Late-night vandalism damages businesses as well as its cause

On July 4, scores of vandals thrashed downtown Olympia, breaking windows and scrawling graffiti. Since then, they’ve smashed more windows both downtown and on Olympia’s west side, started dumpster fires, and destroyed property.

Many small, locally owned businesses were damaged. Rumors Wine Bar, a downtown business owned by a Black woman, will have to spend $1,750 to replace a window. In the midst of a pandemic that has left many businesses teetering on the edge, these attacks could not come at a worse time.

The Olympia Downtown Alliance is raising money to help pay for the windows, and to everyone a chance to show support for the businesses that suffered damage.

These incidents are difficult for police to deal with. In the dark of night, a crowd suddenly appears, causes damage, and runs away in every direction. A few arrests have been made, but not enough. The vandals know how to disguise themselves, and so far, they’ve been good at evading capture.

Last week, the Olympia City Council clarified its ban on using tear gas and other non-lethal agents against protesters to allow their use when “three or more persons are engaged in criminal mischief resulting in destruction of property or setting fires.” This will make neighboring police departments who had not banned those tools more willing to provide mutual aid. Olympia Police also are beefing up nighttime patrols.

To be clear, the vandals should not be dignified with the label “protesters.” In fact, in contrast to the protesters of the last few weeks who have conveyed strong messages about racial justice without leaving destruction in their wake, the vandals’ actions provide a strong argument against defunding the police.

Thank you, Gov. Inslee

The governor’s order requiring people to wear masks in order for businesses to serve them is both sensible and welcome, and those who seek to challenge it in court are suffering from toxic individualism.

The COVID-19 virus is wreaking havoc in the South and West – and in many parts of the world. Cases are increasing here, in our state and our county, although so far Thurston County has kept its increase manageable. We are all still in danger, and we are in this together. If we are to have any hope of opening our schools, colleges and businesses, we have to focus on the common good – and that means masking up, keeping our distance, and doing our best to persuade others to do the same.

Quarantine fatigue is deeply frustrating, and the weirdness of this year has been emotionally exhausting. For a while, we thought things were getting better. Now, though we are still in the first wave of the pandemic, it feels as if we are in a second wave of fear as case counts rise. Many of us have frayed nerves, bad dreams, and constant, low-level anxiety that saps our energy and ability to concentrate.

Parents face excruciating uncertainty about whether schools will really open, and if so, how many days a week. They wonder if and how they will find and pay for child care on days when kids stay home. Essential workers, who are tired of facing increased risks to their health, will have no respite. There is less hope every day for a national response plan, so we now fear that we will be stuck in this Groundhog Day until there is an effective, universal vaccine.

This is when we need to refocus on what we can do rather than what we can’t: help each other stay safe, give each other grace, and spend some time lying on the grass watching the sunlight in the leaves of a big tree.

This, too shall pass. But it’s going to take longer than we thought.

Thurston County Latinos, Blacks hardest hit by pandemic

Nine percent of our county’s population is Latino, but 29 percent of COVID-19 cases have been diagnosed in Latino residents, according to Thurston County public health statistics. Three percent of our population is Black, but 9 percent of COVID-19 cases in Thurston County have afflicted Black residents.

So for both groups, the case count is close to three times their share of the population. That is a hugely disproportionate burden.

Both groups are more likely to be essential workers, to work in low-wage, undervalued jobs, and to have less access to paid leave, affordable health care, and high quality child care. This puts whole families at much higher risk for COVID-19, and for lives filled with stress, fear, and trauma.

This is what systemic racism looks like, and the merest glimpse of what it feels like. And as James Baldwin famously said, “Nothing can be changed until it is faced.” We must not turn our faces away from the suffering these statistics reveal.