Thousands marched in the streets of D.C. on Sept. 6 to protest President Donald Trump’s one-month-old emergency takeover of the Metropolitan Police Department and deployment of the National Guard on D.C. roads.
The event was organized by the Free DC and began in Meridian Hill Park, also referred to as Malcolm X Park, at 11 a.m. before demonstrators marched over two miles down 16th Street, ending at Freedom Plaza downtown.
An Instagram account with the handle @americanu4dc first posted on Aug. 28 and began organizing American University students to attend the protest together, advertising a 10 a.m. meetup at the Kogod bus stop, while promoting additional anti-D.C. takeover events. Other on-campus groups, such as the chapters of Young Democratic Socialists of America and Latinos en Acción, also advertised the meetup.
Coco Poye, a senior in the School of Public Affairs, was one of more than two dozen AU students who met at the bus stop Saturday morning.
“A lot of people think that because we are only in D.C. for a semester at a time, we don't care about these issues, but we really do care about these issues,” Poye said. “This is our home.”
Asher Heisten, a junior in SPA, echoed Poye’s sentiments and emphasized the importance of amplifying young voices at these events.
“We make a lot more of an impact than [the administration] cares to mention,” Heisten said, “That's why they're so scared of university students.”
Heisten mentioned one particular group that he hopes to see more support from in the future: the University, including AU faculty. He added that he knows these issues are affecting their families.
Twenty year old Sebastian Brajas, originally from Austin, Texas, just moved to D.C. this summer and attended the protest with the national chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens. He agrees with Poye and Heisten’s sentiments about the power that young voices hold in today’s political climate.
“Youth is the future of our country and of our society,” Brajas said. “Our voices are the ones that are eventually going to be making change.”
LULAC wasn’t the only national organization that took to the streets on Saturday. Many members of the D.C. community protested, including some members of larger organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union and Local 25.
Rebecca Durango is a member of UNITE HERE! Local 25, a D.C. organization that helps to unionize workers in various industries. Durango described the organization as “humanity-based” and “completely invested in D.C.” Community-based activism is part of what inspired her to attend protests such as Free D.C.
Durango lived in D.C. for 10 years before moving to Takoma Park, Maryland, with her wife. She said that in all her years living in D.C., she had never seen military patrol quite like this.
“It was never this invasive, and I never remember seeing people just disappearing off the streets for doing their jobs or for just minding their own business,” Durango said.
She also emphasized the unique community of activists that exists in D.C., from new residents to those who have lived in the District for decades.
“It's important to see that it doesn't really matter who you are, what your background is, that we all have this common denominator of, again, wanting to be treated with dignity,” Durango said.
Patrick Wick, a freshman in the School of International Service and a member of YDSA, is only entering his third week at the University but still felt the urge to protest for D.C. Wick said he knew he would be rallying when he saw the National Guard was being deployed to D.C. one week before he moved in.
“Protests — they work. They show the people, they show the government that we don’t agree with what they’re doing,” Wick said.
Congress did not extend the executive order that invoked the Home Rule Act, which was signed by Trump on Aug. 11. The 1973 Home Rule Act, which established the system of Home Rule in the District, allows the president to take control of D.C.’s police force for up to 30 days before needing congressional approval to continue. However, the Trump administration has requested that state governors keep their National Guard troops in D.C. through November.
Durango and many other activists are nowhere near backing down.
“I'm optimistic that the city will band together and get through it and resist it because that's always what D.C. has done,” Durango said.
This article was edited by Gabrielle McNamee, Abigail Hatting and Walker Whalen. Copy editing done by Sabine Kanter-Huchting and Ariana Kavoossi.
