On periodic Wednesdays at noon, passersby will see a group of people on the Fourth Avenue steps of a near-abandoned City Hall holding large, white, poster-board signs, each with a name stenciled in black letters.
The names represent someone who has died outside or by violence in King County in the past month. Women in Black — a project of the Women’s Housing, Equality and Enhancement League (WHEEL), a women’s shelter provider and advocacy group — stand in silent vigil for them to bring attention to the toll that homelessness takes on vulnerable community members.
On Oct. 13, they stood for 16 people.
Mary Slider. James Catlett. Felipe Perez. Petolo Saolotoga… So far in 2021, Women in Black have honored 132 people, what they call a “breathtaking and shattering record.”
Public Health – Seattle & King County uses a different methodology that paints an even worse picture, counting 148 people presumed homeless who died by the end of September.
The most recent vigil marked another somber occasion: the 19th installation of leaves for the Homeless Remembrance Project. Each leaf bears a name, often of a person who died years ago and has — until now — received little recognition. The signs and the leaves: a juxtaposition of the newly dead and those long gone.
For Allene Steinberg, a member of Women in Black, the leaves are a bittersweet legacy for beloved people whose deaths came too soon. Steinberg has been standing vigil with Women in Black for more than five years. She knew people whose names appeared on the leaves, having worked with some in the past.
“This is a day of really strong grief,” Steinberg said. “We stand because everyone has a right to have a ceremony when they leave this planet. This may be the only ceremony they have.
“I see the leaves as headstones,” she said.
The bronze leaves are scattered across the city, sometimes in places where the individual was known or spent time. They hearken back to the Tree of Life statue in Victor Steinbrueck Park — two sweeping pieces of metal, curved as though blown by a strong wind, dotted with leaf cutouts.
Wednesday marked the first time that leaves were laid at City Hall, one group on Fifth Avenue, a second on Fourth Avenue and a final leaf in front of the Seattle Justice Center.
It takes months to acquire permits for the effort. That was largely put on hold as society closed under the initial waves of the coronavirus pandemic. Normally, the Homeless Remembrance Project aims to install roughly 50 to 70 leaves per year when the weather is warmer and drier.
The Homeless Remembrance Project will hold two more installation ceremonies in October representing six more people. Six more headstones.
“The city just doesn’t learn,” Steinberg lamented. “The world just doesn’t learn.”
Ashley Archibald is a freelance journalist and former Real Change staff reporter. Her work can be found in the South Seattle Emerald, KNKX and the Urbanist.
Read more of the Oct. 20-26, 2021 issue.
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