Local News/Neighborhoods

Chinatown mass eviction update: landlord expels activists invited by tenants

On the 19th of September, local activist Sam Jeweler reported that security guards at Chinatown's Museum Square apartment complex expelled a group of ten tenant canvassers he was part of. The canvassers were present at the request of some of the tenants to inform others of their rights against Landlord Bush Co's planned mass eviction of everyone in the building.

Racist FOX News, other media push crime stories to counter Black Lives Matter

All this Summer FOX News has led almost every broadcast with lurid crime stories. Just yesterday someone shooting out the back window of their own car in an argument became the lead story on FOX, complete with white tourists saying they felt safer with so many cops in that part of town. This drumbeat has been in most of the major media, but FOX especially ever since the Battle of Baltimore was fought over the murder of Freddie Grey by police. There is the real possiblity that this is an organized effort to rebuild support for police on the part of media outlets owned by the wealthy whites whom police protect.

Overflow crowd at BB&P event to save Museum Square from mass eviction

Museum Square at 4th and K sts NW is one of the last affordable housing projects in Chinatown, containing nearly half the remaining Chinese community there plus many African-American residents. The owner of the building (Bush Properties in Va) wants to replace it with condos and luxury apartments for the rich. As part of the campaign to save the building and block the evictions, Busboys and Poets at nearby 5th and K st, held a party for Museum Square residents and supporters on July 20. The room was packed to standing room only.

Museum Square tenants rally against mass eviction in Chinatown

The residents of Museum Square, one of the last Section 8 rentals in Chinatown are facing mass eviction followed by demolition and condo construction. Bush Companies (of Williamsburg, Va.), the landlord, offers only an option to buy the building for nearly ten times what the DC government assessed it as being worth for property taxes. On the 23ed of June, the tenants staged a mass protest against the planned evictions. They were backed by the National Alliance of HUD Tenants.

Video highlights of the rally (2 min)

Wal-Mart associates, allies protest punitive store closures over wage demands

On the 1st of June, labor activists and Wal-Mart associates protested outside the Ga Ave Wal-Mart. They were demanding that Wal-Mart re-instate the over 2,600 associates fired when five stores across the US were closed for "plumbing repairs." Pico Rivera, CA, one of the offending locations, was the target of Our Wal-Mart's very first walkout over wages. The closings appear to have actually been illegal retaliation for the demands for better wages and full-time or at least predictable schedules.

Related video-how Wal-Mart is killing small business on Ga Ave by taking away their parking

Protesters at the Ga Ave Wal-Mart

PCJF and U.S. Gov't reach $2.2 million settlement over 2002 mass arrests, includes landmark reforms in U.S. Park Police practices

Model for 'best practices' in policing demonstrations U.S. District Court issues preliminary approval for class action settlement After more than 12 years of class-action litigation, the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF) has reached an unprecedented settlement with the Justice Department and the Department of the Interior that will significantly change the handling of mass protests. Presiding Judge Emmet G. Sullivan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has issued preliminary approval for the settlement.

Empower DC visits DC Council demanding money to fix vacant public housing

On the 20th of April, Empower DC sent a delegation to the DC City Council to demand a total end to demolition of public housing. They also are demanding that that the 2016 government budget include money to repair vacant public housing units so homeless familes can move into them.

DC Residents protest gentrification at Mayor's State of the District Address

On the last day of March, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser held her "state of the district" address. Outside were scores of DC residents excluded from the event-and apparently excluded from the Mayor's promises about affordable housing. There was even talk of housing that someone with a $75,000 a year income can afford being defined as "affordable." The "Real State of the District" protesters beseiged the Lincoln Theater where the Mayor was speaking and at one point took to the streets to blockade 13th and U sts. A key slogan was "Black Homes Matter!"

Video of the "Real State of the District" protest

Protesting "Condo Madness" coupled with demolition of public housing

DC Ferguson blocks 14th and U after Metro Transit Police shooting

On the 12th of March, Metro Transit Police shot and killed a man in the tunnels near the Potomac Ave station. They have refused to identify him and some media reports didn't even admit the shooting was by a cop! The following night (March 13), DC Ferguson met at Chinatown, got on the Metro, then got off at U st to block the intersection of 14th and U streets.

stirring video of the protest: never yield!

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