DC Against Trump Coalition shuts down racist curfew zone

Washington, DC – Before organizers from the DC Against Trump Coalition (DCAT) even finished setting up for their August 23 rally at 14th and U Streets in Northwest Washington DC, community members began spontaneously chanting “Fuck Trump!”

Anti-Trump sentiment has been sky-high in Washington, DC since August 11, when Trump issued an executive order sweeping away the city’s home rule powers, federalizing the Metropolitan Police Department and flooding the city with federal law enforcement and National Guard troops.

To capture that sentiment and turn it into action against Trump’s racist occupation, DCAT called a rally at the city’s “curfew zone,” a location where law enforcement targets Black minors found after 8 p.m.

The rally, organized over five days, brought out a multi-national crowd of close to 500 people from all over the city and mainly featured Black and brown speakers from the community who were fed up with Trump’s attacks on Black people and immigrants. A tenant organizer with Stomp Out Slumlords made it plain, shouting “I’m mad about a lot of things. It ain’t just Trump, it’s Mayor Bowser too! And Congress ain’t shit either, cuz all of them scared of Trump.”

The DCAT Coalition formed rapidly in the two weeks since Trump’s executive order, bringing together a dozen organizations such as the DC Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, Colectivo De Familias Migrantes DC, Palestinian Youth Movement and Metro DC Democratic Socialists of America.

Following examples set by cities like Chicago and Grand Rapids, DCAT’s expressed goal is to pull together the broadest coalition possible of organizations from across the DC metropolitan area, all united to defeat Trump’s racist occupation of DC. A tenant organizer called on churches and pro-immigrant organizations to unite with the movement, saying “the history of Christianity is the history of the persecution of people who stood for something.”

Eventually, the rally flowed into a march down the U Street Corridor, one of the busiest nightlife destinations in the city. Protesters blocked both sides of the street as they chanted “Fuck the police” and “Chinga la migra!” The energy was electric, feeling more like a New Orleans second line than a rally as vent was given to all the pent up anger Washingtonians have been feeling towards Trump. Other sectors of the movement have done a good job of reminding people to be joyful, but this rally showed the importance of linking joy with the righteous rage people have towards Trump and his ruling-class cronies.

As the marchers jammed up the street and flowed past dozens of helpless MPD officers, people in all the establishments on either side of the street began chanting along and running to join the march. “Fuck Donald Trump!” rang out like a unanimous agreement between hundreds of people who for the most part did not know each other but were united in their hatred of Trump’s racist agenda.

At the end of the march route, the crowd dispersed into a mass Cop Watch. Groups of people patrolled the entire corridor, filming and berating the police as they went. One group of officers was caught terrorizing an innocent man. They had a dog searching his car when the cop watchers noticed them and began filming. Seeing the Cop Watchers, the officers covered their faces, let the man go, and fled the scene, as they often do.

DCAT plans to build on their momentum in order to grow the coalition and the resistance against Trump’s occupation. Kristen Bonner, co-chair of the DC Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression stated, “We are building the broadest coalition possible. You don’t have to be Black to fight for Black people, and you don’t have to be from DC to fight for DC! If you want to stand up to Trump and his racist police dogs, we want to stand with you!”

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