Sawant, left, with newly elected 7th District Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal — another Seattle woman seen as the anti-Trump
The office of Seattle District 3 representative Kshama Sawant representing Capitol Hill and Central Seattle neighborhoods has received a flurry of hate messages threatening the council member following her call for a general strike to disrupt the January 20th Inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump. Here is Q13 Fox on the threats:
A spokesperson for Councilwoman Kshama Sawant said the office has been inundated with racist messages and threats of violence following remarks Sawant gave during a post-Election Day press conference at Seattle City Hall on Nov. 9.
Sawant first called for the strike during a City Hall rally the day after the election.
Sawant discussed the hateful emails and messages in a November 11th appearance on Moscow-based RT America and used the opportunity to lay the blame for the anger at the feet of the “failed” Democratic party. Through the election, Sawant and her Socialist Alternative party opposed the nomination of Hillary Clinton and supported the candidacy of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.
“Go back to India bitch,” reads one email released by Sawant’s office. “I am tired of being shamed because I’m a white male. You automatically think I’m a racist. How about you go the (expletive) back to India or wherever you came from?”
@BrandiKruse @cmkshama A million times over. She is a fucking disgrace to her office.
— Blair Underwood (@realblair1) November 16, 2016
Sawant’s office has not said whether any of the messages have been turned over to police or reported as a possible crime.
The criticism of Sawant has also taken the form of an online petition calling for the council member’s removal. While many have seemingly aligned against the council member, local community leaders CHS spoke to prior to the election praised her effective, and, yes, alternative leadership style as she works her way through her second term on the council and first under the new district system. In 2015, Sawant scored a convincing victory in her re-election bid to the council. Her current term runs through 2019.
Despite the reported wave of criticism, Trump’s support in Seattle was some of the lowest in the country, according to the Seattle Times, and a wave of protests, rallies, and community forums has followed in the wake of the election as people in the area sort out the best path forward and how best to fight back against the intolerance a Trump administration could represent. Plans included the formation of a Capitol Hill Neighborhood Action Coalition to organize locally against the administration.
CHS Pics | Cal Anderson at center of Seattle anti-Trump protests
Seattle responds to President-Elect Trump with rallies, protests — UPDATE: March on Capitol Hill