Our Agenda
Our Road to Liberation
It starts with a declaration that racism is a public health crisis in Washington state.
The presence of racism in every system that Black people interact with each day just to live threatens our lives. This is a public health crisis and must be acknowledged and solved like one.
We will not stop until:
Black culture is honored, protected and celebrated.
Black people have the resources to pursue economic freedom and build generational wealth.
Black people have the same expectation of safety that others have and are not subjected to extrajudicial punishment.
The physical and mental health of Black people is a priority.
Black children are supported in education.
Black people and families are safely housed.
And the treaties are honored. Because Indigenous sovereignty and Black liberation are intertwined.
Focus Areas
Create Economic Freedom.
Black people have always been a critical engine of wealth creation in this county. We should feel the economic freedom we create. We must:
Protect and invest in Black expression, arts and culture.
Increase Washington’s minimum wage to $15 an hour.
End Black disparities in the unemployment insurance system.
Create Black and IPOC economic recovery and development funding.
Build out high-speed internet access for education and economic opportunity.
Ensure comprehensive relicensing services.
Repeal I-200 and protect affirmative action.
Invest in Generational Wealth.
Our ability to accrue wealth from our Black ingenuity and contributions benefits not only our community, but every community in Washington. We must:
Protect and invest in Black expression, arts and culture.
Create fair access to business capital.
Reform the cannabis industry.
Ensure fair financing for housing.
Ban the Box on tenant applications of disclosure of convictions, evictions, and bankruptcies.
Ban the use of credit scoring in auto, homeowner, renter, boat, and life insurance.
Climate justice restitution now.
Black Equity in Criminal Justice.
We are intentionally kept out of the democratic process by over-incarceration and state-sanctioned poll taxes. Black people are barely 3% of the state’s overall population, but 18% of people incarcerated. Our community power is in prison. We demand it back. We must:
Protect and invest in Black expression, arts and culture.
Create police accountability for Black and IPOC communities.
End Black disparities in drug sentencing and decriminalize low-level drug charges.
Restore voting rights for incarcerated persons.
End transgender discrimination and other gender- or race-impacted biased crimes.
End youth incarceration; close Naselle.
End money bail and pre-trial detention.
End mandatory minimum sentencing.
Ensure vaccine availability in private prisons.
Protect and care for health needs of incarcerated persons.
Eradicate private prisons and close the Northwest Detention Center.
Bills to support:
Draft S-0039.3 (Pedersen): State Accountability and Oversight, (Decertification)
Draft S-0115.1 (Dhingra): Duty to intervene and report
Draft S-0042.2 (Dhingra): Potential impeachment disclosure
Draft S-0078.1 (Dhingra): Wash out of prior drug convictions in sentencing
Draft (Dhingra): Post-conviction review bill
Access to Health.
The fight for Black Lives is about the whole of Black life. We demand the right to care for our minds and bodies. We must:
Protect and invest in Black expression, arts and culture.
Ensure anti-racist healthcare access for Black and IPOC Washingtonians.
Ensure anti-racist LGBTQIA+ health services for Black and IPOC Washingtonians.
Create access to culturally relevant mental health services; ensure Medicaid parity so clinicians are appropriately compensated and services available.
Remove barriers to access to culturally responsive care for our elders.
Increase accessibility of telehealth services.
Extend Medicaid postpartum leave.
End state-sanctioned trafficking of Black children; preserve, reunify, and support families.
Ensure Black communities have food access and security for all.
Ensure access to culturally responsive childcare.
Bills to support:
Saldaña + Front and Centered - Healthy Environment for All (HEAL) Act
Saldaña - Decriminalizing tobacco use for minors (18 years and under)
Saldaña - Expanding the Establishing the Child welfare housing assistance program pilot
Fully Fund Public Education.
When we erase the education inequities that harm Black youth from Day One, we say clearly: young Black minds matter. We must:
Protect and invest in Black expression, arts and culture in schools.
Institute a capital gains tax to fully fund education.
Invest in school-based community health centers.
Restore civics class.
Bring anti-racist, culturally relevant history to Washington state schools.
End to behavioral modification and in-school suspensions.
Divest from police and School Resource Officers in schools; reinvest in education.
Restore the pipeline of Black educators and administrators in public education.
Create and Protect Affordable Housing.
An affordable home is our human right. We must:
Protect and invest in Black expression, arts and culture.
Invest in affordable housing and protection for Black communities.
Extend the evictions moratorium until 2025; fully fund dispute resolution services.
End systematic racism in welfare eligibility and delivery.
Honor the Treaties.
Indigenous Sovereignty and Black Liberation are intertwined. We must:
Recognize, respect and uphold tribal sovereignty.
Honor treaties and inherent rights.
Preserve and restore cultural sustainability.
Protect land, water and cultures.