The Sawantist crowd is out again. They are protesting Uncle Ike’s, a successful marijuana business owned by Ian Eisenberg.
Underlying this is an ugly racism … Ian is a Jew, the corner was once the center of Seattle’s Jewish community but since WWII it became the geographic center of the Central District.
The most ironic part of the protest against Uncle Ike’s MJ shop is the that the activists are Black but the Central D is now “schwartzenfrei” … that is free of the African Americans who once made this a vibrant center of Seattle culture.
The complaints range from charges that Ian is “white,” to the idea that something called the “community” ought to control what happens on this corner.
“We need to let everyone have a space… I’ve attended several #BlackLivesMatter events and rallies, where this is being brought up… This is all about what this community is to become, and who is to be included in that future. When people feel excluded or marginalized, that’s the root of tension.”
Now, the CD has less than 18% African Americans and it seems that soon all that is left of the community will the the statue of Jimmy Hendrix on Broadway.
Christopher Goodwin on FACEBOOK comments:
I grew up here, that intersection has been a shit hole for as long as I can remember. You could get anything from crack and whores to an Uzi and there was a nearly weekly shooting or stabbing. A friend stopping at the gas station in the early 90’s to grab beer on the way to a party had his throat slit ear to ear right in front of the store because he wouldn’t give his beer to two guys who asked for it. Remember the sandwich shop where people kept getting shot and the gold exchange places that were fences for just about everything stolen in Seattle? Even the car wash was so dodgy that no washed cars there, they just used it to make deals.
So now there is a legal pot store and everyone is up in arms because…. Gentrification and
The NOI shows up. I wonder how you would respond if this were folks in white sheets?
white supremacy? Really? I don’t remember a low income apartment building full of single mothers on that corner. Where were the protesters when people were getting shot and stabbed and kids were smoking crack there???
Why didn’t they protest the closing of The Facts location on MLK and Cherry that has become a doggie daycare? The voice of the black community replaced with barking poodles. Or the closure of the Black Panther office on 34th and Union, or the corner store there or Hightower’s garage or anything along 34th…
Chris Goodwin
Why didn’t they protest the closing of The Facts location on MLK and Cherry that has become a doggie daycare? The voice of the black community replaced with barking poodles. Or the closure of the Black Panther office on 34th and Union, or the corner store there or Hightower’s garage or anything along 34th…
Dave Mills Shameful that you are being singled out. They should be protesting real issues and picketing the capital!
Like · Reply · 3 hrs
Stephen Schwartz
Stephen Schwartz I remember this episode form Malcom … “The first person the moderator recognized for a question was a black man who didn’t have a question at all. Instead he launched into an anti-Semitic diatribe.
Malcolm listened to it for an extended moment, then…See More
Like · Reply · 2 · 2 hrs · Edited
Katha Dalton
Katha Dalton It’s America, Ian. Freedom of speech and assembly. It’s all good (this post is kinda unworthy, my friend)
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Christopher Goodwin
Christopher Goodwin That’s the logic used to permit KKK meetings. In this case it is being used by a church to single out and harass an individual based on his race. But I suppose that is OK because it’s free speech and assembly.
Like · Reply · 1 · 2 hrs
Ian Eisenberg
Ian Eisenberg I’m ok with protests if they remain within the confines of the law.
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Stephen Schwartz
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Julie Johnson
Julie Johnson Wow Ian Eisenberg, you have a whole bunch of creepiness going on. Yuck! Please be careful and keep yourself and your family safe.
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Alex Mayer
Alex Mayer Those two dudes are well-known anti-semites, just like their exalted leader, Farrakahn https://twitter.com/thehereaftertv
THE HEREAFTER TV (@THEHEREAFTERTV) | Twitter
TWITTER.COM
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Katha Dalton
Katha Dalton whatever
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Alex Mayer
Alex Mayer agreed.
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Stephen Schwartz
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Katha Dalton
Katha Dalton It. Is. A. Free. Country!
Calm down white folks ?
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Paul Byron Crane
Paul Byron Crane Ian you need a shop make over to help appease the gentrification issue. Remove the signs and other glittery stuff. Smash the windows in both buildings, graffiti both buildings in red black and blue spray paint. Dress your sales people in hoodies and bl…See More
Like · Reply · 3 · 1 hr · Edited
Katha Dalton
Katha Dalton I am white & lived in this neighborhood since 1976. This is racist BS & very ugly. You embarrass me.
Like · Reply · 41 mins
Paul Byron Crane
Paul Byron Crane Well Katha i am also white and have lived here in the CD as long as you have and your assessment of my post is grotesquely inaccurate. It is not racist nor ugly. What is ugly was the neglect both social segregation and politically of this corner and th…See More
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Stephen Schwartz
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Carol A McCormick
Carol A McCormick It is certainly a free country but this “protest” is quite frankly, ridiculous. They are protesting nothing worthwhile here. What is the problem exactly? The shop is not a run down horrible place to go? Ian isn’t black and therefore should not have ope…See More
Like · Reply · 5 · 2 hrs
Judy Rudzinski
Judy Rudzinski Put a sign out there so people know they can order t shirts and stuff online too. If they get their picture in the paper, you get free advertisement.
Like · Reply · 3 · 2 hrs
Ezra Eickmeyer
Ezra Eickmeyer The crappy bar on the corner that used to sell me alcohol when I was 19 was apparently better for the neighborhood than a new store bringing in millions of dollars a year.
Like · Reply · 3 · 1 hr
Roger Vadocz
Roger Vadocz Sorry Ian if anyone can handle it all its you.
Like · Reply · 1 · 33 mins
Ian Eisenberg
Ian Eisenberg I could be hyper sensitive, but this shit scares me.
Ian Eisenberg’s photo.
Like · Reply · 2 mins