Race/Racism

On the 19th of October, there was no sign of the KKK or the rally supporting the Washington Football Team's racist name they were supposed to have. There was some suspicous activity, however. A far-right wing truck festooned with anti-abortion signs appeared-but turned out to be a local street preacher. At almost exactly the right time, the Secret Service closed off the Ellipse., as close to the "White House South Lawn" the City Paper story called for as anyone was likely to get. At about 8PM part of it was reopened. It is possible the KKK was there but in so small a presence they could not be seen, or that the Secret Service was making sure they did not get near the White House.

On the 10th of October, the All-African People's Revolutionary Party held a march from Malcolm X Park, past the White House, to the Mall. The Mall was the site of the massive "Justice or Else" rally held on the anniversary of the 1995 Million Man March. Many at the Justice or Else rally spoke on the crisis of ongoing police murder of African-American youth. Earlier in the week, the head of the US Capitol Police was forced to apologize for an email predicting "violence" at this event(there was none to be seen). The Park Police did not seem to take any overtly aggressive action but did have an armored vehicle on site, along with a long line of horse trailers in reserve.

Video clips of the Kwame Ture Brigade march plus horse cops and armored vehicle

On the 5th of September, a "Southern Heritage Rally" waving Confederate flags showed up in Upper Senate Park, just north of the US Capitol. The Capitol Police attempted to protect them from a much larger group of anti-racist protesters but were outflanked by a street march. Protesters circled the area, got around the cops, and got between the Confederate flag wavers and their cars and Metro. This set up a "Capture the Flag" match in which several Confederate flags were captured and destroyed. The racists had to run a gauntlet of protesters to escape.

Video-protesters march around the cops, catch Confederate flag waving racists

On the 27th of August, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser had the nerve to show up in Ward 8 and propose more police and more searches and house raids as the answer to rising crine. Black Lives Matter activists shouted down her denials that this would be "Stop and Frisk" in DC. She had to leave the stage under a chorus of boos as the audience resoundingly rejected her proposal for more cops, searches, and raids.

Washington City Paper youtube video of Muriel Bowser's search proposal being shouted down