Sometimes what matters most is not the number of those who show up to participate in acts of civil disobedience, but the sincerity of their sentiments.
Such was the case at high noon on Saturday, Aug. 8, when several dozen young adults converged at the entrance to the Anacostia Metro station. Taking to the mic and with posters in hand, they voiced their concerns.
Black youth in D.C. say they’re frustrated, fed up, and furious because of being routinely targeted, mistreated, and oppressed by federal and local law enforcement.
However, their biggest gripe is with the mayor and D.C. Council members who have put bandages, in the form of youth curfews, to hide wounds that continue to fester.
They wonder why their dreams continue to be deferred based on assertions that their “meet-ups” have led to a rise in criminal acts.
In his seminal 1903 collection of essays, “The Souls of Black Folk,” Dr. W.E.B. DuBois posed the question, “How does it feel to be a problem?”
Black youth in Washington, D.C., say they know how it feels. However, more of them are taking proactive steps.
Following the lead of other young adults who, in the early days of the Civil Rights Movement, moved forward with conviction, sitting at segregated lunch counters in North Carolina, and riding on buses throughout the Deep South, local youth are organizing, protesting, and standing up for their rights.
Many of those who were present on Saturday have joined forces with the Free DC advocacy group with the goal of highlighting the negative impacts that they have suffered as we mark the one-year anniversary of the federal occupancy of the District.
They are afraid, they say, of becoming statistics like Julian Bailey and Nolberto Meza, who died at the hands of U.S. Marshals and U.S. Park Police, respectively.
And while local officials claim that Metro Police are not working in concert with the National Guard or ICE agents, youth say that’s now what they’re seeing.
More youth in D.C. are facing homelessness, unemployment, detainment because of potential immigration law violations, and hopelessness. But as the poet Langston Hughes said in the closing line of one of his most provocative works: “I, too, am America.”
This stands as a sad and tragic commentary for an urban metropolis that was once hailed as “Chocolate City.”
One advocate and teacher, who joined the youth during the Free DC rally, shared a chilling observation: “Some teachers see youth as students until 3 p.m. when schools let out for the day – then we see them as threats.”
Is this where we are, what we have become, and how we view the next generation?
