As District residents await a Trump executive order that intensifies prosecution for local crimes and further displaces the homeless, Reginald Black continues to express concern about a population still reeling from encampment removals that the Bowser administration conducted.
Last year, Black counted among those who sought out residents displaced by the destruction of a homeless encampment located near the U.S. State Department in Northwest. He said that President Donald J. Trump’s executive order, if it comes to fruition, could have effects much similar to what he and other advocates witnessed on the federal land located near George Washington University.
“People were disgruntled and abandoned most of their belongings,” said Black, a member of the People for Fairness Coalition. “Now they’re dispersed as far as the National Mall and Rock Creek Parkway, which makes it hard for outreach workers. We don’t know where to find people. If they move into an area with a different provider, that person has to start over in building that relationship.”
For nearly a decade, Black has frequented homeless encampments in the District, supporting residents along their journey to housing stability by helping them secure identification and vital records. In recent years, he’s also counted among those who’ve helped homeless residents figure out the next steps after the D.C. government destroyed their encampment.
Such was the case in 2021 after the Bowser administration launched Coordinated Assistance and Resources for Encampments, or CARE, which resulted in the demolition of the District’s three largest homeless encampments, during which at least one homeless resident sustained injuries.
Despite assurances that displaced residents would be placed in housing, access to affordable housing continues to be an issue, especially as District officials attempt to repair what they call a broken housing ecosystem. Such circumstances, Black said, don’t bode well for D.C. natives — a group he deemed most vulnerable to Trump’s executive order.
“When you’re talking about homelessness, you’re talking about Black folks,” Black told The Informer. “The part of displacement people don’t talk about is when people are being pushed around and they don’t feel like they belong so they leave.”
Black said D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D), in some way, bears some responsibility for Trump’s actions.
“The executive order is centered around public safety,” Black told The Informer. “It’s fear mongering on the Trump administration’s part to garner some cooperation from the D.C. government. And they were successful [because] the mayor met with them on this.”
Amid Federal Government Layoffs and a Spike in Violent Crime, A Young District Resident Speaks for Their Generation
By Feb. 17, Presidents Day, the Trump administration still hadn’t confirmed the official signing of the executive order intended to “beautify” the District. However, thousands of federal government workers are bearing the brunt of policies conceptualized by Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
Since the Trump administration announced the impending layoff of probationary employees — nearly 10% of the federal workforce – last week, many federal government employees have taken their fight for their due process rights to the courts. Meanwhile, the most recent data from the U.S. Labor Department shows that 4,000 federal government employees filed for unemployment benefits since Trump took office. As a matter of fact, the Labor Department recorded a 36% increase in claims filed within the first week of February.
That figure—1,780 claims—represented four times what the Labor Department recorded at the same time last year.
As The Informer previously reported, the Bowser administration continues to monitor Trump’s actions for legal violations.
Trump’s announcement about the executive order follows congressional Republicans’ introduction of the BOWSER Act, which repeals D.C. home rule. Bowser, who’s been reticent in her comments about the president, confirmed that she spoke with Trump administration officials about the executive order, even affirming her desire for support in gun crime prosecution.
“We worked very hard. We spent time with our ecosystem… making sure all parts have what they need to make D.C. safe,” Bowser told reporters on Feb. 12. “There are parts of the system the federal government has control over. I’ve asked federal judges to focus on gun crimes. Civil and criminal matters are bogged down in our courts.”
Metropolitan Police Department reported a 20% year-to-date increase in homicides and doubling of arson cases, despite a reduction in the occurrences of other crime types. Recent homicides include that of 36-year-old Nico Rector in Navy Yard and 19-year-old Khamani Hicks in Congress Heights.
Amid the Bowser administration’s engagement with the Trump administration around filling federal court vacancies, the D.C. Council recently approved emergency legislation that extended a provision of Secure D.C. omnibus bill, mandating pre-trial detention for defendants accused of a crime involving a weapon.
On the afternoon of Valentine’s Day, dozens of District activists converged on Black Lives Matter Plaza in opposition to Trump’s executive order and, as a young adult who identified as Ceon said, policies that threaten the livelihood of marginalized people.
“We stand with our peers … who want a roof over their heads, our immigrant peers trying to build a future for themselves and their families,” said Ceon, an organizer with Black Swan Academy. “We know we need to build a future in which we’re all free.”
Ceon counted among a string of speakers who spoke at the rally coordinated by Free DC Project, a movement centered on District self-determination. Entities that stood in solidarity with this cause on Feb. 14 included Harriet’s Wildest Dreams, GOODProjects, DC Vote, and People for Fairness Coalition. While each organization has been at work since election night, preparing for the string of immigration raids, federal government layoffs, and agency eliminations, Ceon pointed out that she and her comrades have been in the trenches for years, battling forces similar to Trump.
“We refuse to sit silently while we’re oppressed, no matter who’s oppressing us,” Ceon told The Informer. “For a decade, Black Swan Academy youth have advocated for policy change for housing, appropriate mental healthcare, and education that sends more Black youth to school than prison.”
While not much had not been said about the executive order as of yet, Ceon noted that it stands to endanger Black youth, much like any local policy they’ve rallied against in the past.
“We do this work out of love for our community,” Ceon continued, “and we stand firmly against discriminatory laws that criminalize Black youth and rob them of their freedom of self-expression.”
Black Alley’s Kacey McClain Stands for the Kennedy Center
Hours after Free DC’s protest, Backyard Band and Black Alley closed out Valentine’s Day with a concert at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts that kept generations of District natives grooving for hours on end.
Revelers, dressed in their flyest outfits, celebrated the spirit of love as they two stepped, rocked their hips and waved their hands to the sounds of drums, keyboards, and harmonies paying homage to D.C. neighborhoods, figures, and ancestors.
Key moments during what was called “For the Love of Go-Go: Backyard Band and Black Alley” included Demont “Peekaso” Pinder’s live completion of at least two paintings and a marriage proposal that rocked the Kennedy Center concert hall into a state of pandemonium.
Those who hit the stage, including Black Alley’s Kacey McClain, also carved out time to remind audience members of what’s to come now that Trump has become board chair of the Kennedy Center.
Days earlier, McClain didn’t mince words as she mulled over recent developments.
It feels terrible,” McClain, Black Alley’s lead singer, told The Informer. “I would no longer be interested in what the Kennedy Center has to offer if President Trump changes the way people are allowed to express themselves culturally.”
Since Trump terminated the Kennedy Center board of trustees and appointed himself chairman earlier this month, several artists and affiliates have left the institution. Television producer Shondra Rhimes resigned from her position as Kennedy Center board treasurer, while Issa Rae cancelled her sold-out show. Alfred Street Baptist Church also withdrew support for the performing arts institution.
On the other side, the Kennedy Center severed ties with entities such as creators of the children’s play “Finn” who announced the cancellation of their tour.
Board changes also resulted in the removal of David Rubenstein, Deborah Rutter and those who were appointed by President Joe Biden.
On the night of Feb. 14, McClain encouraged audience members to have fun and celebrate their loved ones as Black Alley showcased Hood Rock — a subgenre of go-go that incorporates elements of trap and rock music.
For more than an hour, McClain exerted an untold amount of energy on stage, walking back and forth while leading audience members in call and response and belting a bevy of tunes over the sounds of drums, keyboards and other instruments.
For McClain, who frequented the Kennedy Center as a youngster, the Valentine’s night performance served as a homecoming of sorts.
“It’s not just about Go-Go and it’s not about a specific culture, but everyone being able to represent themselves,” she told The Informer.
Black Alley, founded in 2010, established a strong local following with weekly shows at the spots formerly known as Indulj on U Street and Bar 7 on 7th Street. For more than a decade, they’ve consistently spread what McClain calls the gospel of the Go-Go/Hood Rock across the country and world, all while accumulating a bevy of honors.
McClain told The Informer that with every local performance, and especially the Kennedy Center concert, she wanted go-go lovers to celebrate life as District residents.
“This is supposed to be a place where you recognize different cultures [and] where artists go to express themselves,” McClain said. “I’ve seen the power of Go-Go outside of D.C. The way it has the ability to do what we have known it to do — set something in us to have a good time and connect.”