Donald Trump’s takeover of the Washington, DC, Metropolitan Police Department is not merely a result of his racist and authoritarian tendencies, nor is it new. It is part and parcel of a history of militarized policing against Black people and a bipartisan consensus promoting racist crime panics, which are often conducted with the help of the Black misleadership class.
“The year before, Newark, New Jersey, had been occupied by nearly lily-white units of the National Guard, sent there to quell a four-day rebellion in which 26 Blacks were killed.” Glen Ford describing the 1967 occupation of Newark, New Jersey
Donald Trump’s declaration of a 30-day public safety emergency, including a National Guard deployment, in Washington DC was not, as the corporate media would have us believe, undertaken suddenly. The reported assault on one of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) former employees, Edward Coristine, was widely reported to be the casus belli of the federal attack on Washington DC.
But in reality, the plan had been in place months before that incident, which Trump chose to amplify at a convenient moment. In March 2025, Trump issued an Executive Order entitled “Making the District of Columbia Safe and Beautiful,” which, despite its name, had little to do with municipal beautification. Trump established a law enforcement Task Force made up of federal agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), who were directed to work with the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD). “The Task Force may, to the extent permitted by law, request operational assistance from and coordinate with the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia (MPD), Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, United States Park Police, Amtrak Police, and other Federal and local officials as appropriate.”
Trump’s performance at the August 11 press conference was a typical one for him as he described the nation’s capital city. “Our capital city has been overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth, drugged out maniacs and homeless people, and we're not going to let it happen anymore.” Residents and visitors to Washington wouldn’t recognize what Trump described, but an accurate description would invalidate the entire project.
The press conference was preceded a day earlier by a police dragnet targeting the majority Black community of Deanwood, located in Northeast Washington. Resident Anthony Lorenzo Green reported in the early morning hours on August 10. “Police agencies I’ve been able to identify on the scene: MPD, MTPD, FBI, HSI, ICE.”
The outrage expressed over a president sending National Guard troops into a United States city to carry out police work is valid, but Trump is not the first president to engage in these tactics. It does little good to paint him as being exceptional when he is not. In the 1960s, rebellions took place in major cities such as Newark, Los Angeles and Detroit and they were met by National Guard troops in response. Black Agenda Report co-founder Glen Ford wrote about events in Newark in 1967. “The Guardsmen behaved like an Army of White Vengeance, joining the racist cops in savaging Black people and shooting up businesses displaying ‘Black-owned’ and ‘Soul Brother’ signs on the Springfield Avenue thoroughfare.” More recently, the National Guard in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014 used terms such as “enemy forces” to describe citizens who protested the police killing of Michael Brown.
In the 1960s, there were not yet Black mayors, even in majority Black cities. Now there are, but they are as eager to help in demonizing their communities as their white counterparts are. In 2024 two democrats, New York City’s mayor Eric Adams and governor Kathy Hochul joined in approving her deployment of National Guard troops in the subway system. As governor she was within her rights to do so, but the effort was political theater meant to quell the never ending claims of crime waves proclaimed by white residents, who complain whether crime rates are up or down. Hochul boasts about a drop in subway crime since the deployment began, but subway crime rates were already falling before the manufactured crisis took place.
Adams is not alone in justifying over policing of Black people. In 2023, the Washington, DC City Council proposed a set of modest criminal justice reforms, which were immediately portrayed as being “soft on crime” and which elicited demands from congress to stop the bill. The president at the time, democrat Joe Biden, joined in the screeds against the Council’s proposed bill and he was supported by democrats and the allegedly liberal Washington Post editorial board, which declared, “D.C.’s crime bill could make the city more dangerous.” Much attention was given to a proposal to reduce the recommended sentence for carjacking from a 40-year sentence to 24 years. Twenty-four years is a very long sentence, and the former federal prosecutor who helped write the bill pointed out that judges usually gave a sentence of 15 years. Only in the U.S., prison capital of the world, and leader in draconian sentencing, would a 15-year sentence be considered a sign of weakness.
Washington’s Black mayor, Muriel Bowser, joined in the chorus of condemnation but her veto was overridden by the City Council. Predictably, the U.S. Senate voted to disapprove the bill, with 31 democrats joining republicans in doing so. The City Council ended up approving and mayor Bowser signed the Secure DC Omnibus Crime Bill, which didn’t reduce any sentencing recommendations and which allowed for the establishment of so-called “drug-free zones” that allow for arbitrary arrests and the expansion of pre-trial detention based on vague predictions of risk.
Bowser could have strongly condemned Trump’s lies about her city, but as expected, she demurred and gave milquetoast responses, pledging to “… follow the law, work with federal officials, and continue the work we do every single day to keep DC safe, beautiful, and the best city in the world.” Council Member Janeese Lewis George was more forthright. “Despite everything the District has done to sort of meet the president’s asks, the mayor has done to meet the president’s asks — that wasn’t enough for him. It was never going to be enough. But now, we fight.”
That sentiment is in the minority and not just in Washington. Major law firms, television networks, and prestigious universities all bow down to Trump. None put up a fight against his demands. There is no backbone among the liberal classes and Bowser is no different from wealthy colleges with billionaire board members who all choose to do what Trump tells them to do.
Neo-liberal Black mayors, all chosen in a corrupt system of rich people deciding who we do and don’t get to vote for, are no better than their white counterparts. They accede to racist demands for all Black people to be surveilled and policed and locked up. They have their positions precisely because they pledge not to rock the political boat. Trump or any other president can order them as he pleases, and not just in Washington DC which is ultimately under federal control.
Trump sent the National Guard into Los Angeles and a federal court case will determine whether it is legal for the Guard to engage in civilian law enforcement. The outcome of that case may or may not deter Trump, however, it is decided. One thing is certain. The people cannot depend on their elected representatives to protect them as they are pledged to do. The idea that they act as the people want is a fantasy meant to stifle dissent when dissent is exactly what is needed in Washington, DC and around the country.
Margaret Kimberley is the author of Prejudential: Black America and the Presidents. You can support her work on Patreon and also find it on the Twitter, Bluesky, and Telegram platforms. She can be reached via email at margaret.kimberley@blackagendareport.com.
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