MYNORTHWEST NEWS

Heart, soul, purpose: How passion for community lifted local kid to the top in year of chaos

Mar 19, 2021, 2:29 PM | Updated: 4:11 pm

omari salisbury, converge...

Omari Salisbury of Converge Media. (Photo courtesy of Omari Salisbury)

(Photo courtesy of Omari Salisbury)

It was just about this time last year when we started realizing that COVID-19 was going to be a significant issue in Washington state. We were just a few days away from Governor Inslee ordering a statewide lockdown and over a week into the closure of schools across the state. Many people were scared and I know, for me, I immediately felt compelled to find out every bit of information I could about this virus and how the government might respond to it to share with KIRO Radio listeners, as did others in mainstream media.

Omari Salisbury was back in his neighborhood, Seattle’s Central District, where, along with collaborators, he founded Converge Media and aired recorded streams about things impacting his community. The Black community.

When COVID-19 hit the state, he knew he needed to do more. One year ago today, he did.

“We started the Morning Update show exactly one year ago today, because we wanted to be able to get the best information about COVID and resources about COVID out to our community,” Salisbury said. “It was so much information that was out there at that time and a lot of misinformation, and we knew that we needed to take it in our own hands to let people in our community, especially our elders, know what was going on with COVID.”

Salisbury didn’t know how long the show dedicated to pandemic coverage would last.

“To be honest with you, when we first launched the Morning Update show, we launched it as a pop-up show. And we thought that we were going to be on air maybe two months after everything from COVID kind of blew over, and so we had no expectation to be on air this long, to be honest,” he said.

Most people do not know that Converge Media has actually been around for four years, and do not know the show because of COVID coverage, but rather they know it because of what came next – the protests that hit the city following the murder of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis.

For a lot of local media, May 30, 2020, marked the first major protest event Seattle saw over Floyd’s death, with a downtown core torn apart and multiple Seattle police vehicles torched.

But it actually started a day earlier on May 29, with a small protest in the International District that saw widespread destruction. Salisbury was there, and remained on the protest coverage.

One of the most notable moments of Salisbury’s coverage came during the “pink umbrella” incident on Seattle’s Capitol Hill that eventually sparked the creation of CHAZ/CHOP, as his live stream caught the moment the pepper spray came out after an hours-long stand-off outside the East Precinct, where an all-day march had hoped to get to spread their message but were met by a wall of officers.

Once the so-called autonomous zone known as the CHAZ/CHOP was created following the SPD’s exit from the East Precinct, Salisbury’s coverage could be seen on live stream nightly, even getting a tour behind police lines with former Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best on one occasion that this reporter recalls watching live.

He also got access to those in charge of the demonstrations. He was given access to discussion between protesters and the mayor, and the family of those whose lives were tragically lost during the debacle that was CHAZ/CHOP.

Salisbury did not get this access because he sucked up to the cops or because he was in cahoots with protest leaders. He got it because he is true and he is fair. Calling all sides out when they behave badly in the hopes of getting to the real issues, to the root of the problems that have created systemic racism, gentrification, and inequality for generations.

As his live streams were going viral around the globe, Salisbury was becoming a sort of intermediary, doing shuttle diplomacy between not just the two sides, but all sides as a trusted voice.

“It just kind of organically became that, our number one role was just to continue to be able to give information to our community, and we continue to do that throughout the Seattle protests,” he said. “But I think that people saw us as an honest broker where different sides around these issues could come and be able to discuss and try to find the best way forward.”

“It definitely wasn’t intentional. It was very organic how it ended up that way,” he added. “Kind of talking and in discussions with all sides, around many issues here in Seattle.”

Seattle journalist Omari Salisbury shares an inside look at the CHOP

That purpose continues now, months after the end of CHAZ/CHOP and nightly protests that numbered into the hundreds or thousands.

“There was no master out there for us to serve, and no particular ideology to serve. We’re responsible to our community, and even one year later, reporting the news and headlines here in Seattle, that’s who we’re responsible to is to our community members, to our moms, dads, aunts and uncles, the big momma in them,” Salisbury explained. “And so that being the case, I’ll continue to know exactly who we’re out there for and because we know who we’re out there for, it’s really easy to just call it like you see it. I’m not skewed either direction or polarized because that’s not necessarily how my community is, and that’s where our core audience is.”

As Salisbury and Converge Media started gaining global attention covering protests into the early morning hours, they stayed true to their original intent of bringing their community the most vital information on COVID.

Salisbury says it was a lot of work, getting in at 3 or 4 a.m. and turning a live show around by 11 a.m. He thinks of Converge Media as kind of “the little engine that could.”

“A lot of people in Seattle might not believe this, but that was the most important thing for us was that Morning Update show, because that was the show that people in our community, our community members, were watching for the latest information,” Salisbury said. “Of course, the protests were going on. But there was also lots of other information related to them from Public Health, Seattle, King County, about COVID different resources available to them and everything else.”

“It literally took everything that we had to be able to keep this show on the air during the Seattle protests. But somehow we did it and it’s definitely the little engine that could,” he added.

Salisbury says he’s learned a lot this past year.

“Firstly, it’s taught me that issue of when preparation meets opportunity. We have been producing content and Converge Media for years, and writing about our community for years, and when the Seattle protests came about, we were prepared, we had the stamina for it, ability for it to be out there, and to have honest conversations with people,” he explained.

“I think one larger thing the last year has taught us about our city is, I mean, we’ve got a pretty amazing city. What we suffer from here is a leadership gap,” he added. “I know there’s some elections that are coming up and, I mean, we’ll see what happens and the outcome of the elections. But I’ve also learned that Seattle is not as polarizing, as we like to think, or Seattle’s either this or that, or left or right. What Converge Media, I think, has proved to the city of Seattle is that a lot of people just like things to be called as they see it. People are open for different ideas and thoughts and actually want to hear what other people have to say. If you can provide a platform where people can actually bring ideas together and their thoughts together in a conversational situation, this, Seattle is very open for that.”

It’s clear Salisbury has left his mark on everyone from government officials, police leaders, community members and local journalists, just to name a few.

“Omari’s coverage allowed people a clearer view to what was happening on Capitol Hill during the protest and after. He offers an alternative perspective for voices that haven’t historically been heard. I think his job was particularly difficult when there was intimidation from some of the protest participants toward journalists,” said former Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best.

“For the most part, they provided an unvarnished view of what was occurring,” she added.

Long after the height of the demonstrations, interim SPD Chief Adrian Diaz also joined Salisbury for a live streamed community discussion about gun violence, focusing on the Central District where city leaders have promised for years to help with no change.

“Omari’s local perspective is valuable. He’s brought attention to so many issues including youth violence, demonstrations, inequities in the Black community, as well as a focus on the ongoing COVID pandemic,” Diaz said when asked to weigh in on Omari and Converge Media’s contribution to the community this past year.

“The perspectives he brings are necessary at a time when all Seattle’s communities need to listen to each other and come together,” he added.

Seattle journalist Omari Salisbury says city is treating symptoms, not the disease

You’d be hard pressed to find many critical of Salisbury, barring those with their own political agendas. I consider myself fortunate to have encountered him as I covered protests, and hope I’ve learned a thing or two from him about bringing people together, which, for my vote, is what makes Omari and his team so special, and I am not alone.

“When I talk to people in Seattle’s Black community, I often hear two things: First, that the Black community in Seattle doesn’t need the white community swooping in and telling them how to solve their problems; they are perfectly capable of figuring out the solutions that will work best for them. Second, that the Black community isn’t monolithic: It is diverse in all sorts of dimensions, and with that comes a diversity of viewpoints. I think the power of what Omari and Converge have done is in bringing those two ideas together. Converge is a forum for Black people in Seattle to come together, share their perspectives, and be a part of a substantive dialogue about how the community can move itself forward,” said Kevin Schofield of SCC Insight, a website dedicated to the deep dive of Seattle politics and policies.

“Omari is masterful not only at getting people to talk, but at finding the right people who can bring in relevant information to better inform his audience. In my case, he sought me out because of the work that I do tracking City Hall,” Schofield added. “He’s cultivated an army of people like me – journalists, community volunteers and organizers, leaders of organizations, domain experts, and government officials – so that whatever issue comes up, he can tap us to bring in accurate information and to be part of the conversation.”

“The other thing that makes what Converge is doing so powerful is that it’s fearless. Look at the work Salisbury did last summer reporting quite literally from the front line of the protests on Capitol Hill. And if you listen to the conversations they have on Converge, you hear a raw honesty that comes from not shying away from hard questions and delicate issues. If you want to find out what’s really going on and what people are really thinking, you watch Converge,” Schofield continued.”

“Omari is incredible to work with. He’s a true entrepreneur, trying to build something new from scratch, but he also deeply cares about all the people involved. He’s a keen observer of all things, and I love hearing his insights. I’ve learned so much from him over the past several months, and I’m grateful for his friendship. He and I have sworn that we’re going to go catch a Mariners game together as soon as the COVID pandemic allows us to,” he concluded.

What is Omari most proud of?

“That we achieved our original goal of the Morning Update show, that was to provide information to our community, but equally as important to create a show that would make our neighborhood proud. That our parents and grandparents and school teachers and friends would be proud of,” Salisbury said.

“I think we have done that. Our community is who we are here to serve,” he added, promising he and Converge and the Morning Update show would be around “as long as the community needs us and finds value in what we do this show will be here.”

Omari’s message to Seattle is: “Stay encouraged, stay hopeful, let’s figure out a way to fall back in love with the Emerald City, and let’s never let political ideology overshadow our humanity.”

On this one year anniversary of the Morning Update show, Omari and Converge have a special live stream celebration planned. You can find out how to catch it tonight at 7 p.m. here.

Follow Hanna Scott on Twitter or email her here

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Heart, soul, purpose: How passion for community lifted local kid to the top in year of chaos