The city of Seattle ended the existence of the Black Lives Matter garden that occupied part of the Cal Anderson area, in the center of the city, since the movement's protests took to the streets in 2020.
This Wednesday, workers from the city's Parks and Leisure Department entered the area to destroy the improvised leisure area that the activists built in the park. It was not the only action. They also dismantled the small tent settlement on E. Olive Street, near the park, which had been occupied constantly for several months.
Cal Anderson Park is located within the area that BLM activists took for themselves during the serious incidents of 2020. Between June and July of that summer, protesters occupied the park continuously, without law enforcement or the City Council having authority over the place. It is located in the heart of what became known as the CHOP/CHAZ, the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone of up to six blocks, controlled by protesters after the storming and burning of the Seattle Police Department's East Precinct.
The City of Seattle has demolished the Black Lives Matter Memorial Garden in Cal Anderson Park as of this morning @jseattle pic.twitter.com/D05oJKMNQS
— Cassie Correct, Ace Attorney (@Cassie__complex) December 27, 2023
The reason alluded to by the Administration is a crucial lack of sanitation in the place. Along with this, the Black Lives Matters garden became a hotbed of crime and drug abuse. They cited cases of vandalism at the park's public restrooms, public drug use, unauthorized camping and an increasing rodent population.
This is not the first time that the local administration has had to act in Cal Anderson Park to avoid this type of problem. Since 2020, there have been 76 times that the City Council has entered the park to dismantle unhealthy structures that resemble Brazilian favelas.
The Black Stars Farmers
In front of the City Hall, the opposition. A group calling itself the Black Stars Farmers claims the care and protection of Cal Anderson Park and its historic structures. It is an activist group linked to Black Lives Matters, but with an environmentalist and agro-community perspective.
This group already prevented the City Council from acting last October and gathered more than 5,000 signatures from citizens to ask the Administration to leave the park as it is. According to them, it is a sacred place that serves to honor African Americans killed during police actions.
