The Seattle Hellscape Is A Natural Setting For The Sophie Cunningham Controversy

There is sadness that comes from feeling isolated in your own community. It is the loneliness of keeping your mouth shut. Of nodding. Of editing yourself because you already know the social cost of candor.

Over the years, I have come to a difficult realization: Seattle thinks it is inclusive but may very well be the least inclusive city in America. The WNBA incident was a very typical Seattle moment and didn’t come as a surprise to those of us who live here.

This city has remarkable qualities. It is beautiful, economically vibrant, and filled with talented people. But a city is more than its skyline or its natural beauty. A home is where you feel free to be yourself—where you can speak honestly without wondering whether your neighbors, colleagues, or even friends will quietly decide you are a black sheep among swans.

I no longer have that feeling here in Washington State.

As someone who holds political views outside the prevailing consensus and who openly identifies as a Zionist, I often feel that parts of my identity are not merely disagreed with but are disdained. There is a profound difference between disagreement and exclusion. I welcome debate and expect criticism; what I will never understand is the sense that certain beliefs automatically place someone outside the bounds of what is considered “acceptable” in society.

That realization has changed how I think about my future.

For the first time, I know I will not spend the rest of my life in Seattle. That is not because I stopped loving the mountains, the water, or the beauty of the Pacific Northwest. It is because I no longer feel welcomed by a culture that believes there is only one way to think; a city cannot truly call itself inclusive if inclusion depends on ideological conformity.

I do not write these words out of anger. I write them out of sadness.

I wanted Seattle to remain a place of innovation, kindness, and opportunity — I wanted it to succeed. But it needs to rediscover something just as important: the ability to welcome people whose convictions differ from the majority’s. A confident society does not fear dissent. It invites it. That just isn’t the case here, and it starts at the top.

From the embarrassing behavior of Seattle Storm owner Celeste Keaton to the inability to confront the problems around homelessness, public drug use, and soft-on-crime policies, the disintegration of this once great city is palpable. When one party controls every lever of state government for decades, it all but eliminates accountability. And anyone who speaks up is branded a bigot, racist, or, in my case, an AIPAC monster and baby killer.

Until that happens, many will continue to live as quiet dissenters — carefully measuring our words, concealing ourselves, and wondering whether there is still a place for us in a city that prides itself on celebrating diversity while vilifying diversity of thought.

My hope is not that Seattle conforms to my views. My hope is that it becomes more curious. More considerate. More willing to believe that thoughtful, decent people can disagree without becoming enemies.

If Seattle truly wants to be known as one of America’s most welcoming cities, it should ask itself a simple question: Is everyone welcome — or only those who think the right way?

For me, the answer to that question has become painfully personal. It is why, despite everything I once loved about this city, I know I will never call Seattle my permanent home.

***

Jessica Piha is the Senior Communications Director at USAFacts, a nonpartisan not-for-profit civic organization committed to making government data easy for Americans to understand. She resides in Kirkland, Washington, with her dog Evee.