appreciate the dialogue this morning as well at council briefing.

It sounds like this is a friendly request to hold and appreciate the council colleagues working together on this and I appreciate the question from Council Member Morales as we're all eager to see the language that's being worked up and I know the community is as well.

Without any additional hands that I see requesting to comment, it's been moved and seconded to hold the bill until February 10th, 2020. Seeing no additional comments, all those in favor of holding the bill, please vote aye and raise your hand.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Any abstentions?

Madam Clerk, it appears that there's six votes in favor of holding the bill until February 10th, 2020. The motion carries and the Council Bill 119726 will be held until that time.

Council colleagues, thank you so much for your indulgence.

This is my first day back from family leave and acting as President Pro Tem, appreciate your working with me to get through this full agenda.

Before we wrap up, council colleagues, is there any more business to come before the council?

Yes, for the good of the order, I have a proclamation proclaiming International Clash Day for this February 7th, 2020. And if we could have the council members sign this, that would be wonderful.

Thank you so much.

Thank you Councilmember Strauss for your proclamation.

We look forward to signing that and that will be circulated.

Council colleagues, sorry for any rough start to the year.

I'm happy to be back and look forward to working with all of you as we take on more important issues this year.

With that, today's full council is adjourned.