Over the weekend, Northwest Asian Weekly ran an op-ed calling out hateful graffiti towards Council Member Tanya Woo, who’s at present operating to maintain a citywide seat that the council appointed her to after she misplaced a district election to Council Member Tammy Morales. The op-ed ended with a name to face towards “anti-Asian hatred and xenophobia,” however the writer didn’t clarify how the graffiti, which appeared in three places within the Chinatown-Worldwide District (CID) the place Woo volunteers and in addition helps handle her household’s property, perpetuated these biases. The writer additionally didn’t embody pictures or reproduce the textual content of two of the items of graffiti. The one piece of graffiti proven within the article reads, “Fuck Tanya Woo get her out!”
Woo submitted the op-ed on behalf of the author, Askari Addison, a member of Woo’s Chinatown-Worldwide District Neighborhood Watch group. NW Asian Weekly Editor Ruth Bayang mentioned she by no means communicated with Addison concerning the op-ed, and that she solely spoke with Woo. Except for sending alongside the article itself, Woo additionally offered the publication with three pictures of the hateful graffiti, however the outlet determined to run solely considered one of them. Bayang mentioned she couldn’t give The Stranger the opposite two pictures with out permission from Woo, so we ran out and located them.
One piece of graffiti written in some sort of paint pen or white-out pen on the Louisa Resort, a historic constructing that Woo’s household owns, reads, “Fuck Tanya Woo. Tanya Woo hates Black individuals.”

One other piece written on a pink publish at Hing Hay Park in the identical sort of marker learn, “Tanya Woo is…[indecipherable].” The phrase the author supposed to write down appears like “racist,” however it’s inconceivable to say.

When requested why NW Asian Weekly didn’t run the pictures of the opposite graffiti and even embody descriptions, Bayang blamed battle with Woo. In accordance with Bayang, she and Woo agreed to blur out the phrase “fuck” from the primary photograph, however she disagreed with Woo’s suggestion to blur out the phrase “Black” from the opposite photograph. Bayang mentioned Woo wished to blur “Black” from the graffiti to keep away from offending Black individuals, however Bayang nervous that individuals may assume the publication thought-about the phrase “Black” profane. Given their variations, Bayang determined it was “easier” to not run the photograph.
The Stranger texted, known as, and emailed Woo for remark. Woo, who’s proven a desire for avoiding the press, didn’t reply to our questions. As an alternative, she pointed to the feedback she made on the metropolis council briefing on Monday. Through the briefing, she condemned the graffiti as property destruction, and he or she argued that individuals who stay within the CID would take the message “Fuck Tanya Woo get her out!” as an assault on them and never an assault on Woo as a result of that group “doesn’t perceive politics.”
“Whenever you … direct an expletive towards anyone in the neighborhood and also you say ‘get out,’ they’re not going to assume ‘[get out of] workplace,’ they’re going to assume exclusion,” Woo mentioned.
Woo additionally claimed that two completely different males on two separate events over the weekend approached her within the CID, referenced the graffiti, and threatened to hurt her. She mentioned one man threatened to kill her, and one other man swung a bat round, banged it on the partitions and ground, pointed it at her, and “simply sort of repeated what the graffiti mentioned,” she recalled. Woo didn’t reply follow-up questions concerning the incident or about why she didn’t report it to the Seattle Police Division (SPD).
Whereas within the briefing, Woo additionally mentioned that members of the group had introduced the graffiti to her consideration, that she’d by no means really seen it herself, however that she’d acquired a number of calls about it from group members, who then took it down earlier than she may learn it. However two items of graffiti stay up as of Tuesday. Furthermore, in an interview with The Stranger, the op-ed author, Addison, mentioned he and Woo had seen the graffiti collectively whereas strolling with their group watch group on the Friday earlier than the article ran. Addison acknowledged that Woo coordinated submitting the story to Northwest Asian Weekly, however when requested what prompted him to write down about it, he mentioned he’d must name me again as a result of he was in the midst of transferring. (Oof, on this warmth!) Woo didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark concerning the inconsistency.
On the high of town council briefing Monday, Metropolis Council President Sara Nelson known as the graffiti “hate speech” that “targetted a sitting Asian council member in an obvious try to intimidate her out of workplace.” Council Members Bob Kettle and Cathy Moore additionally voiced assist for Woo. I requested all three members by e-mail in the event that they had been conscious that Woo had submitted the op-ed and the pictures to Northwest Asian Weekly, whether or not she’d proven them the pictures, and what they seen as “hate speech” in these pictures. They didn’t reply.
A spokesperson for the SPD mentioned Woo reported the graffiti to the FBI and that the division’s Bias Crimes division was conscious of it however had not acquired a police report from her. An FBI spokesperson mentioned the company was conscious of the graffiti however that coverage prevents the FBI from confirming or denying the existence of an investigation. The spokesperson mentioned that, usually, the FBI doesn’t sometimes examine non-threatening hate conduct that’s protected by the First Modification.
We requested Bayang if we’d missed something within the pictures that may have led Woo and Addison to seek advice from the graffiti as “hate speech.” Bayang guessed that Addison equated the graffiti’s anti-Woo message with an anti-Asian message.
Addison confirmed he’d seen no different graffiti messages apart from the three within the pictures Woo had despatched. He mentioned he felt these messages contained racist parts and performed on the trope that Asians hate different races. He additionally pointed to the situation of the messaging, arguing that whoever had written it had chosen to put the messages within the CID, not in West Seattle or different neighborhoods, regardless of Woo representing a citywide seat on the council. He additionally mentioned he felt broadly that the anti-Woo messaging he noticed on social media appeared to have racist undertones.
CID Neighborhood Chief Michael Itti elaborated on what made the messages significantly regarding, underscoring how the graffiti broken property in a district that the Nationwide Belief for Historic Preservation named among the many nation’s 11 most endangered locations in 2023. He additionally identified how the messages focused Woo particularly, even if town council has 9 members, and that whoever wrote the graffiti selected to focus on a council member in a neighborhood she’s deeply linked to. He agreed that the phrase “get her out” will be deeply regarding for immigrants and people who have heard related phrases used to discriminate towards immigrant communities.
Moreover, some may view the phrase “Tanya Woo hates Black individuals” as an try to fire up tensions between Black and Asian communities, two teams with an extended and disputed historical past of battle, in addition to solidarity. Furthermore, any harm to the historic landmarks of the CID—even when it’s reversible—hyperlinks again to an extended line of assaults on Asian communities in Seattle, and within the US extra broadly.
Then again, whereas it’s actually true that the graffiti-writer focused Woo as an alternative of the opposite 9 council members, it’s additionally true that Woo is the one member at present operating a marketing campaign for workplace. Not one of the graffiti references Woo as an Asian lady, and although tagging the CID does carry problematic undertones, Woo’s group watch group meets on the Hing Hay Park pagoda close to the pink publish tag, and Woo’s household owns the historic constructing that was tagged, which may counsel that the vandal or vandals envisioned a extra direct viewers for his or her writings.
That particular person or these individuals may additionally have authentic beef with Woo’s insurance policies that led them to name her out as anti-Black or racist, together with her vote to kill an reasonably priced housing incentive package deal proposed by her political rival, Morales, which aimed to create reasonably priced housing with out displacing communities. Woo additionally voted to delay a vote on Council Member Maritza Rivera’s modification to short-change the Metropolis’s Equitable Improvement Initiative, which in the end extended the talk over whether or not to strip funding from greater than 50 principally Black-led capital tasks. The “Woo hates Black individuals” tagger may additionally be referencing Kanye West’s well-known post-Katrina dig towards George W. Bush, who uncared for New Orleans following the storm. Lastly, on the day she assumed her seat, Woo mentioned the council hadn’t seen an “Asian feminine” since Council Members Cheryl Chow and Martha Choe, erasing the tenure of former Council Member Kshama Sawant, who served for years.
Nonetheless, lately individuals have routinely attacked ladies of coloration in native workplace. A pair years in the past, a person with a pistol confirmed up exterior Seattle Congresswoman Pramila Jaypal’s home. Sawant herself reported individuals leaving luggage of poop at her home, and he or she handled dying threats throughout her time in workplace. Some thought-about the recall election towards Sawant to be, partially, racially motivated. Former Council President Debora Juarez additionally handled bullying emails after a video of her not giving a white man her full consideration throughout a public remark interval went viral, as reported by Publicola. In that occasion, some individuals went on to aggressively e-mail then-Council Member Teresa Mosqueda concerning the incident regardless of Mosqueda not even attending that assembly. Incidents of intimidation towards metropolis council members led the council in 2022 to move a decision condemning “harassment, threats, and political violence towards elected officers.”