The following is an open letter to Seattle Mayor Ed Murray by Frank Irigon of OCA—Greater Seattle Chapter regarding a September 28 incident in which Asian women near the University of Washington were allegedly targeted with insults and thrown objects:
Dear Mayor Ed Murray,
On behalf of OCA-Greater Seattle Chapter, I want to express our extreme disappointment and outrage that it’s been almost a month since this hate crime was perpetrated upon defenseless Asian female students in the University District. We were hoping that your office and the Seattle Police Department would have shared this same outrage and put forward a statement that his type of racist behavior would not be tolerated in the City of Seattle. But we were wrong and again our community feels marginalized. Not one word came from you or the SPD. Nor how the SPD was going to collaborate with the UW Police to prevent this from happening again.
We are requesting a meeting with you and Chief Kathleen O’Toole to discuss this and other issues that we have with the SPD. From recruitment, retention, promotion, and a lack of Asians in command positions. The last being Capt. Ronald Mochizuki who was promoted by then Chief Norm Stamper after our community met with him and that was eons ago.
We are looking forward to meeting with you and the chief to discuss how to make Seattle a safe place for all people regardless of their race to live, study, and to enjoy life in America.
Sincerely,
Frank Irigon
OCA—Greater Seattle
For more opinions, click here
Related Story:
Alleged racial targeting on The Ave calls for more safety measurements