Blaring the Black Bat Signal: Kiesha B. Free Amplifies Community and Solidarity on The Pop-Up!
Speaker and cultural producer Kiesha B. Free recently returned to the Black Media Matter studios in downtown Seattle. Appearing as a guest on The Pop-Up alongside host The Big O, Free championed Black grassroots support systems and outlined the evolution of her digital network, Hey, Black Seattle!
Navigating Local Headlining Shifts
Kicking off with some recent headlines, The Seattle Times reported corporate shifts regarding Starbucks potentially moving its center of gravity from Seattle to Nashville. Responding to concerns raised by Washington officials over the state's tax climate, Free viewed the news through a macroeconomic lens.
"In this capitalistic economic society that we have, it should be no surprise to people who wanted to tax the wealthy," she said, emphasizing that large corporations will naturally move to reduce costs. However, her primary concern centered on the human element, urging state leaders to look several steps ahead to programmatically support local workers left behind by corporate departures.
The segment also contrasted corporate departures with institutional investments closer to home. Discussing the Seattle Storm’s new year-round youth literacy initiative, Free lauded the sports organization for remaining anchored in social justice and public care when other entities have backed down.
Additionally, she highlighted the Therapy Fund Foundation’s fourth annual Reclaiming Wellness conference, praising its founder, Ashley McGirt-Adair, for vetting mental health professionals through a strictly culturally responsive care lens to combat generational trauma.
The Evolution of Hey Black Seattle
A core focus of the broadcast explored the continuous expansion of Free's passion project, Hey, Black Seattle! Established roughly three years ago in June 2023, Free described the platform as a digital hub for Black life across the Puget Sound region, spanning King, Pierce, Snohomish, Thurston, and Kitsap counties.
"I like to call it, in short, a Black bat signal to help people find their way around," she said. Far beyond a static resource index, the hub has rapidly evolved to include:
A robust resource directory
A community events calendar
A dedicated local job board
A product marketplace and real estate listings
The platform currently boasts nearly 2,000 registered platform members alongside an Instagram following that approaches 18,000. Free noted that her current leadership focus is targeted heavily toward onboarding, member experience, and education to ensure users unlock the hub’s full community wealth potential.
Moving Beyond "Junk Food" Technology
Drawing from her professional background in corporate technology design, Free offered a nuanced critique of modern digital networks. While she initially set out to utilize "tech for good" to create structural infrastructure for her community, she noted that standard social media spaces often cultivate a false, surface-level sense of connection.
"Technology is kind of like junk food right now," she said, suggesting that platforms operate primarily as data extraction mechanisms rather than genuine spaces for healing. "It's tricking us into thinking we got nutrition when you don’t really get much."
To counter this digital isolation, Free works alongside media partners to deliberately bridge online networking into the physical sphere. The broadcast featured footage from past milestones, including the "Let’s Pull Up" community meetup tour, which strategically routed foot traffic into public-facing, Black-owned spaces.
Preserving Safe Havens and Legacy
When The Big O asked her to define the underlying purpose that drives her daily work, Free connected her output directly to maternal instinct and historical lineage.
"One hundred percent it is because I want the world to be better for the people who are coming after me," she said. "Our ancestors carried a leg of a relay... and it is not my job to sit here and just eat that fruit. My job is to also carry that baton that's got my ancestors' blood all over it and do my leg of the race."
Learn more about Hey, Black Seattle! at heyblackseattle.com
Tune in to The Pop-Up! weekdays live at 7 p.m. on all Converge streaming platforms.
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