Race/Racism

On the 6th of August, the Standing Rock Sioux Nation held a protest at the White House against the Dakota Access pipeline for fracked Bakken crude oil. Construction on this line, another "Black Snake" like the Keystone, has begun without permits. A week after the DC protest, warriors from many bands succeeded in stopping construction by occupying the site, at the cost of many arrests. Protests are ongoing and continuing as this is reported. Like the 2014 Mi'kmaq victory that drove SouthWest Energy from New Brunswick(in Occupied Canada), this has a good chance in ending with an Indigenous victory over resource extraction.

Youtube video of arrests of Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Chairman Dave Archambault II and Councilman Dana Wasinzi at the Dakota Access pipeline site.

On the 16th of August, reports surfaced on Twitter of multiple instances of police harassment of Black Lives Matter activists in DC over the past year. An activist using the handle @agoggans has been repeatedly harassed by police, including at her home when police harassed a Black Joy Sunday event at her home last year. On August 16th she was harassed again, officers with badge numbers 3344 and 2520 were both involved and are reported to be harassing her every chance they get.Overt surveillance is also being reported and the overall situation should be considered a dangerous threat.

Civil Rights Group Challenges Buffer Zone that Restricts Free Speech at New Trump International Hotel

A section of Pennsylvania Avenue, a National Historic Site that runs from the White House to the Capitol, will be turned over for the use of the Trump Organization along with the large (7,000 square foot) previously public plaza that features an 1889 Benjamin Franklin statue and that abuts the soon-to-open Trump International Hotel at the Old Post Office, as well as a portion of the sidewalk space abutting the Avenue.

The turnover of these spaces creates a “buffer zone” that appears to suppress or extinguish free speech in proximity to the building leased by Trump, restricting access to priority or exclusive use of the Trump Organization.

Update August 6: A/C still not working 4 days after contractors worked on it in front of protesters-they need to finish the job!

On the 14th of July, "LT" Leslie Irby died from the effects of extreme heat in the DC Jail. The air conditioning system has been broken since before that time and inmates have reported temperatures as high as 100F in their cells. On the 3rd of August, Cease Fire: Don’t Smoke the Brothers and Sisters led a march on and around the jail demanding repairs and an end to the baking hot cells. On the very day the protesters arrived a crane was set up, with a new condensor section for that HVAC system being slung to hoist to the roof where maintainance crews were finally at work. The odds that this is a cooincidence are low, given that the system has been broken for many weeks.

Video including (near end) confrontation with senior jail official who retreated from protesters