From the Black Panther Party to Labor Rights, Local Organizers Prioritized Building Coalitions

by Yuko Kodama

Seattle is no stranger to multicultural and international coalition building. The Central District's Black Panther Party (BPP), the local labor movement, and many others, including the 'Gang of Four' activist leaders Bob Santos (founder of InterimCDA), Larry Gossett (former King County Councilmember), Bernie Whitebear (founder of United Indians of All Tribes Foundation), and Roberto Maestas (founder of El Centro de la Raza) all addressed the needs of local communities. They built coalitions because, as Michael Woo, former executive director of the Legacy of Equality Leadership & Organizing (formerly known as the Northwest Labor and Employment and Law Office), put it, "No one ethnic community of color was sizable enough to be impactful."