Racism in Seattle

Interesting Op-Ed piece in the Seattle Times about racism in Seattle. It talks about a restrictive covenant database and highlights an area called Innis Arden, a neighborhood just north of where I live, located here. In fact close enough that we share the same zip code. It is just north of "The Highlands", which is without doubt the most exclusive area in Seattle. Now my neighborhood also had restrictive covenants that were removed something like 20 years ago. Not so with Innis Arden, in the year 2006, they still have restrictive covenants which state that no person other than one of the white or Caucasian race may be permitted to occupy any property... etc, etc, etc.

Now go back to the Innis Arden web page and you can look at the current status, as of Feb. 24, 2006, of the effort to repeal these covenants. Subdivision #1 has gathered the minimum number of signatures to remove the clause, 60. Subdivision #2 has 120 of the 150 signatures needed. Subdivision 3 has 144 of 150.

Now lets look at another web page... this is the Follow The Dollars Political Campaign website to see by zip code who is getting contributions. By a margin of 3-1, Democrats are getting more money from the 98177 zip code than Republicans.

So lets summarize what we have learned... in 2006, there are still neighborhoods in liberal Seattle that are very white, very rich, with racist restrictive covenants and those areas contribute to Democrats by a 3 to 1 margin.

Any questions?