Hello, everybody.
How are you doing?
You braved the snow because we knew we had to be in the right place, the right time with Tammy Morales.
Let's give it up.
The ladies in the room.
So Estela Ortega, the executive director of El Centro de la Raza, I've been here for, since the beginning, 47 years.
So yes, who would imagine 47 years?
So you are in the Sentilla Cultural Center, which means joining together to be one.
And how appropriate that we are joining together to be with one with our dear sister, Tammy Morales.
Tammy wanted me to say a little bit about the occupation.
And I was actually talking to an individual who didn't know a lot about El Centro de la Raza.
So we've been here since 1972. We occupied the old Beacon Hill School building, which today, several months ago, we were notified that the El Centro de la Raza building is now on the What is it called?
We are a historic site.
The National Register as a historic site.
Yes.
And why?
Because of the history that happened here.
And I'll be very brief because the history happened here because of ordinary individuals.
Ordinary individuals who were learning English and who had their consciousness raised.
And as a result, 47 years, this is what we have here at El Centro de la Raza.
I also wanna thank the gentleman that was playing the wonderful music that was having us all thinking that we were gonna start dancing salsa.
And then of course, the wonderful food.
Let's give it up because the people here in the room with that great Mexican food here.
So just briefly, the history.
Three month occupation by ESL students who had their consciousness raised about what it meant to be involved in community.
And the Latino community needed a place um...
took the long and to participate uh...
in in our city in our society and of course the rest is history that the building was turned over to us for a dollar a year in nineteen ninety seven we officially purchased the building but we have never lost sight that the reason that we are here today was because of the rainbow of people who supported El Centro de la Raza in the occupation.
And that was people from the African-American community, the Asian, Native American.
At that time, there was only 25,000 Chicano-Mexicanos living in the area with no political clout.
And our clout came from communities of color and our white allies.
Just like in this room today, the clout that Tammy has will be from people of color and our white allies.
And so, thank you all for that.
So, yes, thank you.
So wrapping it up, because I only had two minutes, and I think I'm probably taking a little bit more.
But one of the things that I want to say about Tammy that resonated with me was her commitment to ensure that the role of government, the role of city council, is to intervene in the economy when it's not working for our people?
And why do we think that 56% of Latinos have been pushed out of the city into South County even though they work in this city because the economy is not working for our people?
And with Tammy's help and her coalition, we're gonna turn that around.
So it is my pleasure.
Yes, let's give it up again for Tammy Morales.
So before stepping down, I'm going to turn over this microphone, but I want us to do a farm worker clap in honoring Tammy.
Let me give you this.
So it's this.
As Seattle City Council member.
Congratulations.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
You can keep that if you want to, okay?
Woo, thank you, everybody.
That was great.
Thank you so much to Farhiya, to Andrew, to Asiya.
So for those of you who don't know, these are leaders in our community.
Farhiya works with Somali Family Safety Task Force.
Andrew is the new acting director of March on Washington.
March for Our Lives, which is the gun control group, gun responsibility group that was started from the students in Parkland, after Parkland.
And our youngest participant here is an elementary school student at South Shore Elementary.
So the story with Asia is when I canvassed her mom, Hodan, this summer, she ran up to the door and she was so excited to meet me.
And I thought, she's this little kid.
Why is she so excited?
But she was.
She was very excited.
She said, hello, can I vote for you?
And I said, well, not yet.
But I told her then that I'm running for city council because that's what girls do and that I expected her to run for city council when she's old enough.
So I also told her that she could come and participate in our ceremony and I'm really happy to have you here, Sweet Pea.
So before I begin, I do need to thank some people.
I want to thank all of you for being here to help us launch our first term as your representative.
But I want to introduce our staff to you, and then I have some remarks.
So if my staff could join us on stage quickly.
Alexis Turla is our chief of staff.
Darazel Tuk, did I do that right?
Close enough, is our legislative assistant who helps a lot with scheduling.
Devin Silvernail is doing constituent services.
If you have a particular problem that you're having, please make sure you contact his office, his, him.
And Lakeisha Farmer is a legislative aide who's going to be focusing on policy with me.
So she's going to really be guiding my committee and helping clerk the Community Economic Development Committee that I'm on.
So.
So among them, we have strong advocates for women's rights, small business, LGBTQ, for renters, for education.
And they have already been fighting for our community in so many different ways.
So I want to thank all of you for the honor of sharing your experience and your wisdom with us and with our community and for your willingness to continue serving our community in a new capacity.
So thank you very much.
I also want to thank DJ Pax, who is here.
I'm sorry I missed him, but I heard he was fabulous.
So very exciting.
OK, so thank you all again for being here.
It's really an honor to be here at El Centro de la Raza at our community swearing in as your Seattle City Council member.
Thank you.
I'm honored and humbled to be here tonight, and I want you to know that as I take my oath as your city council member for the people of District 2, I take this responsibility and the trust that you've put in me very seriously.
Having knocked on thousands of doors over time, rest assured that I share your sense of urgency to repair the harm that's been done in our displaced communities by building power in our community.
Before we look forward, I want to take a moment to remember where we came from.
Next week, we will celebrate the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King.
In 1967, Dr. King described how communities of color are, and I quote, perishing on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity.
50 years later, Seattle's communities of color still experience not just economic disparity, but economic displacement from their neighborhoods as well.
Redlining and generations of racial discrimination have left many unable to accumulate wealth.
And the displacement that comes along with that is hollowing out our communities.
So how did we get here?
We find ourselves here because, until now, power has rested in the hands of too few people in this city.
Power brokers, until now, have set the rules for how our city functions.
And then they blame poor people, working people, black and brown people, for making poor choices in a system that was set up for them to fail, in a narrative that keeps communities of color down.
Tonight, we're standing in a space, as Estela mentioned, that was once occupied by the Latino community, whose needs were being ignored by city leaders.
In an extreme move, born out of frustration with the power brokers in the city, a unified movement of leaders from the Latino, Black, Asian, and indigenous communities stood side by side and demanded change.
It took, yes, let's give them a round of applause.
It took a coalition of leaders, particularly the Gang of Four in the 60s and 70s, to drive some change.
It took years, but their efforts bore fruit, and the El Centro de la Raza and all of the services that it's able to provide to this community are the result of that effort.
We're standing in their legacy.
But what will ours be?
Well, I have a few ideas.
I can see our future.
Right now, right here, in Seattle, in District 2, there are community organizations fighting hard to stop displacement.
I see you, Mr. Davis.
They're working to build more senior housing, more childcare facilities.
They're fighting to create jobs and protect small businesses from getting pushed out.
They're pushing for a carbon-free city that eliminates pollution and that creates well-paying, green jobs that are unionized.
These organizations are building movements and forming coalitions to address the urgent challenges that confront us, just as the Gang of Four did in the 60s and 70s.
And just like them, we know that these coalitions must stand together and refuse to fight over crumbs.
When our community, this community, rewrites the rules of power, when we are the drivers behind developing the solutions that we need, we can accomplish so much.
And we are going to rewrite the rules.
We're going to rewrite them for Marion, who can't take a job that she's been offered because she can't find affordable child care.
We're going to rewrite them for Tang, who got pushed out of her home and waited years for senior housing.
We're going to rewrite the rules to shift power away from dominant special interests and racism and demand our right in the city so that all families can benefit from a thriving, inclusive economy.
And we're going to rewrite the rules by rejecting a scarcity mentality that demands little from the wealthy while withholding resources from those who need it most.
We're going to rewrite the rules around structural racism and the criminalization of poverty.
And we're going to rewrite rules because as Angela Davis says, I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change.
I am changing the things I cannot accept.
Our ideas, our passion, our positive vision for the future, these are the things that will help us rewrite the rules and help us change and rewrite the rules of power.
So join me, starting now, beginning here tonight, it's time to take back the city, it's time to rewrite the rules, and it's time to build power for the people of District 2. Thank you so much for being here tonight.
I'm gonna go get some dinner and mingle.
So I look forward to meeting all of you over there.
Thank you I