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Why Are D.C. Cops Recruiting And Deputizing High School Students?

January 28, 2022 Maia McCall, Liberation News. , , ,
On Nov. 18, in the library of Ballou Senior High school, an audience of students, parents, school faculty, journalists, and city officials gathered for a press conference held by the District of Columbia’s Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser and chief of police Robert Contee, who were at the high school to announce new legislation. Behind the podium where Contee and Bowser gave their address stood three rows of 10 teenagers in Metropolitan Police Department cadet uniforms, most of whom were not even 18 years old. Thirty children staged behind Contee and Bowser in police uniforms provided a perfect backdrop for the announcement of the relaunch of the High School Cadet Program (HSCP), one of MPD’s many programs aimed at conditioning, propagandizing and recruiting youth.

Reverend William Barber Leads Moral Monday Action At US Capitol

December 15, 2021 John Zangas, DC Media Group. , , ,
Washington DC — Community organizers and faith leaders from 33 States converged on the U.S. Capitol to demand passage of the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act (H.R. 4) and the Build Back Better Bill (H.R. 5376), now pending Senate approval. They chastised West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin for his role in delaying passage of the legislation which would provide protection for voting rights and financial relief for millions of impoverished Americans. Reverend William Barber called out Senator Joe Manchin by name for playing a “trick” on his constituents by delaying a vote in the Senate on the voting rights bill. Barber said that by delaying the vote until March it would give State legislatures time to gerrymander districts and allow passage of more restrictive voting laws.

People Vs. Fossil Fuels Mobilization Ends With Youth-Led Civil Disobedience

October 18, 2021 People Vs. Fossil Fuels. , , ,
Washington, D.C. — Under a banner declaring “We did not vote for fossil fuels,” Indigenous and youth climate activists led a march to the Capitol today for a mass civil disobedience action, demanding Congress and the Biden Administration take urgent action to stop all new fossil fuel projects and launch a just renewable energy revolution. 90 people were arrested on the fifth and final day of the “People vs. Fossil Fuels” mobilization, bringing the total arrested during the week of action to 655. Throughout four days of action at the White House, the “People vs. Fossil Fuels” mobilization pressed President Biden to stop approving new fossil fuel projects and declare a climate emergency to equitably deploy clean, renewable energy solutions and deliver on his commitments to climate and environmental justice and Indigenous rights.

Indigenous Demonstrators Make Statement At Interior

October 15, 2021 Jourdan Bennett-begaye, Indian Country Today. , , ,
Washington - Dozens of Indigenous leaders held a sit-in Thursday at the Interior Department in Washington, D.C., in an effort to stop the extractive fossil fuel industries. Jennifer Falcon, Nakoda, Lakota and Dakota, with Indigenous Rising Media, was inside and said before Thursday’s sit-in at the Bureau of Indian Affairs that they warned President Joe Biden to “respect us or expect us” and he didn’t listen. “So we're going to keep showing up until we die,” Falcon said. There’s been a historic surge in Indigenous resistance in Washington since Indigenous Peoples’ Day on Monday, where “expect us” was written on a Andrew Jackson’s statue. On Thursday, roughly 55 Indigenous leaders were at the federal agency for a sit-in in what is believed to be for the first time since the 1970s.

Activists Target Powerful Lobbying Group

October 15, 2021 Jessica Corbett, Common Dreams. , , ,
Amid a wave of climate protests in Washington, D.C. this week, some campaigners scaled the U.S. Chamber of Commerce office to call out the nation's largest lobbying group for fueling climate chaos and urge members to cut ties with the business association. Activists flanked the building's entrance with a pair of banners that said: "Welcome to the Chamber of Climate Chaos" and "Your Business Costs the Earth." Extinction Rebellion D.C. tweeted photos and videos of the action alongside a message for the group's members: "Do you want to go down in history as contributing to a climate catastrophe that will endanger the lives of millions of people around the world? Or will you stand up for the future, for hope and survival, and leave the Chamber of Commerce?"

Deepening The Resistance To Police Terror

October 14, 2021 the Black is Back Coalition. , , ,
The Black is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations is holding its annual rally, March on the White House and conference on November 6 and 7, 2021. It is part of the continuous work to destroy the colonial stranglehold the U.S. has on African people.  This is a call for you to join in this escalating struggle of the oppressed to overturn the colonial-capitalist system that thrust itself into existence 600 years ago with the 1415 Portuguese initiation of the European trade in black bodies that were colonized in Africa and dispersed throughout the world. The colonial enslavement of our people was the bridge between European feudalism and capitalism that wreaks havoc on the happiness, lives and resources of all the peoples of the world. 

Destroying Black And Brown Lives For High-Rises In The Nation’s Capital

October 12, 2021 Eleanor Goldfield, Mintpress News. , , ,
Washington, DC — “Where that McDonald’s is right now,” he says pointing across the street. “That used to be a news stand where I’d buy comics as a kid.” Dumah Muhammad stands in Adams Morgan Plaza in Washington, D.C., a light drizzle misting a small crowd of supporters and press. A few people wrangle a tarp over the PA system and there’s a tent where folks can grab snacks, pamphlets, water and shelter. Five Metropolitan Police cars are parked alongside the plaza and just behind the plaza there’s a staging area stacked with fencing and mingling cops. Despite literally being surrounded, the energy in the plaza is that familiar direct-action blend of defiance and celebration. Between speeches, music pumps out of the PA and folks dance alongside anti-gentrification artwork and handmade signs.

Major Protests Will Urge President Biden To Act On Fossil Fuels

October 1, 2021 Last Real Indians. , , ,
Washington, D.C. -- Thousands of people are expected to take part in a week of protests at the White House this October 11-15 to pressure President Biden to declare a climate emergency and end all new fossil fuel projects. Composed of hundreds of Indigenous, Black, environmental, climate justice, youth, and social justice organizations, the Build Back Fossil Free coalition will launch the People Vs. Fossil Fuels: Biden’s Test week of action in advance of the Glasgow COP26 Climate Summit. With that summit representing what many consider to be our “last, best chance” to avoid climate catastrophe, the week of action will urge the Administration to take action already within its authority to finally begin to fulfill its climate commitments. To announce the event, the coalition released a new video inviting communities from across the country to join them in solidarity in D.C as they demand President Biden and his administration pick a side: People Vs. Fossil Fuels.

Pro-Palestine Activists Rally Against Israeli Prime Minister Visit

August 27, 2021 Umar A Farooq, Middle East Eye. , , ,
Washington D.C. - Dozens of pro-Palestinian demonstrators rallied near the White House on Thursday to denounce a visit by Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to Washington. Protesters rallied near the White House lawn to call for an end to US military and diplomatic support for Israel, citing Israel's human rights violations against Palestinians. US President Joe Biden was set to meet Bennett at 15:30 GMT, but the talks were moved to Friday following developments in Kabul where two suicide bombers killed and wounded scores of Afghans who had amassed outside Kabul airport. Shortly before departing Israel on Tuesday, Bennett told reporters that he would maintain Israel's seige on Gaza while Hamas remained in power there, and vowed there would be no independent Palestinian state under his leadership.

Black Lives Matter DC Responds To Brutal Beating Of Black Man By Officer

August 14, 2021 Black Lives Matter DC, Popular Resistance. , , ,
On Sunday August 1, 2021 we were alerted to a video of a Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officer brutally punching Kimon Johnson in the head in Southeast D.C. This kind of brutality is not new for MPD, in the District of Columbia, and certainly not near Good Hope Rd. and 16th St. Southeast, but it is always unacceptable. It mirrors the experience of Derrick “Quan” Johnson at almost the same location on December 26, 2019. Quan was also not charged for the original stop or the second retaliatory one. Like Quan, we are so very glad he is still alive. As we predicted, his response to this brutal incident Chief Contee did little more than give a measured response at the August 9, 2021 press conference. As we explained when he was confirmed and have since learned about his complicity in the misconduct by the Gun Recovery Unit (Jumpouts) against almost only Black people, we could hardly expect more from him.

Nonviolent Protest Over Voting Rights Ends With Arrests In DC

June 25, 2021 Jake Johnson, Common Dreams. , , ,
Activists with the national Poor People's Campaign were arrested Wednesday after blocking a street in front of the Hart Senate building in Washington, D.C. to demand passage of the For the People Act, a popular voting rights expansion bill that Republicans successfully filibustered just 24 hours earlier. After rallying in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, hundreds of low-wage workers, faith leaders, and advocates—including residents of West Virginia, Kentucky, and several other states—marched to the nearby Senate building to demand meetings with Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), two key opponents of the For the People Act.

Leaks Show DC Cops Justify ‘Aggressive’ Protest Tactics

May 24, 2021 Creede Newton, Al Jazeera. , , ,
Documents obtained by Al Jazeera appear to show Washington, DC’s Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) used a training document to justify “an aggressive police response” to left-wing demonstrations and legal observers, according to experts. Ransomware group Babuk stole the documents from MPD several weeks ago and asked a bounty of $1m for their return. MPD did not pay, resulting in their leak. The documents include a January 2019 PowerPoint training presentation hacked from an MPD intelligence officer entitled “First Amendment Training Presentation”. The majority of the presentation features images of myriad left-wing groups, causes and demonstrations, including Antifa, environmentalists, the Women’s March and more.

DC To Pay $1.6 Million Over False Arrests And Excessive Force During 2017 Inauguration

April 26, 2021 DC ACLU. , , ,
Washington, DC - The ACLU of the District of Columbia, the Law Office of Jeffrey Light, and the District of Columbia today filed court papers stating the District will pay $1.6 million to settle two demonstrators’ rights lawsuits—one brought by the ACLU-DC and the other by Jeffrey Light. The two lawsuits, filed on behalf of journalists, legal observers, and demonstrators who protested the inauguration of President Trump in January 2017, charged that former Metropolitan Police Department Police Chief Peter Newsham and more than two dozen MPD officers engaged in or supervised constitutional violations including mass arrests of demonstrators without probable cause, unlawful conditions of confinement for detainees, and/or use of excessive force.

Front Lines To DC: Day Of Action Against Pipelines

March 30, 2021 Stop Line 3. , , ,
Five years ago on April 1st, the Sacred Stone Camp was founded and history was made as thousands of people descended to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline. Frontline Dakota Access and Line 3 pipeline youth and organizers are heading to D.C. Our demand is clear. Joe Biden, it's time to #BuildBackFossilFree-- shutdown DAPL and Stop Line 3. For too long, Indigenous communities have been forced to bear the burden of society's addiction to fossil fuels and the devastating impacts on our land, sky, and water. It's time to honor our treaties that have been ignored and shut down DAPL and stop Line 3.

Democrats Try To Fix ‘Taxation Without Representation’ In DC

January 29, 2021 Sharon Zhang, Truthout. , ,
Democrats from the Senate and House introduced legislation on Wednesday that would make Washington, D.C., the 51st state. The bill was reintroduced in the House by Eleanor Holmes Norton, a nonvoting delegate in the House who represents D.C. In the Senate, Tom Carper (D-Delaware) reintroduced the bill with the support of over three dozen of his fellow Democrats. Norton said on Tuesday that the bill now has over 200 co-sponsors in the House. Making D.C. a state, which the Constitution grants Congress the right to do, would allow the region to have voting representation in Congress. Currently, they have one delegate in the House, Norton, who can serve on committees but cannot vote.
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