“Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project”

     It is nice to know more about Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project! It is hard to see Seattle as a segregated city, and how only white people were the only ones allowed in most parts of Seattle. I came to the US in 2007 and live in Kirkland, which is a beautiful place, were everything is peaceful and the neighborhoods are very nice. Seattle for me is a beautiful place to live because of its friendly and very polite people. Also, Seattle has beautiful places to visit and one of the things that I enjoy the most is that we are free to live and go wherever we want, the people is very tolerant with each other since nowadays there is a big variety of cultures and different nationalities; here one can meet a lot of different people from all over the world.

            Based on my reading, in the past Seattle used to be a segregated city where the only ones that had power were white people. I didn’t have any idea of how Seattle used to be, but I am happy that nowadays that doesn’t happen any more. In the past non-white people had a lot of limitations in Seattle. It was hard for them to get a job and even worse they couldn’t live in Seattle’s nice neighborhoods. For example, Kirkland, Bellevue and other places in downtown Seattle like Capitol Hill, only allowed white people to rent or buy a house. It seems that African Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos and even Jewish were having difficult times. I know in the past there was a lot of racism in the United States, but I didn’t know which were the most affected areas.  I used to believe that racism only affected African Americans, but it turns out it was affecting many different races. Who would have guessed that Seattle used to have a lot of racism, given that today those kinds of situations are hardly seen. It is very sad to know that hospitals in Seattle would not provide service to black people in the past, since services were only for white people. That was extremely unfair!

            People that work in farms in Washington State are a big group. These people have very dangerous jobs, minimal pay, inadequate housing, are subject to mistreat, among other problems. Many people might not know how much farms contributes to Seattle’s economy. It is because of that people working in farms that we have food to consume at home. My grandfather used to work in a farm and sometimes he would take me along to help him; trust me, it is not an easy job. It is nice to know that there is a social movement that strives for minorities labor rights, because many of these people need the help. It is good that some people stand up for their civil rights.  Also, in the past only guys could work in a farm, but nowadays there are women that are capable of doing the work. Before, only white people and men could work in farms, but that has changed. Today, we have a lot of immigrants and minorities working in farms; that is a good thing because someone has to do that job, and this provide these people with income for their survival.

            Thanks to the Black Student Union at University of Washington (UW) many minorities, like me, will have the opportunity to go there for college and other degrees. There were very few minority students in the past that started studying at UW, and some of the first students that began studying at UW were African Americans. Thanks to this Union they made a campaign that allowed minorities to have education opportunities not only in UW, but also at different Universities and High Schools in Washington State. This is how now many African Americans, Latinos, Asians and other minorities have the opportunity to study and attend any school they want in Washington State today. This was a huge improvement in civil rights that allowed minorities to decide where to study. Also, this Black Student Union at UW helped to change some of the admission and academic policies, so that every student including minorities were treated as equals.

            Now I know that it is because of brave people who struggled with bad situations, fought and stood firm on their beliefs, we have now better civil and labor rights. I didn’t really know how many things people had to go through to make Seattle the safe city it is today. I always thought Seattle has been a very friendly and safe city since the beginning, with no racism or groups like the KKK, but I was wrong. It is nice to know that now we can have a better life, decide what school to attend, where to work or live. We don’t have to be afraid about not being allowed in a restaurant, hospital, or neighborhood. That is great!