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The CHAZ Has Become America's Fascination
The Stranger describes it as an "anti-capitalist police-free Vatican City inside Capitol Hill." The New York Times deems it "part street festival, part commune." President Donald Trump alludes to it, via tweet, as a bastion for "anarchists" who "must be stooped [sic]."
Seemingly overnight, the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone—or, "the CHAZ," as everyone's calling it—has become a local and national fascination. It was only Monday that the Seattle Police Department loaded up trucks and ditched the East Precinct at 12th and Pine, the site of tear gas-clouded confrontations between officers and Black Lives Matter-inspired protesters in the days after the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd. Protesters have since barricaded and transformed a cluster of city blocks into a mostly peaceful enclave of free food, face coverings, resistance art, educational town halls, and even some live music. Seattle Police Department chief Carmen Best says she's heard of armed people patrolling the area and businesses having to pay "protection" fees, but as of this writing, no formal police reports related to either situation have been filed.
At a time when cities are mulling the defunding and, in a few cases, abolition of their police departments, some people might be looking at Seattle's police-free movement with a mix of amusement and genuine curiosity: Is this communal version of the American experiment a blip, or is it a preview of what's to come in other population hubs this summer? For many, however, the questions are more fundamental: How long will the CHAZ (or the People's Republic of Capitol Hill, or Free Cap Hill, depending on your sign preference) stick around? And what are its aims?
Raz Simone, a local rapper, has apparently taken a leading role in declaring a several-block area of a residential Seattle neighborhood to be an independent revolutionary state called the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (The CHAZ). Simone and a few friends, armed with several guns and a megaphone, have declared themselves the new police. He came to national attention on Wednesday when a video of him assaulting someone over graffiti came to light online.
[...] The president tweeted Wednesday and Thursday morning that the area has been taken over by a "Terrorist Warlord" and "Domestic Terrorists."
See also: The Future of Capitol Hill's New Autonomous Zone Is Predictable
Businesses Extorted? Armed Checkpoints on Capitol Hill? Yes, and Also Mercer Island Is for Sale
An Exceedingly Chill Day at the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 12 2020, @09:45PM (4 children)
I can't speak to the specific claims made, but personally I'm against imprisoning children [vox.com] in conditions that would trigger serious legal repercussions if an adult prison treated their *convicted* (remember, these are *children* not even *charged* with a crime) inmates the way these children have been treated.
Whether or not the solution is to get rid of the agency perpetrating these flagrant human rights violations or reforming that agency to make sure it stops, I don't know.
Regardless, making the abuses of ICE an issue is certainly reasonable, and taking an extreme position is pretty normal when you're trying to start a dialogue/negotiation.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 12 2020, @10:20PM
No, there would be no legal repercussions. Most county jails are just as bad.
(Score: 0, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 12 2020, @10:59PM (2 children)
Look at my bold text I must be saying somethiing important without ever mentioning that the child cages were built under Obama. 'tard!
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 12 2020, @11:10PM (1 child)
Where was there any mention of any particular administration? And it doesn't matter. Abusing children is wrong no matter who does it.
Invoking whataboutism doesn't change the fact that those conditions are flagrant human rights abuses.
I'd also note that it's been more than three years since the Obama administration left administration of such abuses to others.
Want to blame Obama, fine. At the same time, you should credit him with deporting more undocumented folks than any president before or since.
But it wasn't *just* the Obama administration now was it? But you don't want to talk about that do you. 2016 is long over and the moron *you* elected is now responsible -- she lost a long time ago -- get over it!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 12 2020, @11:45PM
If you want to charge Obama with flagrant human rights violations, take him to court.