BLM blockades Chinatown, "National Emergency" protesters rally at White House

Video of the blockade at 7th and H sts with the mock prison cells 3 min 16 sec

At Noon on the 18th of February, protesters at the White House declared that TRUMP is the "national emergency". This is over his attempt to claim dictatorial powers to remove as many Brown people from the US as possible and build his wall. At the exact same time, Black Lives Matter blockaded Chinatown, protesting MPD and Bowser for their efforts to remove as many Black people from DC as possible.

At 7th and H st NW, Black Lives Matter wheeled mock prison cells into the street as banners unreeled from scrolls inside them. Also inside were name tags with the names of some of the many Black people trapped inside AmeriKKKa's and DC's dungeons. Demands included an end to stop and frisk and totally defunding MPD, mirroring the widespread demand to defund and abolish ICE. ICE did not escape the anger of protesters in Chinatown either. Muriel Bowser's choice not to take any serious action to force the release of migrants detained by ICE during the summer 2018 raids in DC was called out as yet another example of how she is serving the same agenda that Trump is in the end.

Anyone who though they would celebrate George Washington (Known to the Six Nations as "Town Destroyer" by driving their SUV to Chinatown to load up on sweatshop goods got quite a surprise, with first traffic jams and then MPD excluding them from the neighborhood by diverting their cars. Unable to park close, most of them probably shopped elsewhere or not at all. Thus, wealthy Chinatown business owners who give money to Muriel Bowser and support MPD were directly held accountable, as they have been so many times before.

Both the Chinatown blockades and the rally at the White House took place on the day of a national wave of protests against Donald Trump's wall, his so-called emergency, and his efforts to assume dictatorial powers at least in matters of the budget, of race, and of eminent domain. The two protests fought two of the many faces of white supremacy and colonial settler domination on Turtle Island.

The choice of MPD as the primary target of Black Lives Matter while ICE was also called out as a target made some interesting points: To a great extent, MPD is to Muriel Bowser as ICE is to Trump: the muscle behind promises to "New Washingtonians" or "Real Americans" that they don't have to see anyone that doesn't look like them. Bowser in fact was bluntly compared to Trump during a Dec 2016 protest at her house about the Terrence Sterling case. Never did Bowser see a proposal to put more Black people behind bars she didn't like, just like Trump never saw a proposal to jail and deport more Latinx people he didn't like.