It’s hard to imagine anyone who embodied social justice more than KL Shannon.

If you attended a protest or action related to racial or social justice in Seattle over the past few decades, it’s highly likely Shannon was there with you. 

A veteran organizer, activist and community leader, Shannon died of cancer on Sept. 9 at age 59.

Born March 13, 1967, in Albuquerque, N.M., Shannon grew up in the Central District, an experience that would catalyze her commitment to seeking justice. In the short 2005 UW student film about her, “My Fight Too,” by Robert Lawson and Kris Weber, Shannon recalled being 13 and seeing a 16-year-old neighbor face a slew of police with guns drawn after he tried to get into his own house. After an altercation with police to protect her neighbor, Shannon was arrested.

Even at 13, Shannon said in the film, “I could not just stand by and not say anything.”

Shannon’s impact was widely felt. After the news of her passing spread, there was an outpouring of remembrances and tributes. Calling her an “organizer’s organizer,” fellow organizers, activists and grassroots community organizations as well as elected leaders honored her decades fighting for our communities. 

My friend Inye Wokoma wrote for Wa Na Wari, “Work never felt like work with KL. Organizing never felt like ‘the struggle.’ It felt like family, like life. It felt like living inside a bubble of liberatory love that we knew was possible for the whole world. The world outside is hard enough. KL’s quick smile reminded us that we could be soft and easy with one another, even as we girded up for the work ahead. She brought that essence to everything she did.”

Seattle City Council President Joy Hollingsworth posted a tribute to Shannon, as did Mayor Katie Wilson, King County Executive Girmay Zahilay, and U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, who wrote, “KL was at every protest or rally, leading the peacekeeping forces, strategizing on the purpose, bringing the people. KL’s dedication to justice shone through every time, and her belief in people’s power inspired so many others to feel their own power.”

State Sen. Rebecca Saldaña said she believes she first met Shannon in the late 1990s during the WTO protests. She said Shannon was “a warrior up until every last minute, and lived her life committed to her vision for the world and her belief in organizing.”

Saldaña said Shannon was driven by deep love of community and her fundamental belief “in the power of people, that we don’t have to keep on hurting each other, and we don’t have to have a system that keeps hurting us. That we created these systems as human beings, we can and we must make them better.”

Shannon was also driven by love for her nephews, who she treasured and helped raise. 

Throughout her life, Shannon was part of numerous organizations and movements to advance racial, economic and environmental justice and to make systems more accountable. Among many, many other efforts, Shannon worked with Mothers for Police Accountability (formerly Mothers Against Police Harassment), Jobs with Justice, and the Defender Association’s Racial Disparity Project. She also worked on campaigns to protect housing for Yesler Terrace residents; was the vice chair for the MLK Jr. Organizing Coalition; documented police brutality for the Seattle King County NAACP; and trained numerous street marshals for hundreds of marches and rallies to protect all participants, according to a public obituary. 

In recent years, Shannon joined what is now Seattle Streets Alliance as a community organizer, Puget Sound Sage as an organizer, and Wa Na Wari’s CACE 21 initiative as community organizing lead. 

Matt Remle (Hunkpapa Lakota), a Seattle-based journalist, activist and co-founder of Mazaska Talks, also remembered Shannon from the 1999 WTO protest days and beyond. On the day the protesters were set to stop the WTO delegates through direct action, Remle said he was blown away by the way Shannon commanded space.

“It was a pretty chaotic and crazy day when (the police were) shooting the tear gas and rubber bullets and had their little military-looking things they rolled in on, but she didn’t seem fazed. She was just locked in,” he said. “It was very awe-inspiring.”

Remle said he would watch Shannon at later actions and would marvel at the way she would have in her head how people should be assigned to various roles in order to keep everyone safe. “’So you’re going to be our police liaison,’” he recalled her saying, “’You, so-and-so, you’re going to be watching out for the traffic.’ That sort of coordination was just phenomenal to watch.”

Long before “intersectionality” became part of our common language, Shannon embodied the belief that all social justice efforts were her fight too, Remle said. He said she would show up for Native organizing efforts like the Dakota Access Pipeline and other issues. “She just had that kind of heart for supporting people who were oppressed, no matter what that kind of oppression was.”

In 2020, Shannon co-founded Whose Streets? Our Streets!, a project of Seattle Streets Alliance, to ensure Black, Indigenous and other people of color had a voice in safety issues in the city. Maria Abando, an organizer for the group, said Shannon was nurturing, supportive and deeply invested in her growth as a leader.

Abando said Shannon already knew Abando’s potential for leadership given the right opportunities and more confidence, and Shannon provided those opportunities.

One of those occasions was a candidate forum that was held the day before Shannon died. Abando said Shannon was determined to see the forum be successful, and even from her hospital bed was orchestrating turnout and logistics. “She loved what she did so much that she did it until literally the eve of her passing,” Abando said.

As Shannon said in “My Fight Too,” “I hate injustice. I believe that everyone has a right to justice. And I love organizing.

“I’ve come to the conclusion that I was born to be an organizer,” she said. “I love doing this. I’ll probably be doing this up until the day I die.”

Abando said Shannon’s death is “devastating — a great, immeasurable loss.” But at the same time, she is moving forward with a strong sense of responsibility. “She carried this baton for a long time. … So we just can’t let it fall.”

Shannon is survived by her mother, Dorothy Demmings, brother Samuel Shannon Sr., nephews Samuel Shannon Jr. and Jakwaun Shannon, niece Nevaeh Shannon, and many friends and loved ones. Memorial details are forthcoming.