We want to share our upcoming performances at the Northwest Folklife Festival at the Seattle Center - our 25th annual appearance there!  Join us and bring your mask and vaccination card! 

Saturday, May 28th 5 - 6pm 
Cornish Playhouse, 201 Mercer St, Seattle, WA 98109 

Sunday, May 29th  6:10 - 7:00pm 
Cornish Courtyard, in front of the Playhouse
This is an audience participation singalong!  Here are the lyrics you can download!

We, the Seattle Labor Chorus, live, work, and sing on the ancestral lands and waters of the Coast Salish Indigenous peoples, including the Duwamish, Suquamish, Muckleshoot, and their kin from neighboring communities. We wish to honor and express our gratitude to the land itself and to these First Peoples. 

We acknowledge and deplore the dispossession, displacement, violence, oppression, exclusions, and other injustices that the Coast Salish and all Indigenous peoples have suffered under U.S. colonization. We recognize that the United States made promises to the Coast Salish that are still owed to their Indigenous descendants. 

We are thankful that the Coast Salish peoples have stewarded this land and its waters for thousands of years, and we honor their continuing leadership to preserve a livable environment for all beings. 

We acknowledge and appreciate that Coast Salish people, whose work sustained thriving communities before U.S. colonization, now contribute by their work to all aspects of regional society. 

Let this acknowledgment serve as a reminder of the Seattle Labor Chorus commitment to raise our voices in support of justice and respect for our Indigenous neighbors.

The Seattle Labor Chorus joins labor leaders in deploring racism, America's long history of enforced White supremacy, and the devastating consequences for Black Americans. We will do everything in our power as members and supporters of the anti-racism movement to reverse those consequences, compensate racism's victims, and bring about a nation in which all people are assured of legal, economic, and social justice.

Bellevue College Association of Higher Education  – "Our working conditions are our students’ learning conditions. Systemic racism and anti-Blackness are embedded in the fabric of our educational system, impacting educators and students alike. As a union of educators, we must work to create equity in public education for both our members and our students.”

OPEIU 8 – “Too many disparities exist today – in housing, in healthcare, in education, in job opportunities and in public safety. Black, Indigenous and other people of color suffer these disparities the most. Institutional racism must be recognized and ended. Genuine police reform must be non-negotiable.”

AFL-CIO – “Racism plays an insidious role in the daily lives of all working people of color. This is a labor issue because it is a workplace issue. It is a community issue, and unions are the community. We must and will continue to fight for reforms in policing and to address issues of racial and economic inequality.” 

UFCW 21 -- “When communities of color are being repeatedly traumatized, when we see racist acts of hate and violence on full display played out online and splashed across televisions and newspapers, we remember that labor’s power comes from our ability to act collectively. Fear undermines our collective power. Racism undermines our collective power. Racism is the enemy of the working class. Racism is the enemy of organized labor.” 

International Association of Machinists – “We face a clear choice: Do we join in solidarity with each other, in accordance with our values—and do the hard and difficult work of building a racially just society—or do we allow misinformation, fear and suspicion to continue to divide us? We must stand in solidarity with one another.” 

We are all fighting a dangerous virus by keeping our distance from each other.  Even so, the SEATTLE LABOR CHORUS is not deterred from our mission. We continue giving voice in song to the concerns and goals of people who struggle for economic, social, and racial justice. Enjoy and take heart from our latest virtual performance found on our music page.

As arts organizations go, we are small and low budget, but our dedication to serving as a resource for labor and social justice communities makes us uniquely valuable. Even before the pandemic, our services on picket lines, rallies, union meetings, schools, and community organizations were in rising demand because labor strikes, organizing efforts, attacks on immigrants, and perils of climate change are on the increase.  

We turn now for support to friends, fans, and others who share our conviction that music and art are vital to the movement for a just society where working people have the right to organize for fair pay, a life free of discrimination, and a safe environment. 

HOW TO DONATE 
Send checks to: 
Seattle Labor Chorus 
P.O. Box 17961 
Seattle, WA 98127-1954 
OR use the donate button for credit card donations.

Any donation amount is welcome.  
$500 pays half our director’s monthly compensation. 
$250 covers a month of rehearsal space rent (paid to Keystone Church, a stalwart advocate of social justice and labor rights). 
$75 rents our post office box for 6 months. 
$25 covers our postage for a year. 

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT! 
The Seattle Labor Chorus is a 501(c)(3) organization, IRS ID #91-1839904. 
All donations are tax-deductible charitable contributions.