D.C.

Who Is Kymone Freeman?

January 26, 2015 Marsha Coleman-Adebayo, www.blackagendareport.com Educate! D.C., Ferguson, Racial Justice, Washington, Youth

Papi Kymone Freeman (guerrilla artist) is one of the leaders of #DC Ferguson, an organization devoted to exposing police terror in the Washington, DC area. Kymone, alone with Eugene Puryear, Salim Adafo and Kenny Nero have led non-violent demonstrations that have shut down major economic arteries in the nation’s capitol. Kymone is the director of the National Black LUV Festival that has since become the largest annual AIDS mobilization in Washington, DC. He has authored a collection of poetry entitled Blood.Sweat.Tears. Kymone is in the process of completing a one-man show called “Whites Only,” a show where, according to Kymone “white folks can witness an angry Black man in therapy from the sanctuary of their seat.”

Homeless For The Holidays – McPherson Park — Part I

January 1, 2015 John Zangas, www.dcmediagroup.us Educate! D.C., Holiday, Homelessness, Washington, Washington D.C.

They occupy alleys and benches, the side doorways of office buildings and dead spaces behind dumpsters. They hobble along sidewalks, looking for change, food and clothing. “Can you spare quarters, dimes, nickels?” A homeless man asks each night near McPherson Park. Others linger near the metro entrance waiting for the van from Martha’s Table to serve dinner. By the thousands, Washington, DC bears witness to the displaced who congregate in its parks and sidewalks. They wait for meals and clothing that are delivered by civic groups after the last of the rush hour traffic has dribbled back to the suburbs.

Stop & Frisk Gets Worse: Jump Outs In Washington

December 20, 2014 Nicole Flatow, www.thinkprogress.org Educate! D.C., police brutality, Washington, Washington D.C.

As protests erupt around the country, the “jump-out” has been the focal point of local advocacy for the group known as DC Ferguson. The group held a rally to protest the tactic on the week of the Ferguson grand jury decision not to indict Darren Wilson, circulating a petition calling on the D.C. Council to immediately take a stand against the tactic. Just what is a jump-out? It depends who you ask. It is typically described as multiple officers patrolling in an unmarked car, who at some point see something suspicious, and jump out of the car at once on unsuspecting pedestrians, with the intent of catching them off guard. Overwhelmingly, the jump-outs that have been reported involve at least one black male. DC Ferguson describes it as a “paramilitary tactic in which unmarked police vehicles carry 3 or more officers not wearing the standard police uniform. Their objective is to stop and intimidate ordinary citizens into submitting to interrogation or an unwarranted search.”

Thousands Rally In DC Over Ferguson Grand Jury Decision

November 28, 2014 John Zangas, www.dcmediagroup.us Resist! D.C., Ferguson, police brutality, Washington, Washington D.C.

Thousands rallied in Washington, DC on Tuesday to support the Ferguson, Missouri community following a controversial grand jury decision not to indict White police officer Darren Wilson for the shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed Black youth. Civil rights advocates urged participants to get involved in changing police policies leading to brutality and lopsided minority incarceration rates. The protest was nonviolent and there were no arrests. Speakers described police brutality and economic pressures as major issues confronting Black communities across the US. They called for immediate changes in policing with citizen review boards and demilitarization of police.

It’s Easy To Make Day Laborers’ Lives Better, Washington D.C.

October 10, 2014 Lydia DePillis, www.washingtonpost.com Educate! D.C., Labor Rights, Washington, Washington D.C.

Protecting day laborers from contractors who might cut corners on safety or short them on pay, with a fledgling group called Trabajadores Unidos de D.C. – United Workers of D.C. The group, sparsely funded by the city and a local charity, takes on everything from helping undocumented immigrants get drivers licenses to ensuring they are protected in the workplace at a time when the country’s immigration laws remain deeply unsettled. Griffiths walks through the parking lot, handing out bottles of water, as worried faces ease into big smiles when they see him. He checks in, and hears their troubles. One guy says he was beaten up by a gang on the street the other day, and they stole his money. To Griffiths, that’s an opportunity: Immigrants who are victims of violent crimes can get a U Visa, which allows them to work in the U.S. for four years.

Aug. 2 National March On The White House: Stop The Massacre In Gaza!

July 28, 2014 Answer, www.answercoalition.org Resist! D.C., Gaza, Israel, Palestine, Protest, Washington, Washington D.C.

On July 16, Israeli Defense Forces deliberately targeted a group of children playing soccer on a Gaza beach, killing four from the same family and maiming the others—another war crime committed against the Palestinian people. Join thousands of people in a National March on the White House on Saturday, August 2 at 1:00pm to condemn the Israeli massacre in Gaza. We have been in the streets every day in cities around the country. What is needed now is a massive National March on Washington. Israel receives $4 billion in “aid” from the United States each year. This money is being used to commit war crimes against the Palestinian people in Gaza. We are demanding that all U.S aid to Israel be ended now! More than 200 people in Gaza have been killed and more than 1,500 have been wounded from Israeli bombs and missiles. This has to end!

D.C. March Against Fracked Gas Exports

July 9, 2014 Chesapeake Climate Action Network, www.salsalabs.com Resist! D.C., Fracking, Gas, March, Washington, Washington D.C.

On Sunday afternoon, several thousand activists from across the Mid-Atlantic region and beyond will join the first-ever Washington, D.C. rally against the gas industry’s controversial push to export fracked and liquefied natural gas (LNG) from U.S. coastlines. As a key decision nears on the Cove Point export terminal proposed in Lusby, Md., just 50 miles south of the White House, protesters will call on President Barack Obama and his Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to halt approval of all LNG export projects and protect communities from the surge of new fracking wells, pipelines and planet-warming pollution they would trigger. The July 13 “Stop Fracked Gas Exports” mobilization is uniting communities on the front lines of the gas industry’s proposed fracking-pipeline-export build-out. The Cove Point terminal would be the first on the East Coast and could incentivize a dramatic expansion of fracking activities across the Marcellus shale region. FERC, which could decide on whether to approve the Cove Point terminal as early as this August, is currently reviewing 14 export terminals proposed throughout the U.S.

Keystone XL Protesters Enter TD Bank

July 2, 2014 DC Indymedia, www.dcindymedia.org Resist! Banks, D.C., Protest, Tar Sands, Washington, Washington D.C.

On the 28th of June, protesters from Climate First! entered two branches of TD Bank demanding they sever their ties to TransCanada, builder of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. At the first branch, protesters were able to get to the counter and attempted without success to hold a discussion with the Saturday day manager. He probably had to write a detailed report on the protest. Afterwards activists rolled out yellow "caution" tape outside and gave out fliers to passers by Activists then went to a second branch of "Tar Dollar" Bank, the one at 15th and P sts where there was a concrete barrel lockdown in March 2013. They got into the ATM vestibule between the inner and outer doors (site of the 2013 lockdown) but a fast-moving bank employee managed to lock the inner doors. This was followed by a second round of yellow tape and fliers. This time around, a cop insisted on removing the yellow tape, claiming it could not be on either public or private property.

Victory Gardens DC Is Growing Food & Community

June 17, 2014 Lynda McCullough, www.foodtank.com Create! Crowdfunding, D.C., Food and Agriculture, Poverty, Urban Gardens, Washington, Washington D.C.

Victory Gardens DC, a new urban farm in Washington, D.C., grew out of one young couple’s desire to serve city residents in a practical way. Alex Shek, an entrepreneur, and his wife Julia, a nurse, decided that the best way to help the people in their Southeast neighborhood is to provide healthy food to those who can’t afford it. With Alex’s business know how, Julia’s knowledge of healthy food and cooking, and the aid of some talented friends, they started an urban farm in their own neighborhood. Neighbors, local businesses, churches and contributors on indigogo.com have provided labor and money, and the couple’s dream is now a reality. Food Tank: What inspired you to start Victory Gardens DC? AS: My wife and I moved to the city from Northern Virginia with the idea of ministry and outreach in our heart, and we wanted to fill a need, a practical need, and how practical is food? The ability to find organic food or good fresh fruits and vegetables at a low cost in the city is really challenging, and I hope we can make an impact through providing food for those that can't afford it.

Company Offers Cash To Ease D.C. Residents’ Fear

June 16, 2014 Emily Atkin, www.thinkprogress.org Educate! D.C., Oil, Oil Trains, pollution, Washington, Washington D.C.

In an apparent attempt to ease health and safety concerns over CSX Corp.’s plan to reconstruct a freight train tunnel in Southeast D.C., the U.S. Department of Transportation on Friday said the company would offer money to the residents most harmed by the project. But residents are not taking the bait, saying the money is not worth the risk the project poses to their lives and livelihoods. “It’s an insult,” said Maureen Cohen Harrington, whose home would border the trench that CSX plans to dig so that freight trains can run while it reconstructs the Virginia Avenue Tunnel. “These amounts give no recognition to the relentless and overwhelming disruption this will cause, or to the lethal risk that it will present.” Residents are concerned that CSX’s freight trains — which sometimes carry crude oil and other hazardous materials — are at an increased risk of derailment while running through an open trench alongside the tunnel, which is next to an elevated highway and numerous homes.

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