Don't worry.
I'm not reading all this. Good morning, everybody.
Just notes. Thank you for being here.
Thank you very much for being here.
There have been
a few events that have occurred since I saw you last,
and by that I'm speaking to the press that I wanted to acknowledge.
Before we get into the executive order.
First, our heartfelt condolences
to the family of Januvia Canela.
This, of course, was a tragic and horrible incident.
Currently, our traffic collision investigation squad continues
to investigate this traffic death,
and we must end traffic deaths and collisions on our streets.
It's as simple as that.
Everything that we do, every policy we implement, every investment we make
from physical structure to training, it has to be consistent with our Vision
Zero strategies, and that's why we work
so feverishly to get federal funds as well.
When we announced the $25 million we received from the Biden administration,
we put that into practice through an equity lens.
Where do we need it the most?
Okay.
What groups are being adversely affected?
And so I'm very proud of our administration and in particular,
Seattle Department of Transportation for looking at through an equity lens.
But that still does not bring back the life we lost through Miss can do.
It doesn't
say a lot in the way we want to say it to the families
and her friends.
So we want to make sure that everyone knows as a city where heal
because of that.
And secondly,
everyone in this room,
I believe, knows how Terry Nichols was murdered.
Let's just not mince words.
Murdered at the hands of Memphis police, which sets back the trust
we're trying to develop in this city, in the state, in this country.
I'm very proud that
the Seattle Police Department, both command staff,
rank and file, community activists.
City leaders, state leaders
all stood in unison in saying that that was inhumane.
That was cruel. We have to call it out.
And now we have to go to work to make sure that certainly does not happen here.
And I talked to mayors throughout
this country, leaders throughout this country about that murder.
And I said, let's just call it what it was.
That's not distracting at all, by the way.
But I wanted to put it in a context because as we continue
to have open dialog with our youth in schools.
In gymnasiums,
community centers, in homes, in churches, in mosques.
As we continue to dialog on what happened to
Terry Nichols, a person who lost his life
shouting for his mother, that we heal once again
and we learn and we articulate
with a perhaps a level of authenticity we haven't even found in ourselves before.
Talk about in 2023.
That is not us.
Which really leads us into the spirit
and the substance of this executive order that I'm very proud to cite
the logistics today I'll speak, and we'll have a few of people that are
probably better speakers than me, by the way, talking about what
this means to their communities and why we're doing this kind of work.
Today, we recognize that there's
a strong need for culturally and linguistically and religiously
competent victims services for immigrants and refugees.
We have to recognize that when an unnatural death occurs,
such as a death from gun violence, as an example, many immigrant and refugee
communities have expressed difficulty communicating
with representatives from law enforcement agencies, our own departments,
as well as the medical examiner's office.
So this executive order will ensure that the city of Seattle
is providing immigrant and refugee families with tailored support
during crisis response to sudden, unexpected and unnatural deaths.
That's the substance of what we're trying to put into action.
One example, of course, where there was
where it became very
apparent was the death of a TNC driver, Mohammed Kadir.
Now the activism of our city's rideshare drivers,
in addition to other community leaders and religious leaders
who fought hard to improve safety, is something
we're fully committed to working with.
We were having those discussions and we've been having those discussions,
and I'm very glad that the rideshare drivers are here representing it
today and very grateful for their input in crafting this executive order.
A lot of this has come from listening to their voices.
So you've heard me talk before about our one Seattle approach.
So our Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs, working directly
with impacted communities, helped create a specific set of actions.
You've heard me say before.
You know, talk is cheap.
Actions speak louder than words.
So here's the action we are taking.
First,
I am directing that our city departments
develop coordinated strategies that enhance safety and access
to information for immigrant and immigrant refugee families who have experienced
a violent crime or or the
the murder or disappearance of a loved one.
This compels the creation of a strategy for providing consistent
and equitable access to grief, support services, medical treatment, protections
for immigrant victims and family members who require language access.
Knowing that English certainly may not be a first language
for many people from these particular communities.
Address SBT, The Seattle Police Department to create and maintain language
access resources relating to investigation processes
for non-English speakers to help the immigrant refugee
communities, their families navigate through these resources and service.
It has to be user friendly.
It has to be immigrant refugee friendly.
It cannot be hostile.
This includes the translation of all available resources,
both digital and printed.
And if you run into a city employee.
Who does not embrace this value.
We want to know about that because I believe
that our city employees will understand not only the letter
of this executive order , but the spirit of it.
This direct city
departments to identify existing resources are recommending alternative approaches
for establishing victim support hotlines in multiple languages.
In addition to the Executive Order, the Office of Immigrant
and Refugee Affairs will make available approximately $230,000
in this year and 2023 to community
based organizations that serve youth,
young adults and their families from immigrant refugee communities.
Through what we're creating,
which is new, is called the New Immigrant Safety and Access Network.
You hear from director,
our director, Omni Muhammad.
A little bit more about the Immigrant and Safety and Access Network.
Funding will support programing to reduce community violence
for youth and young adults from the immigrant and refugee backgrounds
and bolster support for those community.
Unfortunately, when violence occurs.
Now there's many organizations represented here today.
I don't know how you define
diversity, but however you define it, it better.
Describe what we have in here today.
And so let me describe to you some of the organizations, just to name a few,
can deliver the Korean
Community Service Center, the Lake City Collective, the Filipino community
of Seattle, South Park Center, African Community and Housing Development.
The Muslim American Youth Foundation.
Care, Washington.
The Chinese Information Services Rewire
the Ukrainian Community Center, helping
link the Ethiopian Community Center,
the Seattle Rideshare Drivers Association
and the Community Police Commission. And.
Others.
It's a mission you're part of.
That is, if I miss you, I try to get my notes right.
So don't say Mayor Herrell.
You didn't call my group out.
So this week is National
Gun Violence Awareness Week.
The statistics are very clear.
There was a 2019 report on gun violence among youth and young adults.
And there's a 220,
21 year end incident report from the King County prosecutor's office.
The statistics are clear that immigrant and refugee communities
are disproportionately likely to be impacted by gun violence,
which makes this particular executive order even more important.
You've heard me say this before, but
you can't say it enough.
Everyone deserves to feel safe.
Okay. Where do you live? In the city.
Everyone deserves to feel safe.
So when tragedies like this occurred.
For Brother Mohammed Kadir
and others.
We have to do our job.
And so I want to thank again
Director Muhammad for I mean, I'm very, quite calm.
I'm very proud of her leadership, not only as elected
leader, as a department head.
Just as an example of what can be done when people are supported
and given their opportunity to show their brilliance.
And so let me stop there and we'll have Q&A after we sign it.
I do want to give her introduction
the respect that it deserves.
Hamdy Muhammad is a civil servant
with more than a decade of experience serving immigrant and refugee communities.
You'll hear from her next.
Hamdi most recently served as the policy policy adviser to King County,
where she managed initiatives, directing funds and investments
in small businesses, community organizations and COVID 19 responses.
Before working for the King County, she served as the deputy district
director for U.S. Congressman Pramila Jayapal.
And Hamdi has also worked
for CARE International and the Refugee Women Alliance.
Reward.
In her role is dedicated to fighting poverty and empowering immigrants.
She has a bachelor's degree in law, societies and justice and a master's
degree in policy studies both from the University of Washington.
She has also earned
a global business certificate from Harvard Business School in 2021.
She won a historic a historic race, becoming
the first black woman elected to the Port of Seattle Commission
and the first Somali woman elected in office in Washington state.
I present to you Hamdi Muhammad.
Good morning, everyone.
Salaam alaikum.
Well, that was an amazing part of that.
Mayorship wasn't expecting that.
I am honored to be here in front of all of you
as the director of the Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs.
Our office focuses on improving the lives of our immigrant and refugee communities
across the city of Seattle through programs,
policies and citywide practices.
In this room today.
There are many community leaders, organizations,
and also there's a lot of moms who are here
who are still coping with the loss of a loved one.
I want to acknowledge you.
I want to hold space for you.
I want you to know that I see you.
I would like to thank Mayor Bruce Herrell for his leadership
to make this issue a priority,
for the city to come together to ensure that we are providing culturally
responsive services and information for our immigrant and refugee communities.
We're providing
services that are culturally responsive, linguistically responsive
when it comes to violent deaths, unexpected
deaths, sudden deaths.
Mayor Herrell recognizes that it takes
partnership, collaboration, coordination
in order to serve our communities well.
I appreciate
the mayor understanding the urgency of this issue.
We're reminded of the urgency of this issue every single day.
Whether that's on a national level,
whether that's locally across this region,
we are reminded of that.
Our office regularly meets
with our immigrant and refugee communities and family members.
For instance, my team hosted a community listening session
at the High Point Community Center on October 21st
with our community members, our immigrant community members and the attendees
were predominantly black immigrants who shared their experience
with gun violence and dealing with unexpected deaths.
Community members took turns relaying what their concerns were
and what sort of actions they wanted to see from the city of Seattle.
What we heard was they wanted strengthened coordination
around responses to gun violence and unexpected deaths.
They wanted us to
increase community engagement that we partner with them,
that we look to them as the experts in the community.
They asked for supportive services
to help them navigate our government agencies.
There is an abundant amount of resources out there
for immigrant and refugee communities.
The challenge often is where do you access that resources?
How do you coordinate that?
Where do you find resources that speak
to your needs in a timely manner?
When someone dies, especially for folks who are Muslim,
the burial process has to happen within 24 hours.
If you don't have that information in advance,
quite frankly, you're not going to access those resources.
And that was elevated to us.
It was elevated to us.
The rideshare drivers who shared their own experience.
Some have a son who was in the room and shared his work
that he's done for decades around this issue,
supporting our immigrant and refugee communities around burial services.
We also heard about the
painful experience of coping with grief.
During the listening session,
I shared my first time experiencing the loss of a loved one to gun violence.
I was 16 years old.
It was a friend of mine in high school.
And then I experienced it again in 2019
when I lost my cousin.
I still feel the pain.
It was painful.
It was tragic.
And I know a lot of the mothers in this room
what they're feeling.
Those feelings that are so hard to describe
when you experience violence, when you experience
losing a loved one,
it's not a new feeling
to many of us in this room as immigrants and refugees.
Some of us come from war torn countries,
come to the United States looking for safety and security.
And when you experience a
loss like that here at home, your new home,
it is a painful, tough situation
to navigate.
So I understand
and share those pains with you all.
But Mayor Herrell often says,
you know, we got to put our words into action.
And I remember when the rideshare driver, Muhammad, passed away.
It was the opening of the West Seattle Bridge.
And Mayor Herrell was there.
And I was there.
And he said to me, I want to do something.
I want us to take action.
I want us to respond to the needs of the community.
I know the pain.
And that's why I love working with him, because he is action oriented.
And this executive order puts us on a path to ensure that family members
can receive the coordinated response that they've been asking of us.
And the
information they need to deal with the grief.
And so for some some people in this room,
it might not feel like a big thing to see this executive order in writing.
But it is huge for so many of us in this room today.
The Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs
is planning to utilize the Immigrant Safety and Access Network program
that we are launching in the coming week
to ensure that we are partnering with our community organizations,
that we coordinate
with ethnic media to make sure that these supportive services are in language
and that you all can have an understanding around the abundance of services
that are available at the city and at the county in the state.
We want to make that as accessible as possible.
In closing, I just want to
thank my staff at the Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs.
Thank you so much for the work that you all are doing.
I want to thank Mayor Herrell Executive Leadership Team
who've worked hard and have been following up on this order
and making sure that we take this action today.
And I also just want to thank all of the community community members in this room.
It's because of you all that we do this work.
It's an honor and a privilege to serve you all.
And we look forward to putting the words
in this executive order into action for all of you.
This is a step forward.
I hope to make you all proud. Thank you for the time.
Before introduce our next speaker will be Jennifer Cruz.
And it's going to be a logistical challenge per minute.
If you've come here to join us, can we move down a little bit?
I don't want if they've come here to support their community, our community
and our city, I want them to be able to come in.
We start at 10:00.
By the way, you get here late, you get cheap seats.
Come on.
Come on in every room around here and we'll make do.
Thank you.
Hamdy
You know, there's really nothing to say after that in terms
of capturing the spirit of what we're trying to do.
And that is, I think, outstanding leadership and action.
Jennifer Kruse is the program director for the Filipino community of Seattle.
She was a second generation
Filipino American who was born and raised in Seattle's Rainier Valley.
She is currently the program director at the Filipino Community Center
and serves as a pro tem judge for King County District Court
and many municipal courts throughout King County for over 23 years.
She represented indigent clients that that means people
don't have the funds to pay for private lawyers, indigent clients.
As a criminal defense attorney, and I know
from her background and
reputation, she leads with restorative justice.
She leads with trying to understand
the stories behind crimes, though she also realizes laws had to be enforced.
That's that balance that we have to have in our judicial system.
And she's a prime example of where I personally think
the judicial system must go.
I present to you Jennifer Cruz.
Thank you so much and good morning.
I just wanted to keep my remarks very brief.
As mayor had said, I am Jennifer Kruse and I am the program director
of the Filipino Community of Seattle.
The Filipino community of Seattle has been around for 87 years.
Over the last 20 years, we have become more of a social service agency
where we do help not only Filipinos,
however, we help everyone and anyone in our community.
And one of the great things about our community
is we are always growing and expanding and we are very, very excited
to hear about this order that is in place today,
because we think that it will help to move forward
and really help our community and not just our community,
but King County as a whole, people of color, immigrants and refugees.
One of the things that we do at the Filipino community center is we
are the main place where people go when they first come here,
when they first hear about a community and they are Filipino
and they are immigrants. They say, Where do I go?
They come to the Filipino community center and we try to provide them
resources and services.
And if we are not able to do that, we will find the resources and services.
And so I think that that's such an important piece of it, is that
we have that information and that access.
We have been working with the Seattle Police Department,
and one of the things that I personally have been
doing is working with the before the badge program.
And this is such a wonderful, wonderful opportunity.
And I hope that we continue more programs of dialog like this
where we are working with individuals who are becoming police officers
and talking with them about what our culture is like,
what our community is like, what our needs are,
and what we perceive the police to be doing or not doing
and trying to break down barriers and make communication better
between what we want police officers to do to serve us,
as well as police officers understanding what we as immigrants,
refugees and people of color need from our community.
We have a number of crimes that have been unsolved,
a number of murders of Filipino Americans that we don't want to go cold as.
One of the things that we are doing
as a Filipino community is we do have an advisory board
that works with the Seattle Police Department,
and it was one of the first advisory boards that was put in place.
But still, we do need more to really keep up to date and keep the victims,
the families really involved and knowledgeable
as to what the process is, as to what is going on
and where they can turn for help and resources.
The other additional program that we do have is our gender based
violence program and also our human trafficking program.
And again, we are working with numbers of individuals who suffer from domestic
violence, victims of domestic violence, and victims of human trafficking, not just
sexual human trafficking, but work related human trafficking.
And so we try to help those individuals also cope and navigate with that.
And so this is really just an exciting thing for our community
to hear about and to see that we are being seen
and we are being heard and other communities are also
being seen and heard because this is what Seattle is about.
Seattle has such a diverse group of people who are here,
who do live here, and we do all have needs.
And I'm glad to see that the city of Seattle, the mayor's office,
and the Office of Immigrants and Affairs is listening to us.
And I am looking forward to working more with everyone
and seeing how this program and this order really comes to fruition.
Because I know based on what everyone is saying, that it will.
Thank you so much.
Thank you very much, Jennifer.
She also wanted me to say to any of you that if you have any traffic tickets,
you want to take care of soccer after.
Dr. Yahya Sufi
to many circles needs no introduction.
He's the executive director of the Muslim American Youth Foundation.
He was born in Somalia and relocated to Seattle due to the civil war in Somalia.
He serves as the imam in Houston, Texas for approximately two years
and returned to Seattle to address the needs of youth in his community.
And currently he is the resident scholar in West Seattle of Masjid Tawhid.
If I'm saying it correctly, he's also the president of the Washington
DC Association, an umbrella of a nonprofit organization.
And I apologize if I'm not pronouncing things correctly.
I did practice, but I was practicing someone who might not know how to say
that nonprofit organization but Koranic madrassa.
And the executive director and founder of the Muslim American Youth Foundation,
Y F, which is a nonprofit organization
geared to create accessible refugee and accessible refugee services
to address the use of Muslim youth residing in Greater Seattle and beyond.
I present to you, Dr. Sufi.
Salaam alaikum.
Hello, everyone.
I'm very excited to be in this room this evening.
This morning, very diverse, which reflects in the city of Seattle.
And this is what made America great, having everyone around us, having
different cultures, different languages, having different faith and beliefs.
So I'm very excited to be here this morning.
And the most important thing from this gathering today
is that all of us of concern and all of us gathered here
to give support to one another.
As an imam, I am not only representing the Muslim-American Youth Foundation,
but I'm here on behalf of my Somali community, my Ethiopian community, my East
African community, my African community, the Muslim community around the world.
I want you to understand that I'm not here to represent
only me as I speak, as an immigrant
to come to America.
Costs me so much.
And I never thought today I would be here speaking to you.
I've lived through a difficult life in Somalia.
When the civil war broke down, broke out, making to different
countries, spending years and years and months and months
in refugee camps where there was no food and no water.
Think about this.
Those of us that moved to these states were looking for the American dream.
Yet so many of us have lost their loved
ones in America that they seeked to find a better life.
What's more difficult than losing life is to live with the agony
and the pain that comes often on the top of us .
Or that imagine if you are not able
to find accessibility
to bury your own child.
This how difficult it's to me as an imam of my community.
When we lose someone in our community
because we lose so many young people in our community,
the first thing that goes around is how can we get this?
And make it smooth.
Imagine as a muslim, we want it to hasten and to make sure the the the life
that we lost, the individual that we lost, to be buried as soon as possible.
But it does not easily happen.
And that's why I myself appreciate
the city of Seattle as a leadership
in putting its equity into action.
Thank you so much for putting it into action.
We do understand the system is to change, take time, but we really appreciate that
this executive order, which I think that will speed up the process.
What makes this
executive order amazing is that it's
so the sense of.
Equity and inclusion.
So people have different languages, have different faiths,
have different.
Way of life.
Yet this law will allow everyone to have the accessibility
to the resources that's out there for our community.
How a community has
been in front lines, helping families that are dealing with increased homicides
and unexpected deaths and unexplained deaths before us.
This will give us peace and tranquility
for at least two response to the incidents that happen in our life.
Lastly.
I wanted to thank.
The mayor of the city of Seattle and his executive team
for taking this leadership in
is in the process of those of us that are going through pain
as an imam, I call calls from all community members
when we lose one person, regardless of the race.
Or the language from our Muslim community.
It comes back to the imams.
So as an imam, the first thing that we question is how is the process?
Where can we start? How can we end this?
How can we, you know, ease the pain that this family is going through?
And I believe having access to the resources
and having an ability to find a way
to share the pain and the gain with this family is our priority.
Thank you so much, Mayor Bruce, and thank you to your team.
Okay.
We're going to sign the executive order.
Then we'll be around personal questions and answers.
So let's do that this afternoon.
Why don't we have everyone joined?
Everyone join in the back that not everyone by
those that are supposed to.
All right.
You ever.
You should have seen
this part,
some of the words.
Do you want to squeeze in a little bit,
please?
Where are we looking for so many cameras?
That's a good point.
Are we supposed to look at you and you said, yes, just look at me.
It's happening.
Some want to grab his pen.
I have to delegate.
Mr. Handy. How do you make sure?
Oh, that's right.
I think I know how to get a pen.
It was an actual sign with, like, a
four or five.
Just give those people.
You like
gloves?
Yeah. There you go.
I don't know who grabbed it.
You're going to do it.
One person over here.
Okay.
Good luck.
Good.
All right.
Thank you.
We'll take some questions and I'll go to the podium so I can amplify.
Thank you very much, Community.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you.
All right.
Okay.
We will take a few questions from those.
We'll take one or two community questions.
And this is a formal press conference.
So I'm going to address the meat as well.
But certainly we're going to hear from Q&A. Yes, sir.
Thank you very much, Mr. Bouzereau, for your leadership.
For your leadership.
Also, my name is wounded and the executive
director of the Seattle Russia Drivers Association.
And thank you for acknowledging
and understanding the things that we write.
Your drivers are going through a bit here today.
The person who killed Mohammed
Kadir has not been brought to justice.
We are asking the chief of police, the mayor,
what is being done and can you please give us thank you.
So for those that didn't hear the question,
thank you for the question from the one of the leaders.
I don't know.
I never say the leader, because this
there are many leaders in your organization
about the current status of the investigation of the
murder of Muhammad Kadir.
And Chief, would you like to say a few words?
And in that respect,
we have
actually been working on putting out photos of the vehicle
that is associated with the person that killed
your friend and and for so many family.
And so that is one of the struggles that we have.
It's a very pixilated photo, but we are also have video as well.
That is hasn't been a good Claire, a good quality of photo, but we are video.
But we're also trying to make sure that we're getting every level of witnesses
that are in the community as well that were there that night
to try and be able to capture a vehicle is actually very distinct.
I believe it's a, if I remember
correctly, a charcoal like Prius type of vehicle.
And so those are the things that we at least have.
It's just getting to a vehicle plate and getting to some identifiers of that.
And so right now, we have not made an arrest,
but we're hoping that
people will come forward on information that they might have on this case.
Let me let me
hold you hold just one minute.
Just one minute.
I'm going to I'm going to in that way.
I know
in every city, not only the city of Seattle,
let me address it, because that's what I was getting to say.
Okay.
That is not enough.
Because what you have to know is that
this investigation is not sitting on a shelf.
That his life is.
A priority as anyone else's life in this city.
And so we have status.
This is a and once again, I don't mince words.
He was murdered.
And that is a shocking a shocking to the conscience.
And so the investigative unit, the chief,
they are doing what they can to bring.
This to justice.
As you all know,
murders are sometimes complicated to solve.
That's just the fact of the matter.
And so I say with a person
that I believe I have integrity, that we are trying to put the right research
and right people in the investigative team to make sure it's brought to justice.
We knew the question was going to come up.
So I told the chief, you know, everything I have.
I got a bunch of lawyers
always telling what I can and can't say on an ongoing investigation.
And then they usually say something and they say,
You weren't supposed to say that. And this as well.
I got caught up in the action, I suppose.
So I'll just close this line of questioning by saying that
it remains a priority.
That I am holding his department accountable to bring this issue to justice.
That's all I have to say on that matter.
I share your anger. I don't.
I receive it.
If I were in your shoes, I'd be angry as well.
Thank you.
Okay.
So I'm trying to I'm going to have you address it.
I want to hear from this
fine young man, but then I'm going to see if the press has any questions on this.
Go ahead, please. So I'm calling you young.
I'm starting trying to butter you out.
Better be a
good morning, everyone.
So I'm busy sometimes here with many people in here.
And I really appreciate, you know, I don't want to take
the spotlight from these guys trying to get a community,
you know, speaking on night
with what happened in the past, you know?
Well, we
we're trying to navigate the system, the support systems.
We the things that, you know, coming from witness directly describe it.
So what we experienced, you've got some of the resources that were available
for them in Spanish were available
all the way from the time
we are in North Seattle
and some of the referrals weren't to go to see markets. How?
I think
North Seattle to South Park is very,
very important.
A lot of these kids who witnessed be
they didn't want to get services right away.
They wanted to take their time.
A couple of them, they actually they didn't come out of the room for faith.
Right.
But if that understanding, the cultural understanding
that we need to have, but also the different how different it is,
you know, grief
or hate or actually accept or how to deal with this tragedy.
So I really would like to encourage every department
to think about these services across the city,
across the city, and across the ages of the people impacted by this tragedy.
Thank you.
That's good feedback.
Great feedback. We'll take it to heart.
Rogelio is a good friend of mine and Seema.
And even though they do incredible work, we want to make sure it's accessible.
I went out to dinner and met with the students, with the governor
and had conversations with them and will follow up.
So that's very good feedback.
Thank you very much.
Any other questions
from anyone before we close out the Q&A part?
I'm going to wait, but
I'm going to go like this.
Three, two.
We're building one. Seattle.
Thank you very much.