Thirteen years after Seattle-seated King County adopted the image of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. into its official logo, leaders announced today that – all on its own – use of the logo had completely purged the regional government of systemic racism.
“Thought we might need several more years of honest public engagement with communities of color on tough topics such as the historic over-incarceration of black and brown people,” said Rick Thompson, County Director of Paradigm Shifts. “Turns out all we needed to do was print the County’s MLK logo on a few more pages of stationary.”
King County Executive Dow Constantine celebrated the County’s progress at an emotional press conference downtown.
“Half-score and three years ago, we changed the name and logo of our fair county because it was previously named after a slave owner who championed the Fugitive Slave Act—ridiculous for a bastion of liberal, progressive values,” said Constantine. “Today we’re promoting a Zero Youth Detention campaign while quietly opening a new youth detention facility that was developed with as little public input from local communities of color as possible. I hereby declare King County systemic racism-free!”
To ensure systemic racism doesn’t infect King County again, leaders have ordered that the MLK logo be immediately printed on 500 extra reams of white letterhead.
