Lynnwood City Councilmember Josh Binda visited Edmonds-Woodway High School on Jan. 17 to talk with hundreds of students about love and empathy. The event — taking place the day after Martin Luther King Jr. Day — was organized by the school’s Black Student Union.
Binda asked the bleachers full of students to have a conversation with him, an offer accepted with cheers and whistles. Binda talked about his struggles during his upbringing as one of four children raised by a single mother. He focused on the importance of having empathy for others, as people don’t always know what others are going through.
“How do you love people when they don’t like you?” Binda continued. “It takes courage to love.”
Savannah Jackson, owner of Mixed Coffee & Community in Mill Creek, also spoke. In addition, she sang the national anthem.
Jackson talked about her isolating experiences growing up as one of five black students in her entire high school, and she said the diversity she saw in the EWHS crowd excited her.
Students also spoke about their own experiences. Nyakueth Deng, a senior on the EWHS girls varsity basketball team, mentioned the challenges she had faced as a student and person of color, such as trying to connect with her culture and racial identity in a place where it isn’t represented.
Students were invited to participate in a Q&A session with Binda in the school library after the rally. Binda was elected to the Lynnwood City Council in 2021 at the age of 21, becoming the youngest African American in Washington state history to be voted into a political office.
Binda plans to visit over a dozen schools in the Puget Sound area during his Love Conquers All tour.
— Story and photos by Jasmine Contreras-Lewis
Such a wonderful event! Thanks to all the young speakers who are speaking out to help make our community/county/state/world a more inclusive, understanding place for all!!! This article made an old white retired educator SMILE!!!!!