Black in Seattle
2019-2020
Accumulation of Wealth
Listen as this mother speaks to her young daughter about racialized social inequities.
Youth Connections – Zootopia
Listen as this youth draws a connection between lived experiences and an animated film.
Aspiring Growth
Listen to this clip of a youth acknowledge the role his mentor has played in his personal development.
Core Aspects of Life
Listen to this clip of a youth and their mentor recognizing the benefits of mentorship.
Paving the Way
Listen as this speaker shares his story of mentoring young people through to college years.
Radicalization After Malcolm
Listen as Reggie Oliver talks about his coming of age in the wake of the Civil Rights Era.
Youth Companionship
Listen as two youth share their perspectives on what they like about being Black, and their school environment.
Navigating Environments
In this clip, listen as Reggie Oliver recalls key moments of his professional career as a Black man.
That’s What People of Color Do Every Day
In this clip, a Black grad student recounts how he interrupted a moment of privilege at a conference.
Processing Verbal Racist Violence
In this clip, a Black immigrant grad student recounts an incident of racist and xenophobic harassment at a store.
People Making Their Money and Name Off of Kids Who Look Like Us
In this clip, a Black grad student talks about being in spaces where people talk the talk but don’t walk the walk.
It’s So Great to Have That Community
In this clip, two Black grad students talk about the feeling of having community in an isolating situation like grad school.
Being the Only Black Males in the Program
UW Communications · Being The Only Black Males In The Program
Colorism and Learning Self Love
In this clip, two Black girls talk about colorism, media representation, and self love.
Black Lives Matter Narratives
Listen to the vice provost and a student in dialogue about Black Lives Matter narratives during the summer of 2020.
Reactions in the Wake of the Murder of George Floyd
Listen to the vice provost and a student talk about what it was like in Seattle in the wake of the murder of George Floyd.
Defining Resistance and Finding Community
In this clip, Felix redefines resistance as one’s preparedness to take action, and shares a practice for manifesting intention.
Episode 2: To Stir the Pot or Keep the Peace
Two graduate students discuss how life in Seattle has affected their daily lives.
Episode 1: To Stir the Pot or Keep the Peace
Two graduate students discuss the process of evaluating the spaces that they find themselves in before deciding to stir the pot or keep the peace.
Gentrification in the CD
Black Seattleite shares her thoughts on gentrification in the Central District.
Reminiscing the CD
Older generation Black Seattleite reminisces about what the Central District looked like in the past and how much it has changed.
The Villages and the Elders That Raise Us
Two Black women discuss their experiences growing up in tight-knit communities and having elders in their lives to guide them.
Stratifying Blackness
Two Black women share how they have experienced how class stratifies the Black community and creates judgmental rifts.
Making Connections
Black woman shares how she has come to understand the non-monolithic nature of Blackness and ways of being Black.
Understanding My Blackness in Seattle
Black woman shares how growing up she has come to understand her Blackness in Seattle.
Accidental Racism
Black student shares how school administrators participate in “accidental racism” sometimes.
A Way to Reunite and Combat All of This
Two Black students discuss their desire for a united approach to combating racism.
Disney Channel Movies and Race
Two Black students discuss representation in Disney channel movies and the impact of their portrayal of characters of color.
White People Can Be Everything, but Black People Can Only Be So Much?
Black student shares her experiences with a substitute teacher who demonstrated racist behaviors and projected stereotypes.
It Doesn’t Have to Be All About Race It Can Just Be About Learning
Two students describe their experiences attending a college where race or racial discrimination aren’t as prevalent.
We Have Black Students, So Put Us on the Pedestal
Two students describe how their high school boasts diversity while still treating Black students as tokens.
Black and People of Color
Two students discuss the differences between Black people and people of color.
Racism on the Sly
Two sisters discuss the subtleties of racism in the workplace especially as work moves online during the pandemic.
Our History Really Isn’t That Far Away
Two sisters discuss how the history of slavery isn’t as far away as some people would like to believe.
Look for Words That Build People
Grandmother and her grandson discuss how language can be changed to nurture, uplift, and encourage people to be themselves rather than demean and confine people to labels.
Light-skinned
Grandmother and her grandson share their experiences as lighter skinned Black people and the way people perceive them.
Uses of the N-word
Grandmother and her grandson discuss uses of the n-word and how they to use it or not.
A Word That Has Been Used Against Us, We Start to Use Against Each Other
Grandmother and her grandson discuss the n-word and how sometimes it is used by Black people to separate and degrade even within the Black community.
Intergenerational Experiences With the N-word
a Black grandmother and her grandson share their different experiences with the n-word and how those experiences inform their perspectives on how it is used in the present.
Pan-Africanist Community-Building/Support
A Black and an Ethiopian student describe what it looks like to build community with one another.
Intergenerational Learning
Black student discusses what it looks like to learn from community elders and be able to meaningfully engage their knowledge of history.
Bilingual First-Gen Theory
Two first-generation college students commiserate about their experiences at university
Interactions Between Black People and African Americans
Black student describes the trauma of slavery on Black Americans who were stripped of their connection to their ancestral homelands and how that history impacts current interactions between Black people and African immigrants.
I Really See No Need to Distance Yourself From Each Other
Black student describes how the Black American and Black immigrant communities are fighting the same battles in the U.S.
When Should You Interrupt Privilege
Two Black students unpack a two part question: who is responsible for interrupting privilege and when do you feel comfortable interrupting privilege?
Dismantling the Prison System
Two Black women discuss the prison system’s disproportionate incarceration of Black and people of color and how the prison pipeline targets poor communities of color.
While Narratives Manipulate Black Stories
Two Black women discuss how the white savior trope and how white narratives always find their way into Black stories or films.
Maybe by the Time You Realize You Need to Save the Community, It’s Too Late
Black couple describes their efforts to prioritize and support Black businesses.
How to Get Out of Bed to Fight Another Day
Two Black men share their coping strategies to sustain their energy in order to continue having conversations and learn and make it through the day.
Dual Burden
Two Black man share their exhaustion with carrying the weight of the “dual burden” in which they try to live normal lives while also constantly having to educate others on the Black experience in the U.S.
Why White People Remain Unpersuaded
Black man shares his theories regarding why white people remain unpersuaded about privilege and how it exists/manifests for them.
When Do White People Realize They Have Privilege
Two Black men discuss when white people realize they have privilege and and the conversations they have with their white friends and coworkers in order to catalyze that realization.
I Want You to Stop Killing Me, Killing My People
Two Black men share their emotional responses to videos of police violence and history of violence against Black people in the U.S.
How Old Were You When You Realized You Were Black or Race Was a Thing?
Two Black men share stories of when they first “realized they were Black.”
She Was Angry at Herself for Code-Switching
Black father shares an experience that his youngest daughter had going to a private school where she was one of the only Black students in her class.
Communities That Fit Your Spirit
Two Black parents describe the choices they’ve made to ensure that their children are connected to communities that fit their spirit.
Resourcing and Success
Black Seattleite shares how she has observed the difference and disparities in available resources in neighborhoods throughout Seattle.
Community Is What You Make It
Black man shares how, as a transplant to Seattle, he had to find the Black community and how the local Black community in the Central District became home.
War on Drugs and the Black Community
Black man shares his perspective on drug use and abuse and how the War on Drugs has disproportionately targeted the Black community.
Subtle vs. Overt Racism
Black man describes the differences between experiencing the overt racism growing up in Chicago versus the subtle racism that occurred in Seattle.
Belonging
Black Seattleite shares what it was like growing up in the city and going to different schools throughout the city.
When Am I Going to Be Good Enough
A young Black woman describes an experience in which she and her friends were unjustly targeted during a school event.
They Put Our Face on It but We’re Not Actually Included in the Things
Black woman shares how her freshman year experience at the University of Washington was a difficult transition from growing up in very diverse spaces to being one of the only Black people in her major.
The Confidence of a Mediocre White Man
Two Black women discuss the intersections and diversions of class and race.
Life Changing Transformative
Black woman shares how she has begun to identify and own her identity as a Black woman.
What I Lost Being in These Mostly White Spaces
Black woman shares her experiences growing up in and going to majority white schools and being in majority white spaces.
Changes in Friendships
Black woman shares how she has begun to talk more about race, setting more boundaries, and advocating for her experiences with her white friends.
Where Do I Want to Be if I Can’t Just Be Myself Here?
Black woman recalls when she went to New Orleans for her honeymoon and how she felt more comfortable wearing whatever she wanted to wear without having to worry about being hypervisible.
I Didn’t Realize There Were So Many of Us With That Experience
Two Black women commiserate over how comforting (albeit saddening) to know that others are also engaging in the same struggles and self-reflections as them.
There Must’ve Been White People Helping
Black woman shares openly and self-reflectively how she has internalized some biases and her honest struggle to acknowledge and reframe that mentality.
It Stops Here
Older Black woman shares with her younger dialogue partner what it looks like to experience years of racism and work to heal.
First Time I Ever Said That in an All Black Space
Black woman shares the impactful moment where she participated in an ice breaker for Interrupting Privilege and, for the first time in an all Black space, identified as part of the LGBTQ+ community.
Why Can’t I Be Angry
Black woman shares the stress she experienced throughout her career being the only or token Black person in her workplaces.
Professional Mentorship
Black woman shares how throughout her career she hasn’t had a mentor and the impact that it’s had with her.
Giving and Taking Credit
Two Black women share their experiences in the workplace facing coworkers who attempted to to take credit for their ideas.
Direct Feedback
Two Black women commiserate over how they often notice that their coworkers tend not to come to them directly with any feedback and instead go to their supervisors.
Microaggressions Online
Black woman shares how microaggressions translate to online with video meetings
Experienced Some Type of Privilege
Black woman describes her experiences working for a small town where there are almost no Black people
Old Guard vs. New Guard
Black woman describes the challenges she has faced in her position and how she has faced pushback when trying to bring in new ideas
Your English Degree Is Going to Be Insufficient
Black immigrant woman describes her frustrations and fears living in the U.S. as a black woman.
Who Are You
African woman shares her experience with getting a job post 9/11 and having two resumes – one with her African name and one with her second name, an English name.
Transnational Microaggressions
Black woman shares a story of how she experienced transnational microaggressions in her job.
Never Just a Student
Two Black students discuss what it looks like to be Black women in high school and how they balance the burden of responsibility in the classroom.
The Talk
Two Black men discuss what it looks like to talk in majority white spaces and how to interrupt privilege in those spaces.
African American and Black Immigrant Experiences
Two women discuss the different and sometimes intersecting experiences of African American and Black immigrants in the U.S.
Academic Tracking
Two Black high school students discuss the impact of the different academic tracking programs in their school.
Tokenism in the Classroom
Two students discuss what it looks like to be the token Black student in the classroom who is often expected to teach the class about the Black experience in the U.S. or correct problematic comments.
Duality of Black Seattle
Children left and didn’t come back; Duality of Black Seattle: drugs + gang violence vs gentrification