This month, the continued collaboration between federal agents and MPD made it apparent that under Mayor Bowser’s direction, the occupation is here to stay. Rogue officers from a number of DHS agencies, MPD and the National Guard, continue to terrorize Black, Brown, and poor DC residents.
Through our work with DC Against Trump Agenda, our Families Not Feds campaign exposed several incidents of this abusive collaboration through ICE abductions across the city, including a kidnapping of two immigrant workers that occurred outside of DC Bilingual Elementary School.
We ended the month by exposing a bombshell incident in which a federal agent, patrolling with MPD, shot at an unarmed Black man after he was pulled over for a routine traffic stop.
We’ve been focused on pressuring DC City Council and Mayor Bowser to immediately rescind her executive order mandating the “Make DC Safe Again” task force of federal officers and MPD and for justice for the families and community members directly impacted by the federal surge.
Keep reading for more about our work and learn how to get involved to hold these corrupt cops accountable!
Copaganda Book Signing and Discussion
We gathered at Sankofa Café for a book signing and discussion of Copaganda, with author Alex Karakatsanis. Alex is an award-winning civil rights lawyer who coined the term copaganda, a special kind of propaganda employed by police, prosecutors, and media to stoke fear of police-recorded crime and distort society’s response to it. Situated near Howard University, the event welcomed many students, including co-sponsors Howard Students for Justice in Palestine. The event was emceed by DCAARPR leader KB and DC Civil Rights Attorney E. Paige White.
No Kings Weekend
Eager organizers and community members gathered early Saturday morning, October18 to protest the Trump administration with a rally in the historically Black neighborhood at 14th and U Streets in D.C. Led by the DC Against the Trump Agenda (DCATA) Coalition, 50501, and Refuse Fascism, speakers addressed the growing crowd of people in honor of No Kings Day. DCAARPR leaders KB and Merawi led the “Remove the Regime” march down 14th Street with a group that grew to 5000 protesters. Onlookers were so moved by chant leaders that they ran out from local restaurants and stores to join the march.
As the march concluded, the protesters joined another No Kings rally which is estimated at having between 200,000 and 300,000 people in attendance. Here, Bill Nye and Bernie Sanders spoke to the crowd in support of No Kings, while protesters continued to call out “No kings, no kings!”
Families Not Feds – Disrupting DC City Council events
On Thursday evening, October 17, a group of activists from Colectivo Familias Migrantes DC, DC Against the Trump Agenda (DCATA), Metro DSA, and the Sunrise movement DC disrupted Mayor Muriel Bowser at a speaking event in which she sought to control the narrative regarding her coordination with the Trump administration and federal immigration authorities.
After an opening prayer, the mayor took center stage and began her comments, which consisted of a glowing report of her policies in 2025. Once she began to praise Trump’s military takeover of DC for causing historically low crime rates in the city, the first disrupter stood up and confronted her.
“Why would you say that, without addressing the fact that more than 20 people have been kidnapped by ICE in the last 48 hours alone?” As MPD and Bowser’s personal security rushed to grab the disrupter, he continued “You’ve sold out the Black community to developers for decades and now you’re selling out the immigrant community to Trump!”
One by one, the protesters planted in the crowd interrupted and did not allow Bowser to spew any more rhetoric trying to rationalize her capitulation to Trump.
Another disruptor came to the microphone to ask Bowser why she had lied about her continuing collaboration with ICE. This caused the mayor to go into a bizarre state of frustration, in which she repeated the phrase “I don’t lie” 17 times in a row.
After being removed from the event, the protesters began chanting outside on the sidewalk. “Bowser Bowser you’re a traitor! This term is your last as mayor!” and “Move Bowser, get out the way!” Their chants continued to disrupt the event. The sounds of their booming chants could be heard inside the venue so loudly that the mayor had to cut her speech and speed through the Q&A section.
Outside, police used brutal and illegal tactics to try to get the protesters to stop chanting, including shoving protesters from a public sidewalk and putting up police tape to block access. At one point, they violently arrested a Black community member who was curious about the demonstration and simply asked why they were pushing people off a public sidewalk.
Even after the event concluded and Bowser’s security detail walked her to her car, protesters chanted even louder. “Bowser and Trump, sitting in a tree, attacking and deporting immigrants in DC!”
This direct action was just the most recent step in the Families Not Feds Campaign which is bringing mass pressure down onto the shoulders of Bowser and any other elected officials who are collaborating with the racist and reactionary Trump agenda in DC. The organizers held several other actions this month, including a press conference at City Hall protesting their complicity with ICE, and a roundtable where community members testified about potential human rights violations at Councilmember Brianne Nadeau's Committee on Public Works and Operations.
Follow @dcagainsttrump on Instagram for more updates on their organizing to fight back against the Trump ordered federal occupation of DC.
The Alliance is growing! We hosted a social at One Black Workers Wellness Center to welcome our new members and introduce them to the history of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression and our current work.
Press Conference Exposing MPD Cover-up
DCAARPR gathered with local organizers and community members outside the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) headquarters on Tuesday morning, October 28, for a press conference on an explosive federal cover-up – the shooting of an unarmed Black man.
On October 17, federal agents in Washington, DC shot multiple times at an unarmed Black man during a routine traffic stop, nearly killing him. He was then arrested by MPD for fleeing the scene, a felony charge. MPD did not mention the shooting in their report. At the man’s preliminary hearing, the officer who wrote the report admitted under oath that his supervisor told him to purposefully omit the shooting from the police report. The judge quickly dismissed the case for lack of probable cause after the officer revealed the cover-up plot.
Speaking on their demands, Merawi Gerima of DCAARPR stated, “MPD must immediately release all of the footage, that there is a special independent investigation into this incident and release of all the data on MPD stops that involve these roving police gangs, and that Mayor Bowser immediately rescind executive order 25-005, which mandates this local coordination and cooperation.” This was met with chants of “Bowser and Trump, sitting in a tree, attacking and terrorizing kids in DC!”
After hearing from Gerima, the press heard from E. Paige White and Bernadette Armand – the attorneys representing the victim in a forthcoming civil case against the city.
“We are currently faced with an unjustified lethal shooting of a man during a traffic stop,” said White, “an unjustified shooting – let’s just be clear – is assault with intent to kill. That’s a felony here in DC and carries mandatory jail time. This was followed by a planned and ordered cover-up of this shooting by the Metropolitan Police Department. Covering up a crime is a conspiracy!” After finishing speaking, the crowd responded with calls of “shame!” and chants of “No Trump, no KKK, no racist USA!”
“If there was a passenger in this seat, they would be dead,” said Kristen Bonner of DCAARPR, holding up a picture of the bullet holes in the seat of the victim’s car, “this is what our community is going through, what our community is facing, and it’s going to take all of us coming together to stop it, stop Trump, and stop Mayor Bowser’s complicity in Trump’s racist and reactionary agenda.”
Saturday, November 8th at 12:00 p.m., 6th District 5002 Hayes St NE
NAARPR Events:
Friday-Sunday, November 14-16th, NAARPR Conference Chicago
Affiliate Events:
Remove the Regime on Saturday November 22nd
50501DC, Location TBA
Court Support:
Friday, November 21st, 10am, Superior Court of DC, Rm 112
Tabling:
Wednesday 11/12 , 6:30pm, Benning Road Metro Station
Saturday 11/29, 1pm
Executive Committee Meeting:
Thursday, 11/13, 8:30pm, virtual
Community and General Body Meetings:
Mondays, 6pm, virtual
Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us dcaarpr@gmail.com or @DCAARPR on Instagram if you’d like more information or learn how to get involved in our fight. We welcome feedback and criticisms.
