Like a phoenix rising from an ashy war zone, Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (“CHAZ”) emerged after the Seattle Police Department (SPD) abandoned the East Precinct. To many Capitol Hill residents, it’s a big improvement over the nightly police clashes that clouded their neighborhood in tear gas, pepper spray, and ear-splitting blast balls. Since police left, it’s been peaceful. Still, what is the future for this fledgling “free zone” where a militarized police bunker has been shuttered and the surrounding blocks have become “part street festival, part commune” as The New York Times put it?
Populated by a mix of anarchists, socialists, police abolitionists, and probably some normies too, CHAZ doesn’t have a leadership structure, but one sign on the East Precinct building did hint at a shared vision: “This is now a community center.” Emphasizing the point, the “Seattle Police Department” sign has been spray painted over to read “Seattle People’s Department.”
In a way, the blocks surrounding East Precinct are already serving in a community center capacity. A stage has been assembled to host poetry readings, speeches, teach-ins, and a screening of Ava DuVernay’s 13th. There’s free food and water. Houseless folks have pitched tents finally expecting the police to leave them in peace in this one corner of the city as homeless sweeps march on elsewhere. Protesters painted “Black Lives Matter Way” in big block letters along Pine Street, and people are constantly adding to the collection of street art. The smell of spray paint hangs in the air as you walk around. It’s not a fresh smell, but it sure beats pepper spray.
The mood is calmer–like a raging storm has lifted–but certainly folks are bracing themselves for the return of riot police. In fact, Police Chief Carmen Best broadcast a defiant speech to officers saying the retreat wasn’t her call, pledging to reclaim the building, and reaffirming sketchy police narratives, such as a claim that they’d received credible arson threats to the building. (No fires so far, Chief.)
