WASHINGTON D.C.—Extended until the end of November, there seems to be no end in sight to the oppressive presence of the National Guard military force stationed across areas in D.C. Whether they’re picking up garbage at Malcolm X Park or standing around listlessly in Dupont Circle, one thing is clear: this is the U.S. government’s unvarnished attempt to exert control and attack those who pose the most threat to its existence, African and colonized people near the seat of international white power.
In justifying the deployment of this military force, Trump says it is to fight “violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals.” Ever since this announcement and the presence of federal troops, videos of people getting brutalized and snatched off the street by police donning bulletproof vests and driving unmarked vehicles, wearing masks, caps and headgear to hide their identity, have been going viral on social media.
These violent arrests have been taking place in public areas, and bystanders always record and ask the police who they are, why they don’t have identification and where they’re taking the people arrested, to no avail.
In addition to the specter of the National Guard, D.C. police have also been mobilized to conduct random stops to target drivers for minor infractions. The Metropolitan Police have also been seen clearing out homeless encampments in Georgetown, a business hub and among the richest areas located in Northwest D.C.
What all these instances of Trump’s strongman bravado try to obscure, however, is the fact that the imposed rampant homelessness, the lack of economic development and the government’s policy barring African people from being self-determined have been a necessary part of this colonial capitalist system. It is a system that will always need an underclass of people to exploit, most of whom are African and colonized people.
Though Trump christened the deployment as “liberation day in D.C.,” and that “we’re…going to take our capital back,” the reality is that D.C. has already been and continues to be taken from African people.
Action rally in Franklin Park on August 14
The city suffers from one of the worst instances of gentrification—the forced removal of African people from homes and communities they’ve cultivated for generations. In 1970, the African population in what was then known as “Chocolate City” was over 71 percent, but according to the last census, that number has plummeted to about 43 percent. Today, African people are largely concentrated in the Southeast/Anacostia area, where over-policing and economic neglect have been the rule of the day.
This has been the reality whether a Republican or a Democrat is in office. What Trump represents is the unabashed revelation of a government that does not and cannot have the best interests of working class Africans in mind.
This is naked colonialism; one that isn’t hidden behind a liberal or a left wing colonizer. One that isn’t masked as progressive.
The deployment of the National Guard in D.C., or in L.A. early this summer, isn’t to stop “crime”—it’s for the colonizer to intensify its repression against African and colonized workers.
As Comrade Emmanuel Maku put it at a Pan African Community Action rally on August 14:
“What’s important to recognize is that the African community in [here] represents one of the most dynamic revolutionary forces in Washington D.C. It is incredibly important to recognize that when they’re jailing us. It’s important for us to take back our communities. The news media are calling this a takeover, but we need to flip the script. They’ve been taking our communities all throughout this time. This time we have to take everything they owe us back, including our people, including our neighborhoods, the clubs, the barbershops—take it all back!”
In response to this show of force, concerned black mothers in the DMV area also rallied to denounce the criminalization of African youths in the city. Among them was Comrade Yejide Orunmila, President of the African National Women’s Organization (ANWO), who spoke at Lafayette Square on Friday, September 5, calling out this military occupation for what it truly is:
September 5, against the deployment as well as the criminalization
of black youth in D.C.
“What is happening to our people [is] colonial violence. The criminalization of our youth, the militarization of our cities and the destruction of African families through agencies like CPS are not isolated incidents; they are strategies of colonialism. A system that has always sought to break African people, to control us and to profit from our suffering. Our children are not criminals; they are the sons and daughters of colonized people whose resistance has never stopped.
“The same guise [of protection] is being used today to justify the deployment of the National Guard, to embolden the police, and to enforce curfew in our neighborhoods. They tell us these measures are for our protection, but history has shown us time and again that they are not. For African people living in domestically colonized cities across the U.S., these measures have only meant violence, control and denial of our right to be self-determined. ANWO is clear: the militarization of our communities and the attacks on our families are not about safety. They’re about control. They’re about maintaining colonial domination.”
This colonial domination, however, will be chipped away at by African people’s resistance. The Black is Back Coalition for Peace, Justice, and Reparations will once more be holding its annual Black People’s March on the White House on November 1-2. More information regarding this historic march will be published.
Stay updated at blackisbackcoalition.org.
