Black D.C. Residents Say Trump’s Tactics Bring More Fear, Not Safety – Capital B News

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WASHINGTON — As a young Black woman, Kaylei Thomas has always been urged by her parents to be careful when out in public. The 18-year-old has learned to avoid causing “unnecessary problems” that might attract the attention of the police.
Thomas, a student at Howard University, was reminded of this warning earlier this week, after President Donald Trump deployed approximately 800 National Guard troops and 500 federal law enforcement agents to Washington. The president’s move came after an attempted carjacking of a former Department of Government Efficiency employee this month. 
Thomas said that she and two friends — Morgan Cunningham, 18, and Jacy Ross, 17 — have seen large numbers of agents patrolling the city. The Howard students were recently walking to a restaurant when they said that a group of agents seemed to spring out of nowhere.
“I’ve never seen that many before in my life,” Ross told Capital B.
Thomas said that they are aware of the fraught relationship between law enforcement and marginalized communities and don’t take comfort in seeing scores of agents walking on the city’s streets. She said their first thought when they saw agents near the restaurant was, “Why are they here?”
Many have asked the same question since the federal takeover of the Metropolitan Police Department on Monday. Thomas and her friends are just a handful of the Black Washington residents who have felt uneasy since Trump launched a crackdown on crime in the capital this week. Repeating racist rhetoric, the president has claimed that the city, which is nearly 45% Black, has been “overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals.”
The city police department released data showing that crime is at a 30-year low in the nation’s capital, and violent crime has plunged over the past several years.
As agents patrol 14th Street, Navy Yard, the National Mall, and other popular areas, many Black residents fear that this increased law enforcement presence will lead to overpolicing, while doing little to meaningfully address crime.
Zach Haynes believes that crime is an issue in parts of Washington, like it is in any other major city. But he doesn’t think that Trump’s approach is the answer.
Haynes, who’s a 23-year-old Washington native, said that one thing he would like to see is more resources brought into the city. There’s a lack of programming for city youth, he said, particularly during the long, hot days of summer.
“There was a time when the community was what it sounds like: a community,” Haynes, a student at the University of the District of Columbia, a public historically Black school, told Capital B. “I feel like we’re losing the spirit of what a community is supposed to be.”
Ricky Thornton, 57, is also a Washington native. He told Capital B that he’s concerned about crime, which he’s seen ebb and flow over the decades. He said that young people seem to be “out of control,” adding that he often hears about teenage carjacking rings in the news.
Still, as a Black man, Thornton said that he worries that ramping up the presence of law enforcement in the district could lead to overpolicing, including more instances of stop-and-frisk, a police practice that disproportionately burdens Black Americans.
“You can’t just look at somebody and say, ‘Oh, he’s doing this,’” Thorton said, referring to historical patterns of suspecting that Black Americans are engaging in criminal activity simply because of the color of their skin.
He doesn’t think that people of color should have to fear being stopped by the police, but that now seems to be even more of a possibility with additional law enforcement officers on the street.
Local officials have echoed residents’ concerns. During a virtual town hall with community leaders on Tuesday, Mayor Muriel Bowser said that the city must stave off what she called the administration’s “authoritarian push.”
“We all need to do what we can in our space, in our lane, to protect our city … and to protect our autonomy, to protect our home rule, and get to the other side of this guy,” she said. “Know where your kids are and make sure that they’re not grouping together, because they will be a target.”
Bowser was alluding to the Home Rule Act, which was enacted in 1973 and established guidelines for the city to govern itself, with specific limitations that are enforced by Congress. Under the law, presidents can commandeer the city’s police department for up to 30 days. While Trump has floated the idea of extending his control, Congress would need to pass a law for him to do that.
Critics of Trump’s move, including some local officials, said that because the district isn’t a state, the city is vulnerable to federal oversight.
“For decades, D.C. has been used as a petri dish by Congress and presidential administrations to try out a variety of policies,” Christina Henderson, an at-large member of the D.C. Council, said in a Monday press release, just after Trump’s announcement. “Without statehood, we are limited in our ability to prevent or deter these repeated federal incursions.”
In her press release, Henderson welcomed working with the federal government to bolster public safety in the city.
She said that the federal government could help fill judicial vacancies that she argued impede “swift justice” and get the U.S. House of Representatives to pass legislation that would reinstall more than $1 billion to the city’s budget that could be used to boost public safety.
Earlier this year, when Trump and Republican lawmakers made similar threats to take over Washington, Henderson said to Capital B that her mission is to center the concerns of residents as the city continues to clash with the administration.
“There are 700,000 people here who are trying to live out the American dream, just like everybody else,” she said at the time. “It’s our responsibility to ensure that we’re providing services to residents of the district that are beyond what the federal government is able to do, just like other jurisdictions.”
Many Black residents fear that without a more multidimensional response to crime, Washington won’t actually become safer. It’ll just have more layers of governance.
Cunningham, one of the Howard students, told Capital B that she was recently at a party when dozens of police officers and agents showed up because of what they said was an expired alcohol license. One of the agents, she added, said that this was going to be the new normal: Whenever the cops are summoned, agents will follow.
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Alecia Taylor is the national education reporter at Capital B. More by Alecia Taylor
Brandon Tensley is Capital B's national politics reporter. More by Brandon Tensley
Capital B is a Black-led, nonprofit local and national news organization reporting for Black communities across the country.
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Gilliam Nii Lighter

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