The Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone in Seattle, occupied by Black Lives Matter members and their allies between June 8th and July 1st, 2020, is a recent phenomenon in a series of publicly organized manifestations of change, rooted in the rich history of activism (social engineering on the ground) along with Haight Ashbury, Greenwich Village, Zucotti Park, The Factory and other centers of the avant garde movement of the early 20th century.
I deliberately say “is” instead of “was”.
Like all social experiments ever conducted, certain aspects — be they physical, psychological or spiritual — remain in the collective consciousness long after their newsworthy manifestation fades.
So what is it about CHAZ that lingers?
Well first of all there’s the murder of yet another Black man at the hands of an (entitled) white police officer, a repeated offense which has called forth an already active, national and international BLM movement several times in several different zones since last May.
Then there’s Ms. Frazier’s indisputable cell-phone video recording of Mr. Floyd’s death, which also documents Officer Chauvin’s apparent lack of remorse for pinning his fellow man to the sidewalk at the neck for more than 9 minutes, ignoring his pleas and slowly killing him in broad daylight before many witnesses. The video was admitted as evidence in the recent trial, conducted more than a year after the murder. That’s a precedent which can no longer be ignored within the law-enforcement and justice community.
As we saw from our 44th President, organizing your community can lead to very positive outcomes. Non-participation can never do that. Silence is not necessarily golden…
A further lingering aspect of CHAZ, which was also a factor in Zucotti Park, is the idea that a community of Americans can govern themselves for at least a brief period of time, with some admirable outcomes:
- Using social media, a schedule of events was organized including assemblies, teach-ins, food deliveries, community art projects, etc.
- With the assistance of mainstream media outlets, the successes (and failures) of self-governance could be spread widely and documented by remotely located activists, who could then incorporate the successful tactics into their own future strategies while helping to limit failure.
- By garnering widespread attention, otherwise sluggish political and other administrative bodies could gage the mood of future voters, litigators and activists, which enables them to gear policies and lawmaking initiatives toward a perceived common good.
A worrisome and lingering aspect of the CHAZ initiative must also be mentioned in this context: Why could self-governance — even in a small zone within a highly civilized city, utilizing functioning digital connectibility — only be sustained for 22 days?
Why is it that we seem to require political and administrative leadership, academically-fueled guidance and even rather strident law-enforcement: in short, the very institutions which also led to the murder of an unarmed man on the streets of Minneapolis in broad daylight?
Why is self-governance — like self-discipline — so difficult to maintain? Is there a role for privately-owned firearms in community-building and maintenance? What is “security”? How does a community define the concept “safe”? Who makes decisions in a community and how is a process of decisionmaking decided upon in the first place?
Most of all: how much longer do citizens have to wait for “justice for all” within the systems we look to for guidance, direction, control? As our National Poet Laureate pointed out on Inauguration Day 2021, continued “just is” may no longer be manageable — certainly not desirable if peace and harmony are worthy goals.
(Did I mention that Derek Chauvin was found guilty of murder on the 132nd anniversary of Adolf Hitler’s birthday? Each year, gatherings by leftover fascists — reminiscent of the Trump Train — are held in Austria to commemorate this day. This April 20th was no different, despite the ongoing COVID lockdown. Perhaps — as Martin Luther King hoped — the arc of the moral universe, though long, does bend toward justice after all?)
-N. Hersey, Austro-American, gardener, beekeeper, expert amateur.