Washington (AP) – President Donald Trump has taken control of District of Columbia’s law enforcement authorities and instructed the National Guard forces to stand up on the streets of the country’s capital.
Even as district officers, the claims that were based on his emergency room, the Republican President promised a “historical measure to save the capital of our nation from crimes, bloodshed, bedlam and misery and worse”. His rhetoric repeated the politicians who decades decades and denounced American cities, in particular those with non-white population groups or from progressive politicians who have laid as lawless or criminal and need external interventions.
“This is the day of liberation in DC and we will withdraw our capital,” Trump promised on Monday.
Trump’s action reflects unpleasant historical chapters
When troops from the National Guard arrived at her headquarters on Tuesday, the prospect of federal studies in the districts of the district were an alarming violation of the local agency. For some, it was repeated as politicians as a politician to paint historically or predominantly black cities and districts with racist stories to paint to public opinion To justify shapes and aggressive police actions.
April Goggans, a long -standing Washington -based and grass root organizer, said she was not surprised by Trump’s actions. Since the summer of 2020, the municipalities have prepared for a federal potential procedure in the district when Trump started National Guard after the murder of George Floyd during the protests of racial justice.
“We have to be vigilant,” said Goggans, who has coordinated protests and educational campaigns for bourgeois freedom for almost a decade. She is worried about an boost in law enforcement authorities for the freedom of the residents.
“Regardless of where they fall on the political level, they understand that this, their children, their grandmother, their employees, who is brutalized or violated certain rights,” she said.
The uncertainty about what a unthreatening environment is
According to officials of the White House, the troops of the National Guard are used to protect the federal assets in the district and to facilitate a unthreatening environment for law enforcement. The administration is of the opinion that the very evident presence of law enforcement authorities will deter violent crimes.
It is unclear how the administration defines the provision of a secure environment for law enforcement for the implementation of arrests and triggered alarm bells for some local supporters.
“The president was on the fact that these stubborn tactics, if they go root here, will get them into other majority black and brown cities such as Chicago, Oakland and Baltimore across the country,” said Monica Hopkins, managing director of the DC chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.
“We have already seen how the federal control through the DC national guard and the police can lead to abuse, intimidation and violations of civil rights – from military helicopters, who plunged peaceful demonstrators in 2020 to peaceful demonstrators of racial justice, to the unchecked behavior of federal officials who remain in full accountability,” said Hopkins.
A story of the accidental language
Conservative legislators have used an disparaged language for generations to describe the state of the most vital American cities, and often called for a greater law enforcement authorities, in response to the changing demography in the cities, which are driven by non -white population groups who are looking for work or security from racial discrimination and state violence. The Republicans have asked for larger police officers in cities since at least 1965 watt riots in Los Angeles.
President Richard Nixon won the White House in 1968 after he as part of his “southern strategy” had made a “law and order order” to appeal the white voters in northern cities. Ronald Reagan won his two presidential elections in a similar way after he had heavily used to legal policy. Politicians, which extend from former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani to former President Bill Clinton, have given the need to capture crime as a reason to supplement the power of cities such as Washington for decades.
The mayor of District of Columbia, Muriel Bowser, described Trump’s takeover of the local police “disturbing”, but not without precedent. The mayor kept mostly measured during a press conference from Monday after Trump’s announcement, but condemned the president’s argument as a “so -called emergency” and said that the residents of the district know that access to our democracy is delicate.
Trump threatened to “take over” and “beautify” the capital of the nation on the campaign path and claimed that the district was “a nightmare of murder and crime”. He also argued that the city was “terribly managed” and said that his team intended to “take it away from the mayor”. The President repeated comments that he had previously made during his press conference about some of the largest cities in the nation, including Baltimore, Chicago, Los Angeles, Oakland, California and his hometown New York City. All are currently operated by Black Mayors.
“You look at Chicago how bad it is. You look at Los Angeles how bad it is. We have other cities in a very bad, New York is a problem. And then of course you have Baltimore and Oakland. We don’t mention that anymore. We are so far away. We won’t allow it,” he said.
Civil rights representatives see the president’s rhetoric as part of a broader political strategy.
“It is a game book that he has used in the past,” said Maya Wiley, CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.
The President’s rhetoric “paints an image that the crime gets out of control, even if it is not true, then accuses the policy of democratic legislators who are reformed and publicly due to security, and then claims that they have to violate people’s rights or demands that reforms are reversed,” said Wiley.
She added that the game book has a special potency in the capital, since the local law enforcement authorities of the district can be placed directly under federal control, a Power Trump, which is addressed in its announcement.
Civil rights leaders condemn the DC order as an unjustified distraction
Trump’s actions in Washington and comments on other huge American cities sent shock waves across the country because other cities are preparing to react to potential federal measures.
Wes Moore, the democratic governor of Maryland, said that Trump’s plan had “no seriousness and was deeply dangerous” and pointed out a 30-year crime rate in Baltimore as a reason why the government should consult local leaders instead of antagonizing them. In Oakland, Mayor Barbara Lee Trump’s characterization of the city called “Fearmongenging”.
The administration was already a substantial flashpoint between local control and the power of the federal power in the summer when Trump used the operations of the immigration authorities in Los Angeles despite the opposition of the California governor Gavin Newsom and the Mayor of Los Angeles, to suppress protests and support immigration authorities in Los Angeles.
Civil rights leaders have denounced Trumps in Washington as an unjustified distraction.
“This president campaigned for ‘Law and Order’, but he is President of Chaos and Corruption,” said Naacp President Derrick Johnson. “There is no emergency in DC. Why should he use the national guard? To distract us from his alleged admission to the Epstein files? To free the city of judicial people? DC has the right to rule himself. He doesn’t need this federal coup.”
