It dismays me to write that things are not changing in Seattle, that the racial bias & police brutality is alive well there. I am glad that protesters have forced the police out of their precinct on Capital Hill, it should’ve happened long ago. The city has become a battle ground between peaceful protesters & violent police, something I have first hand knowledge of as it happened to me in the mid 2000.

I think it’s overdue that police departments lose their funding & are forced to restructure, it may the only way forward. If that’s even possible? The SPD has been notoriously biased & racist & they don’t have the training to deal with the population that suffers from mental illness. There’s a laundry list of things wrong with them. However, that kind of biased doesn’t seem to fall far from the tree, as here in Norway they have also been accused of being it towards minority groups & asylum seekers. Something that has come to the forefront with the protests here.

I think bad policing is a global problem, not just an American problem. You shouldn’t feel uncomfortable walking down the street in your own neighborhood or waiting for the bus. I saw man at the bus stop the other morning who took off his headphones when the teenagers arrived. The look on his face was one of trepidation, although there was plenty of us at the bus stop who would’ve stepped in if something happened. This is sad, that’s not how our world is supposed to be.

I think that’s sad & society needs to make a change, but I don’t have the answers. I only have questions. How can we act this way in the 21st Century, when we all know better. I think the hardest part is putting into practice, everyday. Like during the lockdown when I helped an elderly woman off the bus, when know one else would. The same goes for our judgements of others & stereotypes. There’s a man in Bergen who has the most amazing dreads & I have told him that. Pay compliments & be kinder. Maybe that’s the answer, a gentle way forward. Till next time remember we all have feelings & we all have rights, even when corrupt authority tries to take it away from us.