Marcus Harrison Green
Publisher, Author, Columnist, Speaker, & Podcaster
Marcus Harrison Green is the publisher of the South Seattle Emerald, and a columnist with the Seattle Times. Growing up in South Seattle, he experienced first-hand the impact of one-dimensional stories on marginalized communities, which taught him the value of authentic narratives. After an unfulfilling stint in the investment world during his twenties, Marcus returned to his community with a newfound purpose of telling stories with nuance, complexity, and multidimensionality with the hope of advancing social change. This led him to become a writer and found the South Seattle Emerald. An award-winning storyteller, he was awarded the Seattle Human Rights Commissions’ Individual Human Rights Leader Award for 2020, and named the inaugural James Baldwin Fellow by the Northwest African American Museum in 2022.
Readying to Rise: Essays, by Marcus Harrison Green
Social justice is an ideal. It’s not a reality. And while there are moments that make it feel tantalizingly close, the moment that follows often punts it right back to the far distance. Growing up black in south Seattle, journalist and essayist Marcus Harrison Green has a keen sense of exactly where and how things break down. From his own experience in the classroom and at the hands of police to his fierce dissection of the racism baked into media and journalism, Green makes poetry of the clarity that comes after long reflection.
In this collection, Green bears sharp witness to the Black Lives Matter movement, his own journey into and out of religious faith, his grandmother’s lessons, his battle with bipolar disorder, human mortality, blatant hypocrisy, and much more.
He shines a light on what hurts the most deeply in us: not only the brutal injustice of a world built by the powerful for the powerful, but the close proximity of that brutality to a persistent kernel of hope.
Yet because there is hope, there is conviction. Green never falters in the knowledge that the struggle itself is something to tie ourselves to and define ourselves by. With astute analyses, evocative imagery, profound empathy, and the ability to laugh at it all, these essays, even with their collective weight, leave us much lighter than they found us.
Emerald Reflections 2: A South Seattle Emerald Anthology
Seattle’s most diverse community has a story to share with the world, a narrative of resistance, resilience, hope, tragedy, triumph, and passion. It’s a story that can only be told by an area where Tagalog, and Tigrinya can flow as fluently from corner store door steps as English.
Explore in this collection experiences as varied and unique as the people who grace its streets, but coalescing in one wide-ranging story: The People of South Seattle.
Featuring work by: Lola E Peters * Ijeoma Oluo * Nakeya Isabell * Georgia S. McDade * Nikkita Oliver * Gyasi Ross * Monica Hoang * Alvin “LA” Horn * Sharon H Chang * Hanna Brooks Olsen * Toshiko Grace Hasegawa * Rell Be Free * Alex Gallo-Brown * K. D. Senior * Mike Leitner * Lee Claiborne * Kayla Blau * Tiffani Jones * Isaac Robinson * Harvey Garvey * Nasra Ali * Namaka Auwae-Dekker * Gabriella Duncan * ChrisTiana ObeySumner * Rae Rose * Robin Boland * Kiana Davis * Sean Smith * Samira Abbas * Rev. Kelly Dahlman-Oeth * Courtney Weaver * Brian Burgen-Aurand * Laura Humpf * Jon Greenberg * Rollie Williams * Dan Ophardt * Marilee Jolin * Marisa Ordonia * Fathi Karshie * Will Sweger * Kelsey Hamlin * Sharayah Lane * Peter Johnson * Danica Bornstein * Miguel Jimenez
Life On The Margins Podcast
For some people, power is the ability to speak as truly as possible. Not everyone has that power or the ability to act on it. Too often that opportunity has been denied to historically marginalized groups. Much of our media systemically pushes them and their stories to the edges of society. But we're proof that if you speak loudly enough, your voice can still triumph, even from the margins. Every single podcast will strive to spotlight, elevate and amplify stories not just about our marginalized communities, but from within, and alongside them. Join us as we loudly trumpet Life On the Margins.
Hosted By Enrique Cerna, Jini Palmer, and Marcus Harrison Green
Presented in Partnership with Town Hall Seattle & The South Seattle Emerald
What People Are Saying
Marcus Harrison-Green is a hero who prefers the shadows, but deserves the spotlight. He is a voice for the voiceless, for the community in the community, and that among many reasons is why Marcus Harrison-Green is Black History, today!
— Rise Up for Students
Dedication, Excellence, Persistence, these are just three of countless words that describe Marcus Harrison Green. Marcus has a rare and treasured ability to through his words and actions to speak truth, empathy, and understanding and in doing so informs, embraces, and builds news and powerful bonds of communication and engagement that benefits not only South Seattle but the Emerald City as a whole.