Support for BLM Garden

In a letter to Christopher Williams, acting superintendent for Seattle Parks and Recreation, Seattle Audubon voices its support for the presence of the Black Lives Memorial Garden in its current location, next to the shelter house in Cal Anderson Park.

Restrictive deeds, redlining, and other racist policies have excluded Black, Indigenous, and People of Color from Capitol Hill since the neighborhood’s original platting and development. At the city level, the way Seattle has invested in and policed parks has disproportionately supported passive uses for white people and in wealthier neighborhoods.

The BLM Garden is a radical act of land reclamation and reconnection. We strongly support Black Star Farmers and their mission to reconnect people to land, to ancestry, and to each other, through their work at Cal Anderson Park.

We recognize that the space now tended to by Black Star Farmers was used for other purposes in the past. We also know that change is difficult. But change is necessary to address the long and ongoing history of injustices perpetuated against Black, Indigenous, and People of Color.

Seattle Audubon stands with Black Star Farmers. We are inspired by their work to do more to build a city where people and birds can truly thrive.

Manuel Ellis, killed during an arrest by Tacoma police officers in March, 2020, is among those memorialized in the BLM Garden (Josh Morris photo).