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For Immediate Release

February 18, 2011

Contacts:

Sweetwater Nannauck 206-245-5621

Jay Hollingsworth 206-730-4117

JT Williams Organizing Committee Condemns Calls for Violence

Seattle, WA – THE JT WILLIAMS ORGANIZING COMMITTEE stands in solidarity with the Williams family and the peace and multi-faith communities in advocating a peaceful and non-violent response. We condemn any call for violence against any citizen. The Committee which is a coalition of organizations continues a call for Peace, Justice, Reform and Accountability of the Seattle Police Department.

We believe that the death of the late John T. Williams was a tragedy that could have and should have been avoided. The City of Seattle's police force should serve to increase public safety and peace in our community by employing a variety of de-escalation tactics with the greatest potential to avert violence against the public and the police. Based on eyewitness accounts of the shooting and key findings of the inquest, this did not happen. In that fateful moment, one life was lost, another changed irrevocably and the public trust so essential to a good community-police partnership was shattered.

Because we share a deeply held belief in the worth of every person, we advocate that all members of our society have access to the same protections and freedoms, and that our laws be applied fairly to all people, regardless of race, gender, immigration status, sexual orientation and identity, employment or economic circumstances.

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The J. T. Williams Organizing Committee Members

Jay “Westwind Wolf” Hollingsworth (Mohegan) Co-Chair

Sweetwater Nannauck (Tlingit/Haida/Tsimshian) Co-Chair

Rev. Paul Benz – Director, Lutheran Public Policy Office Washington State

James Bible – NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People)

Juan Jose Bocanegra – El Comité

Oscar Castaneda – El Comité

Sheri Day – American Friends Service Committee

Diakonda Gurning – Indonesian Lutheran Fellowship

Cecile Hansen - Duwamish Tribal Chairwoman

Jacque Higgins-Rosebrook – Peacekeepers

Pat John (Ahousaht)

Stacy Kitahata - Trinity Lutheran College

Federico Martinez-Ortez – El Comite, May 1st Coalition

KL Shannon – NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People)

Benjamin Stiffarm Jr. (Gros Ventre) Member of Immanuel Lutheran Church

Rev. Harriet Walden – Mothers for Police Accountability

The J. T. Williams Organizing Committee is a group of allies that represent organizations and community members including those who have longstanding history working with police accountability issues and alternative public safety responses and new members of communities most recently impacted by police accountability. The committee came together to stand in solidarity with Seattle’s Urban Native Community and work cross culturally on an issue that deeply impacts all communities of color and other marginalized communities and other marginalized communities.

Partners:

AFSC (American Friends Service Committee), APALA (Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance), CLUW (Coalition of Labor Union Women, Cecile Hansen, Chair – Duwamish Tribal Council, El Comité Pro Reforma Migratoria y Justicia Social, Going Coastal Productions, Jobs with Justice King County Organizing Committee, Justice Works, Lutheran Community Services Northwest, May 1st Action Coalition, Mothers For Police Accountability, NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) Seattle/King County Chapter, Pride@Work, Spinning Wind Productions, WA State Democratic Disabilities Issues Caucus (WSDIC), WA State Democratic Native American Caucus, WA State Democratic Progressive Caucus.