For months, the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) worked with its local and federal partners in preparation for what has ultimately become a trifecta of high-profile events — the first electoral vote count certification since the 2021 Capitol attack, President Jimmy Carter’s state funeral, and President-elect Donald J. Trump’s second inauguration.
As legions of law enforcement personnel prepare to occupy downtown next week, Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith said she remains adamant about not only protecting inauguration attendees, but the thousands expected to protest Trump’s return to the Oval Office.
Smith’s recent comments come amid concerns about state-sanctioned harassment and violence, much like what many activists alleged during the 2020 uprisings.
“Right now, we are in two different time periods with respect to what happened then and where we are now [related to] the Fourth Amendment and how we engage the community,” Smith recently said at a special security briefing D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) hosted in the old council chambers of the Marion S. Barry Building in Northwest.
On Jan. 13, Smith counted among a number of local and federal government and law enforcement officials who revealed a security plan that, by the time of Carter’s death last month, had been a year in the making.
MPD, currently with fewer than 4,000 in its ranks, will have the support of more than 20,000 officers from other local jurisdictions, the U.S. Capitol Police, CIA, and FBI. Secret Service personnel have also installed more than 30 miles of no-scale fencing around the National Mall, while drone technology has been leveraged to counter threats, specifically that of a “lone actor.”
Authorities said they recently foiled a plot allegedly planned by someone fitting that profile. Smith also mentioned the recent arrest of six people last week for destruction of property, telling reporters that the right to assemble has limits.
“We have come a long way in bridging the gap with residents [and] we allow peaceful protests all the time, but when it comes to violating the law, we can’t tolerate it,” Smith said, delving deeper into what she called the department’s efforts to improve policing. “We train annually, if not biannually on the Fourth Amendment. I brought the U.S. Attorney’s Office into the department to provide additional training.”
Looking Forward: The People’s March
Trump’s second inauguration falls on Jan. 20, which also happens to be the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. federal holiday. D.C. residents are celebrating King’s legacy at events throughout the D.C. metropolitan area, and finally, the annual peace walk and parade at Entertainment & Sports Arena in Southeast that’s scheduled for Jan. 18.
As MLK Holiday DC committee members, including Informer Publisher Denise Rolark Barnes, coalesce around the “noble struggle for equal rights,” more than 50,000 protesters are expected to attend “The People’s March” on the National Mall.
Last year, not long after Trump re-election, organizers of the Women’s March solidified plans for the protest with some of the nation’s leading civil rights, racial justice and reproductive rights organizations. Meanwhile, a bevy of local Black-led organizations, including Harriet’s Wildest Dreams, D.C. Vote, Long Live Go-Go, Future Freedom Collective, Coalition of Concerned Mothers, and the U.S. Council for the Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls are leading local organizing efforts under the banner of the Movement for Black Lives.
For Nee Nee Taylor, a native Washingtonian and executive director of Harriet’s Wildest Dreams, “The People’s March” serves as the latest instance, long before Nov. 5, when she and her comrades took to the streets in solidarity with marginalized people in D.C. and around the world.
That’s why, on Jan. 14, Taylor pushed back against the notion that Black people should be sitting on the sidelines during the second Trump presidency.
“This is not the time to pop popcorn, sit back and say ‘y’all got this,’” Taylor said. “It’s disrespectful to our ancestors.”
Taylor told The Informer that “The People’s March” will allow Harriet’s Wildest Dreams and other local entities to further strengthen ties with national movements. She identified resisting Trump’s policies, protecting D.C. home rule, and realizing the decades-long goal of statehood among her goals.
“The work we do for our people’s freedom was in place before Nov. 5, and [is needed] even more than eight years ago,” Taylor said.
She emphasized the urgency of Black liberation work.
“Trump is threatening to start his policy changes on the first day,” Taylor continued. “It’s important for us to rise up and let him know that what he does will be resisted. The power is in the people [when] mobilization starts movement.”
Nadine Seiler, a Generation X activist, told The Informer that, despite her disappointment in the multiracial contingent of voters who guaranteed Trump’s 2024 victory, she will most likely attend “The People’s March” in support of a cause she’s pursued for nearly a decade.
“Regardless of what happens, I’m going to support the Black community,” Seiler said. “They’re coming after D.C., and I have to be out there to support the people. This is a Black march, led by Black folks and organizations. We have to keep going. We can’t give up.”
Since Jan. 21, 2017, Trump’s first-ever full day as president, Seiler counted among those who organized against the controversial president. In 2020, at the height of the pandemic, she posted up in Black Lives Matter Plaza alongside other activists to raise awareness about police brutality.
More recently, Seiler has spent much of her time in front of the White House and Supreme Court, and in other cities, warning voters against Agenda 47 and Project 2025, both of which hint at the rescinding of protections for the historically marginalized. Despite MPD Chief Smith’s recent assertion that law enforcement will respect protesters’ constitutional rights, Seiler appeared skeptical that Trump, described by experts as a fascist leader, will lead the charge for responsible policing.
“The police will get 100% immunity, just because Donald Trump can take a dagger and twist it in the face of the Black community,” Seiler told The Informer. “We had policy changes that had been rescinded, so I can’t imagine what it will be. People are not paying attention.”
Looking Back, and Trouble on the Homefront
On Jan. 14, the Department of Education (DOE) hosted an event to reflect on the last four years. Education officials, teachers, students and parents looked back on the Biden-Harris administration’s post-pandemic support of schools, release of education funds that the Trump administration held from Puerto Rico, protections against student loan debt, and investments to increase teacher compensation.
Between a performance by Washington Latin Public Charter School’s honor choir, a youth fireside chat and videos, a bevy of education officials — including U.S. Undersecretary of Education James Kvaal and Deputy Secretary of Education Cindy Marten — focused on what they called the unfinished business of improving education. Kvaal mentioned the streamlining of FAFSA to boost first-generation college student enrollment, while Marten highlighted public education investments she said surpassed that of previous administrations.
Later, in his keynote address, outgoing U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona discussed the event’s theme, “The Impact: Our Fight for Public Education” as he spoke about his upbringing in a working-class community, and the conditions created by a pandemic that exacerbated long-persistent racial and socioeconomic inequities.
As Cardona recounted on Jan. 14, he shaped education policy with the help of K-12 and higher education stakeholders who he met with quarterly. Those meetings, he said, led to the adoption of financial literacy standards by 19 states, increased support for historically Black colleges and universities, and installment of mental health professionals in U.S. schools.
Despite Biden’s exit, and Vice President Kamala Harris’ loss to Trump last November, Cardona said that the work to defend public education will continue with educators and families at the forefront.
“If you need a dose of hope, talk to a local teacher,” Cardona said. “Talk to a principal, career technical education student, or first-generation college student. Our educators, parents, and communities who support them are the ones — we are the ones — who will decide the fate of public education. There’s not one president that does that or one lawmaker who breaks our resolve.”
As World Wrestling Entertainment co-founder Linda McMahon prepares for her first day as U.S. education secretary in the second Trump administration, the District, where Black people encompass less than 40% of the population, continues to face its share of conservative backlash.
On Jan. 9, a group known as Parents Defending Education (PDE) filed a federal complaint against D.C. Public Schools (DCPS) for its implementation of the racial and gender-affirming program known as the Empowerment Club. The complaint, sent to DOE’s Office for Civil Rights, alleges that the Empowerment Club violates the 14th Amendment and Civil Rights Act by operating in select District public schools for the benefit of elementary-aged Black girls of various gender and ethnic identities.
DCPS countered PDE’s assertions in a statement.
“D.C. Public Schools remains committed to fostering environments where all students and staff feel a sense of belonging,” DCPS’ statement read. “As noted on the parental permission slip, the club and any others like it are open for all students to participate.”
Bowser didn’t give much credence to PDE’s complaint nor any other kind of infringement on local affairs, past or ongoing. She instead touted her administration’s recent collaboration with the federal government.
“We are focused on a peaceful transition of power and we’re working with our law enforcement partners to ensure that happens,” Bowser told The Informer on Jan. 13.
“There will be a lot of time for policy discussions where there’s agreement and disagreement,” the mayor continued as she stood a couple feet away from U.S. Capitol Police Chief J. Thomas Manger.
Last year, Manger’s congressional testimony about crime around the Capitol, in part, inspired conversations about revoking District home rule. Months after that hearing, and weeks after her meeting with Trump, Bowser said she’s prepared for a situation where the incoming president and those of like mind prove unwilling to work cordially with District officials.
“We always are planning for how this city responds to [threats to] our legal authority and right to self-determination,” Bowser emphasized on Jan. 13. “That doesn’t ever change, but it doesn’t change that D.C. wants to work cooperatively with those who work with us, including the incoming president and congressional leadership.”
A Call for Focus and Protracted Struggle
By Jan. 15, on what would have been King’s 96th birth anniversary, Kymone Freeman was placing the finishing touches on the Anti-Inauguration Ball, a large-scale event he’s organizing in collaboration with Social Security Works, Free D.C., and The Black Cat.
Freeman, co-owner of We Act Radio and D.C. Statehood Green Party candidate for the House D.C. delegate seat who plans to run again in 2026, said he gained inspiration from “Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution,” King’s last-ever speech in D.C.
He also admitted having at the front of his mind what he called the failure of D.C.’s Black power brokers and white-collar professionals to “stay woke.”
“D.C. has the largest population of bougie Black people in America,” Freeman told The Informer. “Because the government is the largest employer of Black people, they’re more than hesitant to speak out and do anything they feel would bite the hand that feeds them.”
The same logic applies to the Executive Office of the Mayor, Freeman added. “Mayor Bowser has acquiesced to President Trump, and they’ve come to a working agreement.”
The Anti-Inauguration Ball, scheduled to take place on the night of Jan. 20 at The Black Cat, will feature a live DJ along with a Sly & the Family Stone cover band. Freeman said this event, hosted at the Northwest venue for the second time, continues organizing efforts that started in 2017 during Trump’s first ascent to national office.
That year, at the first-ever Anti-Inauguration Ball, revelers in D.C. and throughout the country partied along with organizers in Los Angeles who coordinated the marquee event, headlined by Chuck D and Prophets of Rage.
This time around, Freeman said he’s looking forward to organizing artists and other dissidents, not only around their opposition to Trump, but what he called a permanent shift away from the status quo.
Achieving that goal, he told The Informer, requires convincing at least 3.5% of District residents — what Free D.C. considers a critical mass — about the viability of such a movement.
“We should all be more committed to pursue whatever craft and way that responds to the injustice we face,” Freeman said. “This serves as the perfect catalyst … for a lot more organized resistance. Not just protesting for a few days. But decreasing our dependence on the system and increasing our interdependence on each other. We can disrupt ‘business as usual.’”
