Race/Racism

On the 19th of December, on 4 hours notice, civil rights protesters assembled in Anacostia,marched onto the 11th St Bridge, and held traffic. From there they marched onto DC 295 and blockaded traffic, though not holding any one line of cars directly for more than a few minutes. The cops themselves blocked traffic far longer, but the entire freeway action was deliberately limited to one hour. Local participants were nervous about mass arrests, so organizers reminded everyone of DC's "3 warning" law for arresting protesters.

After the blockade ended, protesters marched back into Anacostia and up Good Hope Road, bound for a 7PM youth summit to discuss next steps. Although in the streets, this march was structured as an educational event, and every effort was made to get cheering bystanders to join the march

Video of protesters on the 11th st Bridge and DC 295

On the 17th of December, new video footage emerged from the "after-march" following Al Sharpton's massive civil rights march on Saturday, Dec 13. The Secret Service was filmed trying to force civil rights protesters from the sidewalk in front of the White House, only to throw in the towel when protesters stood their ground. In later footage the US Capitol Police refuse to permit Ferguson protesters to get anywhere near the Capitol during the night march, even though there is almost no traffic there.

Video-Secret Service gets aggressve with DC Ferguson

Video-US Capitol Police block DC Ferguson from approaching US Capitol

On or before the 16th of December, cardboard Christmas ornaments appeared on trees outside the Church of the Pilgrim Presbyterian near Dupont Circle. The ornaments read "Black Lives Matter." This is in contrast to ugly things hung from trees or gates in other places such as Berkeley, where a dummy in an "I Can't breathe" T-shirt was hung in public.

On the 16th of December, DC police chief Cathy Lanier appeared on NewsTalk with Bruce DePuyt, and complained that the DC Ferguson protests are "very expensive" to MPD, requiring up to 400 cops a night to be detailed to them. She specifially complained that the protests are "a strain on the department" and reduce their ability to "police the neighborhoods.

Well, fewer cops in neighborhoods has to lead to less ability to harass residents and to fewer jump-outs, which are DC's version of Stop and Frisk. Although DC cops have actually become more violent in the neighborhoods since the protests began, if there are fewer cops to carry out this violence the protests may be achieving one of their goals by directly keeping the cops busy elsewhere