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Over the weekend, thousands of protesters took to the streets of Seattle, sparked by the death of George Floyd, a black man who was killed when Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who is white, held his knee against Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes while detaining him.
These protests, which coincided with widespread demonstrations across the country, also arrived after years of mounting tensions between the community and the Seattle Police Department (SPD), as local leaders have long urged the city to institute more accountability and reform for police.
Most of the larger marches occurred downtown Saturday, May 30, spilling over onto I-5, the International District, and Capitol Hill, with protests in Bellevue Sunday. Seattle mayor Jenny Durkan instituted a curfew at 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday and Gov. Jay Inslee mobilized the national guard to King County.
Several local news outlets reported on some of the property damage, violent confrontations, and odd moments (such as one person walking briskly down the street carrying a cheesecake presumably lifted from nearby Cheesecake Factory). But they also acknowledged the deeply-embedded injustices, institutional racism, and anguish at the heart of the protests.
Despite the unrest and anxiety, many Seattle restaurants expressed their solidarity with the protesters, whether by donating to causes aligned with social justice or highlighting their focus on advocacy and more equitable hiring practices.
Here’s just a sampling of some of the messages restaurants and chefs shared on social media over the weekend.
