Steve Mentzer, visiting CHOP with his family, said that while he supported the activism, he wouldn't want his kids at CHOP alone at night.
“I think any time you get a very diverse group of people together, there is always going to be conflict. I think the challenge here is that because there is no official law enforcement in thearea, and the fact that for the most part... it is an open-carry area. There is always going to be the prevalence of someone getting stupid, drinking something, drug influence and
then conflict are going to break out.” Photo by Miska Salemann
Interviews with six Seattle parents in CHOP on Father's Day.
By Miska Salemann
Published July 2020
Updated July 7, 2020
While visiting Capitol Hill writer and photographer Miska Salemann talked to parents she met about their thoughts on CHOP. She did these interviews on Father’s Day, the day after Lorenzo Anderson, 19, died after someone shot him in Cal Anderson Park. Police forced the protesters from the zone on Wednesday, July 1. The environment these pictures and interviews describe no longer exists, except as a vivid moment in Seattle’s history. She also took a video which you can find here.
Tay Williams, father of a 7-year-old girl, was selling Black Lives Mattter-inspired clothing.
“All kids should come here right now. We got to start them off young,” said Williams, picking up a Black Lives Matter onesie,
“You know that’s why I got these shirts printed out. You got to teach them.”
Photo by Miska Salemann
Kathleen Hess and Brett Schepnf were visiting CHOP with their 11-year-old son. Hess said: “With all the information coming in, it is hard to filter that as a
parent. What I do is I’ll ask him, ‘What do you have a question on? What are you feeling?’ Because I don’t even know, 100%, if he’s online or if he’s on his iPad, what he is getting.”
Photo by Miska Salemann
Steve Mentzer, visiting CHOP with his family, said that while he supported the activism, he wouldn’t want his kids at CHOP alone at night.
“I think any time you get a very diverse group of people together, there is always going to be conflict. I think the challenge here is that because there is no official law enforcement in thearea, and the fact that for the most part… it is an open-carry area. There is always going to be the prevalence of someone getting stupid, drinking something, drug influence and
then conflict are going to break out.” Photo by Miska Salemann
Ben Jackson participated in Black Lives Matter protests every weekend for four weeks before visiting CHOP with his daughter. “We were actually sitting on the grass about an hour ago, having a nice long conversation about why Black lives matter and the history of the police force and slavery and how it all came to be.” Photo by Miska Salemann.
Jayson Grayson hopes that as his 4-year-old son grows up he will have a clear view of the political forces at work around him. “You’re raising a lion, not a lamb. In this country I think he is going to have to understand both sides and I think that is a good thing.”
Photo by Miska Salemann
Summer Burt visited CHOP with her 11-year-old son. “He has had a lot of questions. He wanted to see what was going on,” she said. “I think it is good as a parent that kiddos see what is happening firsthand. It’s an important lesson and they are our future and that’s what is going to make the change, the real change. They need to know.”
Photo by Miska Salemann
As a journalism student at Northeastern a university, I have a special interest in covering social and political issues as they relate to younger demographics. Some of my past work is featured in local Boston papers and the Huntington News at Northeastern. I am currently interning at the United Nations Population Fund, where I work in communications. I grew up in the Seattle area and love spending the summers hiking and out on the lake!
