Rainier Valley warning signs spark race conversation

They were posted to start a conversation and they have certainly accomplished that goal.

While it has yet to be determined if signs that read “Warning: Entering Rainier Valley,” have done their job to catch the attention of the Seattle mayor’s office, they inspired a conversation among locals.

Related: Warning signs posted in South Seattle neighborhoods

KIRO Radio’s Tom and Curley were drawn to an article by South Seattle resident Marilee Jolin, who conveys mixed feelings about the signs. She doesn’t like them, but she does understand there is something else happening beyond her perception as a white woman.

Tom and Curley argue that many white people in Rainier Valley might not be tuned in to what’s happening in their community.

John Curley: I go up to that neighborhood twice a month.

Tom Tangney: Does it feel dangerous to you? Does it feel like you are dodging bullets?

JC: No.

TT: Because [Jolin’s] husband invited some of her Eastside friends to come to her neighborhood for a drink, and they were like, “No, I’m not going down there. It’s too dangerous.” This is the impression she hopes to dispel. And all these signs do, at least initially she thought, is increase people’s fears.

JC: Now does this include Columbia City? Because the gentrification happening in Columbia City is the real deal.

TT: I happen to know that two blocks off Columbia City Avenue, it is sort of back to where it’s been. So the gentrification hasn’t reached that deeply.

JC: Jolin says it doesn’t feel like it’s her place to do anything about the signs. And no, if somebody else put the sign up, leave it up. The city should take down the signs. They’re probably posted illegally.

TT: She said that as a white woman, she was outraged … She noticed in a lot of the online comments, they were mostly from white men that live in the neighborhood that were objecting and saying, “This is ridiculous, I don’t feel unsafe. It’s not unsafe.” They were organizing to tear down the signs. Then Jolin realized that that there is kind of a white and black divide … apparently it’s been determined that the people who put these up are part of the African-American community. They were saying, “Listen, the city is not paying enough attention to the number of black kids who died over the past summer. We are not getting enough attention from the city, so we need to warn people as a way to get some attention.”

At that point, Jolin thought: why is it only the white people living in South Seattle who object to these signs? Maybe there’s something they need to learn about their community. If this was happening to their race, they might feel as outraged as the people behind these signs.

JC: Right. Because when we have a story about a shooting in Green Lake or Greenwood, like that guy two years ago &#8212 they stole his cellphone and ended up shooting him. It was wall-to-wall with “shooting in Greenwood, shooting in Greenwood.” It was a white guy. A gang shooting happens in Rainier Valley, we don’t do anything about it because that’s a behavior that is expected.

What’s news is “white guy gets shot.” We’re all excited about that. That’s a headline, right? But you have a 14-year-old kid who shoots another 14-year-old kid, it’s gang related over territory or drugs and we’re like, “Well, that is behavior that is expected.” So we don’t do anything about that.

The white folks that have moved into that neighborhood are blind to that because it’s not happening to them. It’s like they have their own little sub-culture within another culture and they don’t notice what is going on around them. All it takes is one white guy getting killed in Rainier Valley and then they’ll be happy the signs are up.