Civil Rights/Equal Rights

Vigil held for man shot by DC police, memorial then trashed by vigilante

On the 26th of December, a vigil was held at 28th and Naylor Road (Anacostia), for 29 year old Raymond Robinson, who was shot and killed by DC Police on Christmas Eve. Police claimed he fired on them, but multiple witnesses said police fired first. Not long after the vigil, a man in a neighborhood Watch T-shirt desecrated tbe memorial.

Video clips of the vigil

The memorial set up at 28th and Naylor-reads "Rest in Power"

DC Ferguson shuts down Pentagon City, DC cops shoot another person

On the 24th of December, as shoppers raced to buy their last Yule gifts, civil rights protesters from DC Ferguson stormed the Pentagon City shopping mall and aparently shut down some of the shopping. Shoppers stood watching the protest, their minds diverted for the moment fromm spending. This is the second time DC Ferguson has occupied Pentagon City. Meanwhile, NBC News reports DC police opened fire on a man at 30th Street and Naylor Road SE and killed him. Police said he "matched a description" of a robber and fired on them first, but at least one eyewitness reports it was the police who fired first.

Youtube video of disruption in the Pentagon City mall

Photo by Untold Carslyle

Hands Up Coalition DC defies NY Mayor's demand for protest moratorium

On the 22nd of December, Hands Up Coalition DC gathered outside the US Dept of Justice to announce that there would be no moratorium on protests against killer cops. NY Mayor DeBlasio has attempted to demand such a moratorium, but protesters are telling him he can have it any time he wants by imposing a moratoriom on cops shooting, choking, and otherwise killing people. One woman said she wanted the DOJ and the White House to show the same concern for "our children" who are being gunned down by the police as for the police who were killed, and only then could there be a moratorium.

Video of the Dec 22 rally at the Department of Justice defying Mr Blasio's demand for a protest moratorium

Civil Rights protesters block DC 295, march through Anacostia

On the 19th of December, on 4 hours notice, civil rights protesters assembled in Anacostia,marched onto the 11th St Bridge, and held traffic. From there they marched onto DC 295 and blockaded traffic, though not holding any one line of cars directly for more than a few minutes. The cops themselves blocked traffic far longer, but the entire freeway action was deliberately limited to one hour. Local participants were nervous about mass arrests, so organizers reminded everyone of DC's "3 warning" law for arresting protesters.

After the blockade ended, protesters marched back into Anacostia and up Good Hope Road, bound for a 7PM youth summit to discuss next steps. Although in the streets, this march was structured as an educational event, and every effort was made to get cheering bystanders to join the march

Video of protesters on the 11th st Bridge and DC 295

DC Ferguson Twitter posts blocked by spam, deletions

On the 18th of December, Twitter posts tagged with #dcferguson disappeared from Twitter searches unless "top" was selected instead of "all." Since "top" stories are old, this made it impossible to use Twitter to call protesters to assemble at a short notice time and place. Twitter themselves or right-wing/police hackers could potentially do this. For several days before this, a #dcferguson Twitter search would return large numbers of "falabeats" audio promos, and finally returned a half dozen pages of those posts at some times on Dec 18, burying almost all other posts.

New video of Secret Service, Capitol Police getting aggressive with DC Ferguson

On the 17th of December, new video footage emerged from the "after-march" following Al Sharpton's massive civil rights march on Saturday, Dec 13. The Secret Service was filmed trying to force civil rights protesters from the sidewalk in front of the White House, only to throw in the towel when protesters stood their ground. In later footage the US Capitol Police refuse to permit Ferguson protesters to get anywhere near the Capitol during the night march, even though there is almost no traffic there.

Video-Secret Service gets aggressve with DC Ferguson

Video-US Capitol Police block DC Ferguson from approaching US Capitol

GW students march against racist killer cops

On the 17th of December, students at George Washington University staged a street march in rememberance of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and all the others murdered by racist police.

Photo by Betsy Bramon

Dupont Circle church decorates trees with "Black Lives Matter" ornaments

On or before the 16th of December, cardboard Christmas ornaments appeared on trees outside the Church of the Pilgrim Presbyterian near Dupont Circle. The ornaments read "Black Lives Matter." This is in contrast to ugly things hung from trees or gates in other places such as Berkeley, where a dummy in an "I Can't breathe" T-shirt was hung in public.

DC Council staffers refuse to sign petition against jump-outs by DC police.

On Dec 16, DC Council staffers walked out claiming solidarity with the protests against police murder in Ferguson, New York, and here in DC, yet refused to sign the DC Ferguson petition against jump-outs. Does this mean the DC Council wants jump-outs to continue, so long as they do not escalate all the way to chokeholds or police shootings?

DC had it's own version of New York's infamous "stop and frisk," known as "jump-outs." In a jump-out, heavily armed plainclothes cops pile 4 or 5 into cars, and descend on clusters of African-American youth to intimidate them into submitting to unlawful searches. In response, DC Ferguson organizers have begun circulating this petition against the jump-out squads.

Photo by Kenny Nero

Police chief complains that Ferguson protests remove cops from neighborhoods

On the 16th of December, DC police chief Cathy Lanier appeared on NewsTalk with Bruce DePuyt, and complained that the DC Ferguson protests are "very expensive" to MPD, requiring up to 400 cops a night to be detailed to them. She specifially complained that the protests are "a strain on the department" and reduce their ability to "police the neighborhoods.

Well, fewer cops in neighborhoods has to lead to less ability to harass residents and to fewer jump-outs, which are DC's version of Stop and Frisk. Although DC cops have actually become more violent in the neighborhoods since the protests began, if there are fewer cops to carry out this violence the protests may be achieving one of their goals by directly keeping the cops busy elsewhere

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