Naomi Ishisaka

Thank you Bridget!

2 million rally in Italy for Gaza as general strike halts key services Over 2 million people across Italy have rallied in more than 100 cities for a one-day general strike.

Over 2 million people across Italy have rallied in more than 100 cities for a one-day general strike.

“Earlier this year, Taylor told Seattle Times columnist Naomi Ishisaka that the information on the site had become even more valuable amid “a direct frontal assault on African American history.””

Quintard Taylor, UW professor and Black history archivist, dies at 76 Quintard Taylor, Jr., professor emeritus of history at UW and founder of an online archive of Black history, died Sunday.

Rest in Power, Dr. Taylor

Quintard Taylor, UW professor and Black history archivist, dies at 76

What can we say about Charlie Kirk? Only what those in power want us to In the days following the brutal assassination of Charlie Kirk, it became no longer enough to say you condemn the killing. No, you also had to praise and valorize him.

Today's column: "But in the days following the assassination, it became no longer enough to say you condemn the killing. No, you also had to praise and valorize Kirk, a man who was outspoken on his opinions about Black people, immigrants, transgender people and others."

How joy, beauty and affirmation disrupted the culture wars in Seattle Louder than Hate countered Let Us Worship’s anti-gay, anti-trans Revive in 25 event at Gas Works with an outpouring of support and solidarity at Washington Hall.

Today's column for @seattletimes.com: "In addition to the concerns and stresses that everyone has, trans communities have to keep their “head on a swivel,” Jaelynn Scott said, anticipating when the next threat might come. #seattle

Battered by war, refugee finds 'kindness' in Bellevue Seba lost both her legs after an Israeli airstrike. The 12-year-old girl from Gaza could learn to walk again with the help of prosthetics from Seattle-area doctors.

By Kai Uyehara in @seattletimes.com:
"Gaza now has the highest number of child amputees per capita in the world, according to UNICEF. But Seba could not be treated with artificial legs in Gaza, Sosebee said." 📷: Jennifer Buchanan and Nick Wagner

20 years after Katrina, we’re less prepared for disaster than ever Two decades after a trip to hurricane-ravaged New Orleans, columnist Naomi Ishisaka sounds an alarm about the inadequacy of disaster preparedness in the U.S.

Today's column for @seattletimes.com: "But for many others, Katrina affirmed what they already knew: The color of your skin and the size of your bank account determined whether you could flee or were left to die, or whether you could rebuild or were displaced." #katrina

Thank you!

What the arrest of an innocent Seattle man shows us about the legal system The arrest of an innocent Seattle man highlights persistent inequities in the criminal legal system, columnist Naomi Ishisaka writes.

Today's column on wrongful arrests and convictions: "As with everything else in the criminal legal system, the outcomes vary dramatically along racial lines."

Thank you 🙏🏼

“I used to think that across all nationalities and beliefs, if a child was wandering into the street in front of an incoming car, it was a core human instinct of every human adult to grab the child and get them to safety.

Now, I know better.”

'You need to make a choice' about Gaza. 1,700 people at Marymoor Park did Evidence is mounting that people — children — are starving in Gaza. People of conscience have a decision to make.

Today's column: “You feel like you’re living in a parallel universe, where this can’t be reality, where the bombs are being dropped on people that share the same name as me, or people that could have been me,” Sabrene Odeh said. #gaza

'You need to make a choice' about Gaza. 1,700 people at Marymoor Park did Evidence is mounting that people — children — are starving in Gaza. People of conscience have a decision to make.

The moral path forward is as clear as daylight: Cease fire and restore unobstructed food and medical aid services to Palestinians.
As ever, @naomiishisaka.bsky.social shares the message people need to hear. Via @seattletimes-rss.bsky.social.
www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...

1,300 Asian American journalists are rolling into Seattle The national Asian American Journalists Association convention will be in Seattle, July 30-Aug. 3. Around 1,300 journalists are expected to take part.

Today's column in honor of next week's Asian American Journalists Association @aajaofficial.bsky.social convention in #Seattle! Gratitude to Lori Matsukawa, Ron Chew and Frank Abe for founding our chapter 40 years ago!

The history of Hawai‘i you may not know More Native Hawaiians now live in the continental U.S. than in Hawai‘i, with Washington having the second highest continental population behind California.

Today's column: “From the sugar cane plantations, to the ranch, to the hotel resort, to those rich millionaires who came from the mainland,” Goo said, “It’s a miracle that any of that land, in some ways, remains in our family.”

Protests like ‘No Kings’ are vital in more ways than you think Seattle’s "No Kings" protest on June 14 was one of the largest in the city’s history.  Over 70,000 came out on Capitol Hill to protest the Trump administration in just one of many local events. Nation...

Today's column: "But as quickly as the signs were raised, I saw a barrage of criticism from both right and left over the actions and their perceived uselessness. … From my perspective, both arguments betray a fundamental misunderstanding of movement building..."

Sleepless nights, conflicting emotions for Iranian Americans in WA “How can one even imagine that your adopted country is bombing your homeland,” said a Kirkland man, 70, who hasn't heard from his family in Iran since Friday.

"Mehdi Nakhjiri hasn’t slept well in days. He’s been refreshing his WhatsApp constantly and exhausting himself with the 24-hour news cycle.

Nakhjiri, a 70-year-old engineer who lives in Kirkland, said he hasn’t heard from his extended family in Iran since Friday morning."

Seattle-area elected leaders react with alarm after U.S. bombs Iran Seattle's U.S. representatives condemned President Donald Trump's strikes. A state lawmaker expressed concern for how a war could harm Iranian Americans.

By Dan Beekman: "State Rep. Darya Farivar, the first Iranian American woman elected to the state Legislature, said she and other Iranian Americans are “bracing for impact” from a U.S.-Iran conflict."

When Trump turns troops on people in Seattle, where will you be? Calling in the National Guard and Marines is part of an "authoritarian power grab of this administration against ... ‘blue’ cities and ‘blue’ states," writes a UW historian.

Today's column: "Donald Trump has made no secret that he intends to do the same for other cities that he deems deserving, saying they will be “met with equal or greater force” as is being seen in Los Angeles."

Which WA companies are not returning as Seattle Pride Parade sponsors Organizers say big-name companies may fear drawing the ire of President Donald Trump. Here's which companies are back and which aren't.

By Alexandra Yoon-Hendricks: "Several Seattle-area companies and organizations are not returning as sponsors of the Seattle Pride Parade, including Boeing, the Expedia Group and Amazon’s LGBTQ+ employee resource group."

The not-so-secret motive underlying Trump’s travel ban If the ban were really about visa overstays, Spain would be on the list. What’s truly behind it? Racism and xenophobia, say Seattle-area immigrant rights activists.

Today's column: "The new travel ban against mostly Muslim or African countries was not nearly the Trump administration’s first attack against immigrants, but Seattle’s Wazhma Samizay said, “This time, it’s hitting me a lot harder.”

WA tribe buys controversial Uncle Sam billboard off I-5 The Uncle Sam billboard, standing in various areas since the 1960s, has been detested by some and celebrated by others as a monument to free speech.

😁

"The highly contentious “Uncle Sam Billboard” off Interstate 5 in Lewis County has a new owner: The Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation."

Thank you! Really appreciate that

Seattle backslides on crowd-control weapons — and so much more Progress that emerged from protests after the murder of George Floyd five years ago has been rolled back on many fronts, including DEI efforts and police reform.

Today's column: "Five years later, in many ways it feels like the pendulum has swung back so far we are further behind than when we began."

I will never stop beating this drum and I would add the word drinkable

“AI is a resource-guzzling behemoth, requiring massive amounts of energy to power the data centers that run AI technology and massive amounts of [DRINKABLE] water to construct and cool them.”

Those nifty AI tools on your smartphone come with hidden costs AI is a resource-guzzling behemoth, requiring massive amounts of energy to build, power and cool the data centers that run the technology.

Column: "In … Seattle, we would never let our faucets run all day and night or keep all our lights on, because not only would that waste precious natural resources, it would be socially unacceptable. But when it comes to the resource drain of AI, we expend tons of water and energy — and on what?"

Trump administration hides reports on missing, murdered people Reports on murdered and missing Indigenous women and people have been removed from government websites, columnist Naomi Ishisaka writes.

Today's column: "May 5 might have marked the 2025 Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and People Awareness Day, but Abigail Echo-Hawk thinks about the missing every day."