WASHINGTON—For 151 organizations from coast to coast, including the nation’s two largest unions, the repression of Washington, D.C., by the Donald Trump regime is the proverbial “canary in the coal mine” for the fate of the rest of the country under right-wing hegemony.
And they want congressional leaders to stop such a pending Trump dictatorship nationally in its tracks by pledging to vote down any and all laws and presidential edicts that eat away the capability of the Nation’s Capital to govern itself. That resistance, the groups say, would signal to the rest of the country that people will not be bullied into submission.
Underlining the relevance of their warning to Congress was an edict just issued by the White House that claims groups describing themselves as anti-fascist are, in fact, fomenting violence and terrorism.
“This anti-fascist lie,” the White House memorandum says, in part, “has become the organizing cry used by domestic terrorists to wage a violent assault against democratic institutions, constitutional rights, and fundamental American liberties. Common threads animating this violent conduct include anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, and anti-Christianity; support for the overthrow of the United States Government, extremism on migration, race, and gender: and hostility towards those who hold traditional views on family, religion and morality.
Many lawmakers, including Democrats thus far, have not indicated that they will be quick to move on the warning letter stipulating that repression in D.C. is an indicator of more to come elsewhere. Some are falsely hoping that what Trump is doing to D.C. will not happen elsewhere and that the administration’s dictatorial actions are not as severe as they are. The memorandum issued by the White House points to the futility of those hopes.
President Trump, a noted opponent of civil rights and working-class unity, has not hesitated to punish D.C., which is 44% Black, 44% white, and 12% other races. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, a pro-corporate African-American Democrat, has tried to mollify Trump, but that approach has failed.
The threats the groups’ letter warns of include overriding local laws, sending U.S. troops into U.S. city streets against peaceful people and protesters, and turning loose masked, unidentified thugs, allegedly federal “police” and ICE agents.
They kidnap people—citizen or not, migrant or not–out of their cars, their churches, their schools, their stores, their restaurants and their courts, beating some into unconsciousness. ICE also caused one death in California’s Central Valley.
Such looming repression and violence alarm the writers of the letter. They fear it could really spread from squashing D.C. to subjugating the entire country.
“We ask you to pledge to protect the civil rights of District of Columbia residents, and the ability of D.C. to self-govern, by rejecting federal legislation that undermines its democratic institutions or revokes laws duly approved by D.C. voters or representatives,” the groups’ joint letter to House and Senate Republican and Democratic leaders begins.
“Any attack on the District of Columbia’s democratic institutions and right to self-governance is an attack on American democracy itself.
“The escalation of federal overreach into D.C. affairs—including the deployment of federal law enforcement and the National Guard—is a direct challenge to self-determination and representative democracy during President Trump’s tenure.
A testing ground
“These actions make D.C. a testing ground for authoritarian tactics, designed to erode local control and normalize federal intervention that can and will be deployed in states and cities across the country.
“When Congress allows D.C.’s autonomy to be undermined, it is not just D.C.’s values, families, union members, and locally-approved policies under attack. It is also an attack on American democracy and the fundamental principle of self-governance.”
The threats mentioned in the letter have particularly hit D.C., Los Angeles, Chicago, and to a lesser extent, New York City. Trump is now targeting Portland, Ore., which he calls “a war zone.” All are deep-blue cities in blue states run by Democratic mayors, most of them Black. That’s no coincidence.
Also of note: The leaders of the two biggest unions in the U.S. are both Black women. Becky Pringle, a science teacher from Philadelphia, heads the National Education Association, the nation’s largest union, with three million members. April Verrett, a union organizer from Los Angeles, heads the second-largest, the Service Employees, with 2.2 million. Verrett’s career began in Chicago.
The letter particularly denounces two dictatorial actions by Trump and two instances of gross congressional interference with D.C.’s limited home rule—home rule that allows Congress to veto local laws. The four outstanding actions that prompted the warning are:
- “Trump’s takeover of the Metropolitan Police Department and the influx of federal law enforcement racially profiling, harassing, arresting, detaining, and even transporting residents to facilities far from D.C.
- “Congressional approval of a law forcing D.C. to cut its local budget by over $1 billion
“Introduction of bills in the U.S. Senate and House to repeal the Home Rule Act.” The prime sponsor of the legislation is Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah. - “Consideration of federal legislation intended to undermine D.C.’s autonomy on issues such as sentencing, reentry, cash bail, pre-trial policies, and policing reform, a school voucher program, the criminalization of camping and therein homelessness, the nomination of D.C. judges and the election of the D.C. Attorney General.
Other organizations signing the letter included Jobs With Justice and its chapters nationwide. A Black woman, Erica Smiley, co-chairs the national JWJ. Other signers included religious groups, the ACLU, the 50,000-member United Food and Commercial Workers Local 3000 in the Pacific Northwest and UFCW Local 400 in the Metro D.C. area, along with the D.C. Central Labor Council.
We hope you appreciated this article. At People’s World, we believe news and information should be free and accessible to all, but we need your help. Our journalism is free of corporate influence and paywalls because we are totally reader-supported. Only you, our readers and supporters, make this possible. If you enjoy reading People’s World and the stories we bring you, please support our work by donating or becoming a monthly sustainer today. Thank you!
CONTRIBUTOR
