Washington, D.C.'s political subjugation exposes America's democratic facade. While claiming to champion self-rule globally, the U.S. increases repression and lays siege on the residents of its own capital.
Originally published in Black Alliance for Peace.
President Donald Trumpâs recent announcement to deploy the National Guard to Washington, DC, framed as a crackdown on crime, marks a dangerous escalation in the federal governmentâs militarization of one of the spaces of the Black/African internal colony. On August 11, Trump declared, âWeâre taking our capital back,â while signaling an unprecedented federal takeover of the Metropolitan Police Department. This move, under the pretext of public safety, follows his March 2025 executive order establishing the âSafe and Beautifulâ task force, led by Stephen Miller, an architect of white nationalist immigration policies. The initiative has accelerated mass surveillance, aggressive policing, and the criminalization of Black/African and working-class communities, particularly in Southeast DC.
Trumpâs declaration comes on the heels of the "Secure DCâ Omnibus bill, alongside decades of Democrat-backed crime bills that have devastated marginalized communities and are now being expanded further under Trumpâs task force. His order promotes harsher pretrial detention, sweeps of homeless encampments, ICE raids, and relaxed concealed carry lawsâmeasures that will inevitably target the same communities Democrats once claimed to protect. This bipartisan tradition of punitive governance reflects a shared commitment to maintaining racial and class control, differing only in rhetoric.
Moreover, historically, the National Guard has been weaponized against Black/African communities, from suppressing uprisings during Red Summer (1919) to violently attacking and then occupying the community of Cambridge, Maryland during the Black Freedom Struggle (1963) to the George Floyd uprisings during the first Trump presidency (2020).
Trumpâs current deployment revives this legacy, embedding militarized force into daily governance. But this moment is not isolatedâit reflects the enduring logic of settler colonialism, where state violence and deputized white civilians (from slave patrols to modern âstand your groundâ vigilantes) uphold racial hierarchy. By seizing DCâs police apparatus, Trump isnât just escalating policing; heâs testing a more blatant and centralized model of authoritarian urban control, one that could soon extend beyond the District.
It is no coincidence that the consolidation of this outright militarized domestic occupation advances as the U.S. deepens its support for the zionist perpetuation of genocide in Gaza. The barbarous collaboration in a live-streamed genocide by the U.S. and collective âWestâ has opened the door for open disregard for the lives and livelihoods of the masses of people across the globe, as well as the demonization of our resistance. The failure to recognize the humanity and fundamental rights of Palestinians is replicated in the escalating fascistic domestic policies of the U.S. settler-state. Just like with the zionist occupation, this acceleration of barbarous violence and militarized repression is simply an embrace of the statesâ settler-colonial foundations.
The tragedy is not just Trumpâs brazenness and further consolidation of neofascism, but the Democratic Partyâs continued collaboration in strengthening the repressive capacities of the state through militarization, surveillance, and economic austerity. Decades of âtough-on-crimeâ posturing have normalized the criminalization of poverty, leaving communities vulnerable to even more extreme repression.
Now, as Trump invokes âlaw and orderâ to justify occupation, the challenge lies not only in resisting his agenda, but also in confronting the colonial/capitalist structures and oppressive class rule that made it possible. BAP is clear: self-determination and collective resistance are paramount human rights, central to the People(s)-Centered Human Rights framework that BAP is prepared to defend.
The fight ahead is not simply against Trumpâs authoritarianism. It is a fight for a future where safety is not imposed by militarization but built through structures of popular democracy, peace, social justice and collective liberation. But to achieve this future it is absolutely clear that the people must fight. We will oppose the intensification of colonial occupation with popular organization and a steeled determination to defend our individual and collective rights by any means necessary.
We want peace. We work for peace but we understand the sacrifice that sometimes must be made for peace and a new worldâand we stand prepared to make those sacrifices.
No Justice, No Peace,
No Compromise, No Retreat
The Victoire Ingabere Umuhoza Prize for Democracy and Peace is awarded to people who work for democracy, peace, and freedom in the Great Lakes Region of Africa.
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