Trump is a bully. He's using the National Guard to conquer DC as a test run. | Opinion
The District of Columbia should be allowed statehood, not forced to endure deployment of the National Guard to stop an imagined crime wave.
President Donald Trump’s activation of the National Guard in Washington, DC, has less to do with an imagined “out of control” crime wave and more to do with conquest. It is more misguided bullying by the president.
To facilitate this racialized farce, he dehumanized the capital district's citizens by labeling them “bloodthirsty criminals” and “roving mobs of wild youth.” Let there be no mistake: This rhetoric portends violence against Black, Brown and poor citizens and complete disdain for the unhoused.
This action and whatever else might follow is deeply personal to the 700,000 people who call the District of Columbia home and who are tired of the meddling from the administration and Capitol Hill politicians who treat our city like a play toy, likely because of our history as a majority Black jurisdiction.
Home to a federal government that offers well-paying positions, Washington has attracted Black professionals and blue-collar workers, creating one of the largest Black middle-class populations in the country.
We've innovated with affordable housing, invested flush tax revenue in education and implemented a slew of smart labor and justice policies.
There's a real city beyond what the tourists know
Many Americans don’t know this story. They think Washington starts and ends with memorials, museums and monuments. The residential and commercial city is often invisible as a thriving metropolis in its own right, with a deep history and a vibrant culture.
Not only have we outshined many of our peer cities, but states, too. DC has a population comparable to Vermont, Alaska and North Dakota, but a budget larger than Arizona's.
Residents pay the equivalent of state taxes. DC balances its budget every year, manages a highly functioning mass transit system and employs thousands in jobs that DC residents do with great pride.
Still, the way congressional politicians treat us would have our red state friends up in arms if it were done to them.
This summer, as the result of a so-called error, Congress withheld more than $1 billion from our approved budget, and that money remains out of our reach − instead of providing the services that our citizens voted and paid for.
The Republican budget proposal for the next fiscal year includes all kinds of culture war initiatives in an attempt to impose conservative values on the more sensible and moderate residents of DC. We’re tired of being the punching bag for politicians who wouldn’t last a week living under the policies they impose on us.
It’s as dishonest as it is insulting.
So much of what this administration and Congress do is informed by their stated orthodoxy around local control and “rights.” That somehow doesn’t apply to us.
DC needs statehood, not a federal takeover
Fortunately, the president and Congress can’t truly “take over” Washington without ending home rule, which would be difficult to do with the Senate filibuster blocking them. But the president can fearmonger through state-sanctioned violence.
And he can use Washington as the test run for the federal takeover of Black and Brown cities daring to oppose this administration’s death-dealing politics. We will not accept death.
Washington, DC, has proved our right to self-governance and, indeed, statehood. Instead of forcing us to manage a manufactured crisis, elected officials who believe in democracy in earnest should let DC leaders spend our energy on building a more successful and safe city that must become the 51st state.
William H. Lamar IV is the pastor at the Metropolitan AME Church in Washington, DC.