Seattle Police Clear Mann Building

UPDATE:  I checked in with the district as the Times had confusing information about whether ACEI has a lease for the Columbia Annex.  The district has confirmed that there is no signed lease right now.  They are negotiating for ACEI to provide direct services to students and must meet certain criteria for reduced lease rates.

End of update.

This just in from the Central District News:

Seattle Police say they have made arrests and are searching the building as groups occupying the Horace Mann school are being cleared from the Seattle Public Schools property on E Cherry near 23rd.

SPD says that three four adult males were arrested as police continue to search the building after entering the barricaded facility Tuesday afternoon.

CDN is reported that the police began the raid around 1 p.m.  The police had been planning a careful raid, making sure there were no children at the site.  They report only four ment in the building, all were arrested.  The arson and bomb squad was sweeping the building for safety.

The Seattle PI reports that police asked Garfield High to "shelter in place" and had extra officers at the campus.

It is a good outcome that it ended peacefully with no one hurt.

Now, the reactions.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Seattle Times has a front page story. The reader comments are, shall we say, 'in no way supportive' of the people who had remained in the building.

DistrictWatcher
Anonymous said…
Could have been handled better from the beginning but it was the best outcome possible given the circumstances. I hope that once NOVA moves back in that they can work with the community to continue some of the after school classes that were occuring there.

HP
Anonymous said…
HP, unfortunately, I don't think we've reached an outcome on this just yet. Renovations have to be started and completed, hopefully without outside interference or worse. Nova students, some of whom are LGBT, need to move back in. Given some of the AEIC leadership's embrace of Umar Johnson and his hostility toward this population, I'm fearful that this may not yet be over.

--- hopeful
erik tanen said…
Glad that it ended nonviolently. Hopefully it has created an impetus for the district to address the educational failings in regards to African American students.
erik tanen said…
According to the Seattle times article, the district signed a lease with Aficatown to rent space at the Columbia annex. Does any one know if this is true?
Erik, I don't know for certain. The Superintendent is within his rights to sign leases without telling the Board but it would seem like the right thing to do to tell them. Maybe he will tomorrow night.

I do know that some of the groups are going to use the portable at Mann for temporary storage but do not have direct access themselves to the portable. Again, that's only until March when the contractors have to take that out as well.

Hopeful, I did tell the district I thought they need to protect the building and I hope they follow thru.
Anonymous said…
http://spdblotter.seattle.gov/2013/11/19/police-arrest-three-at-horace-mann-school-building/

'While the school district was able to negotiate with the majority of the group’s members, a small contingent remained inside the Horace Mann building and refused to leave. Members of the smaller group claimed to be in possession of explosives, and warned that anyone who approached the building could come under fire from a rooftop sniper.'

Making threats does what for the kids? What concerns me more is this:

http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/11/19/four-arrested-at-central-districts-horace-mann-building
"I don't support any eviction," says Malakhi Kaine, a parent of Seattle public schools students and member of the Africatown Center for Education and Innovation Task Force, which operated out of the Mann building, when reached by phone. That group left the building on the district's schedule and is still negotiating with the district to get a new space. 'I don't think that was necessary,' he adds. 'The negotiations are still underway... We have a lot more support than we first started. We've never been on hostile terms with the district. And we're moving forward.'"

If negotiations are still underway and Kaine, a member of Africatown, supported this occupation, is he speaking for ACEI as a whole in condoning violent threats? This isn't doing anything for kids, but there are a lot of adults who think Afrocentrism is going to solve the perceived problem. BTDT. It won't. Black History Month is a sham because Black History IS United States history, and as such, segregating the study of history, teaching a child race first, all else second, is a fail. A total fail. Encouraging Afrocentricm, like encouraging Anglocentrism, is a fail. These are the opposite of a public education based on equity.

Segregation doesn't nurture equity.

http://creativitynotcontrol.wordpress.com/2013/11/14/africatown-and-the-schoolhouse-to-condo-pipeline/

I've slogged through most of this mess and sorry, I'm not convinced. I see some big, defensive, self-aggrandizing egos standing in the way of kids, but nothing fer kids.

Westside
Josh Hayes said…
Wow, Nick. Can you explain what you mean by that? Are you accusing Melissa of shouting "Segregation now! Segregation forever!"?
Anonymous said…
Nick, as a former SPS board candidate, I would imagine you know Melissa and have spoken with her. Why the diss, without any relationship to the issue at hand? It seems pointless.

Westside
Nick Esparza said…
Josh Hayes yes
Anonymous said…
Nick, you have a history of accusing Melissa of hating on kids but I can't find any evidence of it, and yet you said this, in this blog: 'we have a person spending her entire career maginalizeing minoritity kids and advocating resources in the wrong direction. she advocates for an unequyal system. Her brand of philosophy is everything for the north end and sqrew the south end.'

What? When? Next time, yell 'Fire'

Westside
Josh Hayes said…
Wow. Most trolls don't come with a little sign that says "I'm a troll!". How refreshing.

(don't feed, etc.)
ArchStanton said…
I appreciate that the mods, as a rule, don't ban anyone but; I wouldn't feel like they were stifling dissenting opinions if they banned Mr. Esparza. Especially since most of Mr. Esparza's opinions seem to be personal attacks on Melissa.

Okay Nick, we get it. You're a failed school board candidate who's bitter that this blog gets more attention and has more impact than you. Can you get over it and find a new shtick, already?
Anonymous said…
Umar Johnson was a mortal sin for the Mann Movement. The very legitimate crisis that many are addressing was undermined by their own invitation to hate.

--enough already
Tom said…
I think the George Wallace comment goes way into name-calling territory. Pretty bad stuff.
erik tanen said…
I would agree with enough already that Africatown aligning itself with Umar's hate and Omari Garret did not do anything for the real issues.
Unfortunately, many of the people involved agree with them. I only hope that the district takes a very critical view before they partner with Africatown and its leadership. Just because you have a Phd doesn't mean you are nor crazy or hateful. It ultimately comes down to, can Africatown produce some kind results that will improve the lives of children?. Just because they want to, does not equal success.
1. You all are part of the problem.

2. This is bigger than mere 'education'. This is about reparations from the oppressor and self-determination for the oppressed. If you're against that, you're the enemy of all African people. Period.

3. Melissa Westbrook, as Mao said "no investigation, no right to speak."

Spending 30 minutes at a 90 minute presentation and then proceeding to comment on it w/o FACTS shows how disingenuous and duplicitous you really are. You are a living, breathing example of why liberals are called "friendly fascists".

4. If the final outcome was left to "people" like you all, we would all be back on the plantation. Guaranteed. Indeed, the Central District would be converted for that purpose!

5. NOVA students and parents openly SUPPORT Africatown. Apparently, you missed (or tried to hide) that memo.

6.Attempts by the local liberal white supremacist establishment to divide AEIC and its base are duly noted. This is typical of your plantation politics. We are one! Don't let our division of labor fool you and yours.

7. Anyone who DID NOT:

a. Come to amerikkka via the Aleutian land bridge,

b. Came north before the first conquistadors arrived,

c. Or came as as cargo (from 1555 onward) is a gentrifier. This is a FACT.


8. In short, "WAKE UP, GOD DAMMIT!" http://www.allpowertothepositive.info
The Jacobin said…
"Teresa Wippel says Africatown did not meet "the required level of community outreach to neighbors" for discounted rent." --Article in The Stranger on Africatown and Horace Mann.

So then, what is quantifiably the exact required level of community support required? What is the origin of this policy?

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