To my neighbors, friends, families and businesses throughout Seattle:

I have lived in North Seattle for more than 30 years. My children and family have lived here, grown up here and called this community home.

I love North Seattle.

That is why the continuing gun violence in Seattle—and particularly the violence affecting neighborhoods along the Aurora Avenue corridor—is deeply personal to me.

When gunfire becomes something families hear from their homes, when parents worry about their children walking through the neighborhood, and when residents and businesses wonder what will happen next, we cannot simply accept it as part of city life.

We deserve better.

Aurora Avenue is more than a highway. It runs through neighborhoods where people live, work, raise children, operate businesses, attend school and build their futures.

Making the Aurora corridor safer must remain a priority for our city, but government and law enforcement cannot carry the entire responsibility. Residents, businesses, community organizations and local leaders all have a role in building neighborhoods where violence is rejected and people look out for one another.

That belief is behind my HATE HAS NO HOME HERE campaign.

The message is simple:

Hate has no home here.
Gun violence has no home here.
Fear should have no home here.

We can disagree about politics and still agree that our children deserve to grow up safely.

We can come from different backgrounds and still stand together against violence.

And we can support responsible public safety while also supporting prevention, intervention, opportunity for young people and stronger communities.

Through HATS206SEATTLE.com, I want to do more than sell Seattle apparel. I want to use a local business and its platform to promote pride in our city and a positive message about the neighborhoods we call home.

When you see HATE HAS NO HOME HERE, I want it to represent something larger than a slogan.

It means that we refuse to surrender our neighborhoods to violence.

It means that we care about our neighbors.

It means that Seattle belongs to all of us—and protecting our community is something we must do together.

After more than three decades in North Seattle, I still believe in this community.

I believe in our families.

I believe in our businesses.

I believe in our young people.

And I believe we can make the Aurora corridor and all of Seattle safer if enough of us are willing to stand together and say:

William Hargrove
North Seattle Resident
HATE HAS NO HOME HERE Campaign
HATS206SEATTLE.com