Save the Historic SBFFA House

The Seattle Black Firefighters Association (SBFFA) was created in the 1960s and became one of the pre-eminent civil rights organizations in Seattle. My name is Clarence Williams. I was president of SBFFA from 1970 to 1980. During my tenure, we bought a property in the Central District at 2302 East Pike Street Seattle, WA 98122, near 23rd and Union. We bought this house “free and clear” and used it to organize against racism. We used the equity in the house to pay for the legal fees to fight against discrimination in our city and against our members, including, the first black Fire Chief, Claude Harris, in the Supreme Court. Chief Harris and other retired and current black firefighters have organized to STOP-THE-SALE of the SBFFA house. Please see this King-5 video that shows the STOP-THE-SALE rally we had in front of the SBFFA house in February.

Retired members like Chief Claude Harris and myself, as well as currently employed black firefighters, brought a lawsuit to stop the sale of the SBFFA House to a developer. We have seen our legacy and culture sold-off far too often in the Central District. The lawsuit has successfully paused the sale of the property. We need to raise money to continue our fight and to assure this property is not sold-off. Please donate whatever you can to cover the legal fees and related expenses so we can preserve our history and keep this historic Central-District property in the hands of the black firefighters. 

For more background, please read the Seattle Medium Article and Seattle Emerald Articles below.

https://seattlemedium.com/black-fire-fighters-fighting-to-keep-central-area-property/

https://southseattleemerald.com/2022/02/16/news-gleams-retired-black-firefighters-protest-vandals-strike-fcs-van-more/

Thank you,

Clarence Williams