Dear Beloved: A Love Letter to Seattle’s Black Community

By Chardonnay Beaver | Influential Speaker, Storyteller, Creator of WOWbyChar.

When tourists think of Seattle, Washington, their perspectives are limited. We can all agree: Everyone pairs Seattle with rain and/or coffee.

Depending on who you ask, one might hear “Seattle’’ and think of the lead member of rock group Nirvana, Kurt Corbain – who passed away in his Seattle home during the mid-1990s. Other tourists may applaud the legalization of marijuana and LGBTQ+ pride.

However, tourists rarely describe Seattle and Black people in the same sentence. Nor do they link Seattle to surging gun violence.

Gun violence has violated the development of Seattle’s Black community and youth in King County for several decades. Seattle’s Black community is often left between the margins of educational, economic and social injustice; it’s inevitable to feel unseen.

As a Seattleite, I’ve often felt seen and not heard by my non-Black counterparts. But all that ends now ...

Beloved, I write to inform you that you are invaluable. Not only are you seen, but your presence is felt. So often you go misunderstood, clinging to whatever setting invokes belonging. Please note that not all places and spaces are equipped to handle you with care.

Beloved, despite the identity crisis you may face for being Black in a majority white space, never forget who you are. You were designed to be loved. That love must first be identified within.

Words of Wisdom by Char of the Week: We were all meant to personify love. A presence of love liberates, but a presence of injustice violates.

Onward with love, Char <3