DC protest against HSI shooting into car of unarmed Black man, MPD covers up for feds

Washington, D.C. — A group of 20 community organizers and activists gathered outside the Metropolitan Police Department’s Sixth District station on Saturday, November 8, to demand transparency from the city’s officials – including Mayor Muriel Bowser and Chief of Police Pam Smith – around the October 17 cover-up, where an HSI agent shot into the car of an unarmed Black man. The Metropolitan Police (MPD) then lied about it on the police report. The action was organized by the DC Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (DCAARPR).

The protest began with chants of “No Trump, no KKK, no racist USA!” and “Hey hey! Ho ho! These racist cops have got to go!” as the crowd gathered at the steps of the station. Next, Merawi Gerima of DCAARPR took to the stage to call out MPD’s complicity in the cover-up and connect it directly to Mayor Bowser’s continuing capitulation to Trump.

“This MPD cover-up can only happen in the type of vicious, oppressive, police-repression environment that Mayor Bowser has created through her policies of collaboration with federal agencies,” said Gerima, “and it all goes back to her collaboration with Trump.”

Gerima also connected the cover-up with his own experiences of political repression, citing an event that occurred last weekend when he, along with three other protesters, were wrongfully arrested for exercising their First Amendment rights while protesting the racist curfew zones in DC.

“It’s no coincidence that the same people arrested in Navy Yard last week were the same people who broke that shit wide open at the press conference [on the MPD cover-up] the week before,” said Gerima, “I was told then by a reporter that when a group of officers saw me, they pointed to me and said, ‘that’s the same person from the press conference.’”

Paige White, the legal defense for the victim of the cover-up event, spoke next about the specifics of the incident and highlighted how dangerous the situation truly was. “One of the bullets went through my client’s collar of his jacket, meaning that he was literal millimeters from death,” said White, “This case demonstrates how dangerous this collaboration is, and how it has severe real-life consequences!”

While MPD and the officers involved were a target of the protesters, speakers also called out Mayor Bowser for her role. A member of the DC Against the Trump Agenda (DCATA) also spoke at the rally stated, “Mayor Bowser helped make sure that federal troops could stay in DC, Mayor Bowser helped federalize MPD, to embolden them. And so Mayor Bowser is looking at her last term as mayor. Because the people know she is complicit in carrying out these attacks on the people of DC!”

This was followed by chants of “Bowser, Bowser, you’re a traitor! This term is your last as mayor!” and “Fight like Brandon [Johnson], fight like Zohran! Not like Bowser, she’s a moron!”

The rally was closed out with continued calls to action, citing this as a crucial first step in launching a campaign against the city and its government, and vowing to bring them to justice through a fight for community control of the police.

“It is up to us to protect our community and to protect ourselves,” said Kristen Bonner of DCAARPR, “the mayor is not gonna do it, MPD is not gonna do it, Pam Smith is not gonna do it – so this is a call to action for everyone to get involved!”

“We will hold you accountable to the things you do, we will hold you accountable for the things you don’t do when we need you, we will hold you accountable for all the things in between,” said Gerima, “When you cover up for killer federal officers, you will be held accountable – so you can smile now, you can sit in your car and scroll on your phone while we’re out here demanding justice, but one day, we will have power to hold you accountable, and we’re coming for all of that!”

#WashingtonDC #InJusticeSystem #PoliceCrimes #PoliceBrutality #KillerCops #DCAARPR #DCATA