The Black Lives Memorial Garden lives on.
“On December 27, 2023 at 6AM, Seattle Parks and Recreation, backed by Seattle Police and private security guards, violently removed the Black Lives Memorial Garden (BLMG) from the Sun Bowl area of Cal Anderson Park by order of the Seattle Mayor's Office.
Black Star Farmers and the BLMG community are mourning the physical destruction of years of collaboration, deepened connection with native plants, and convening to share life, knowledge, food, and medicine.
The Black Lives Memorial Garden is a manifestation of the people's right to have access to natural spaces and the need for radical conversations around race and land sovereignty. It was built to be a nexus point for rest, reflection, and the commemoration and liberation of the poor, working-class, Black, queer lives that continue to be murdered by the state here in Seattle and all over the world.
The state has claimed that they were removing the garden because of public health and safety, but the garden did not create the conditions for the unhoused crisis and drug epidemic. Removing the garden is a theatrical and reactionary response to systemic issues designed to placate business and property owners in opposition to poor people & workers.
Today, the City employed violent tactics to implement this false solution to systemic issues. This pattern of violence continues to show that we need to stand together to resist the oppression we all face. We ask that all of you pay critical attention to the policies and practices of the City and join us in organizing to truly address the needs of our communities.”
In Solidarity,
Black Star Farmers
Calls to Action
1. Send emails to City Officials
This link will help you send many emails with one click. You are also invited to call your elected officials to encourage them to take action too.
3. Ongoing support
Get plugged in - There is a large collective of community members that are continuing mutual aid efforts.
4. Spread the word!
Tell your friends and neighbors. Follow along and share on social media.
What’s going on?
Seattle Parks & Recreation (SPR) warned us on October 4, 2023 of their plan to remove the Black Lives Memorial Garden (BLMG) for “turf renovation”.
SPR used the guise of renovation in order to hide the truth - they destroyed a community garden to placate small-but-powerful stakeholders that have been pushing for the removal of BLMG since 2020.
SPR tried and failed to destroy the garden on October 24. BLMG supporters showed up in enough numbers to disrupt their plans. However, SPR has not committed to calling off the garden destruction permanently.
We continued to hold the space through community gatherings and ongoing mutual aid. As the weather grew colder, growing numbers of people sought shelter and community near BLMG outside of the city’s inhumane and inadequate shelter system.
Between November and December 2023, SPR, Seattle Police, and Fresh Family LLC, conducted nearly thirty sweeps of people seeking refuge near BLMG, forcefully displacing them with no offers of permanent housing nor safe shelter, all during the intense rain, wind, and freezing temperatures of Seattle winter.
76 sweeps occurred at Cal Anderson during 2023, wasting hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars. The final sweep of BLMG on December 27 alone cost an estimated $20K.
SPR's mission includes supporting "healthy people, a thriving environment and vibrant community," yet they shut down a garden and community serving this purpose.
The garden is gone, but our roots are deep. There are plenty of lessons learned and we are getting more organized by the day.
Join us and other liberation-focused orgs in building a just world free from imperialist oppression and violence.
History of the Garden
The Black Lives Memorial Garden was founded during the 2020 protests against the police murder of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
In the three years since, it has grown countless pounds of produce and herbal medicine distributed freely to local community, as well as established dozens of native plants that are vital for the health of our local ecosystems. The garden has expanded beyond its symbolic representation of resistance against police violence to become an active community hub for mutual aid networks, food distribution, and political education for building dual power and unity amongst oppressed communities.
More Context
This spring, SPR reached out to Black Star Farmers (BSF) to request that we relocate the garden to Rainier Community Center in South Seattle. We explained that because the BLMG is connected to a legacy of occupation protests, led by Black and Indigenous peoples, and a manifestation of our communities’ right to self-determination - we would not be moving the garden.
We also recognized that SPR is connected to a legacy of settler-colonialism and the forceful displacement of community projects like BLMG is consistent with violent state projects like imperialism, colonization, and gentrification. We cautioned them that if they were to remove the garden, they would be continuing this legacy and urged SPR to consider their complicity in this systemic harm.
On Thursday, October 4, 2023, SPR rep Andy Sheffer contacted BSF to tell us that BLMG would be removed starting as early as Friday, October 13 by Parks. They re-offered the area behind Rainier Community Center to “relocate our operation”, and said that they would “help us move the plants”.
This shows that SPR was never acting in good faith.
Their earlier proposition was merely a thinly veiled threat, and the city is using “turf renovation” as an opportunity to sweep away a space that threatens their interests.
This is our collective space.
We hosted a Community Dialogue on Saturday, October 21st from 12-2PM at the First African Methodist Episcopal Church for people to gather and share thoughts and goals for the garden. This, along with our Community Input Survey, showed vastly positive community support for the garden to remain in its original location.
Despite receiving hundreds of emails and thousands of signatures of support, the city chose to ignore the voices of the masses and focus on a few well-connected voices and well-funded sectors in their narrative and disgraceful actions.
Don’t just get mad about it.
Show up and let’s get organized.