On October 22, 2001 about 100 demonstrators marched through Seattle to protest against police brutality, especially the killing of Black people by police. The march in Seattle was part of the National Day of Protest Against Police Brutality, one of dozens of protests against police violence held across the United States. It came five months after Seattle Police Department (SPD) officers shot and killed Aaron Roberts, a Black man, during a traffic stop in the Central District, and days after a jury exonerated the officers involved. Among the marchers were Roberts' brother Eric; Howard Walker, the brother of David John Walker, a mentally ill Black man who was shot and killed by an SPD officer in 2000; and Ophelia Ealy, whose son Michael Ealy died while being restrained by SPD officers and medics. No officers involved in these deaths was held accountable.

The march started in the Central Area at 23rd Avenue and East Union, the corner where police shot Roberts, and proceeded to the SPD East Precinct, where marchers read a list of names of those killed. The march ended at Westlake Park. Marchers, most dressed in black to show mourning, chanted and carried signs and banners with pictures of the victims, as well as cardboard tombstones representing over two dozen people killed by SPD officers.

This image shows the protesters marching down Pine Street toward Westlake Park.

Caption information source: "Protesters rally against police violence," by Lewis Kamb, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, October 23, 2001, page B2.
Caption information source: "Relatives of men killed by police speak out" by Nicole Tsong and Ian Ith, Seattle Times, October 23, 2001, retrieved at https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=20011023&slug=cops23m