DC Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression blasts federal cover-up

Washington, DC – The DC Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (DCAARPR) gathered with local organizers and community members outside the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) headquarters on Tuesday morning, October 28, for a press conference on an explosive federal cover-up – the shooting of an unarmed Black man.

Supported by local organizations like the DC Against the Trump Agenda Coalition (DCATA) and Colectivo de Familias Migrantes (CFM), along with national organizations like 50501, the organizers delivered a bombshell statement on an incident that occurred just two weeks before.

On October 17, federal agents in Washington, DC shot multiple times at an unarmed Black man during a routine traffic stop, nearly killing him. He was then arrested by MPD for fleeing the scene, a felony charge. MPD did not mention the shooting in their report. At the man’s preliminary hearing, the officer who wrote the report admitted under oath that his supervisor told him to purposefully omit the shooting from the police report. The judge quickly dismissed the case for lack of probable cause after the officer revealed the cover-up plot.

Speaking on their demands, Merawi Gerima of DCAARPR stated, “MPD must immediately release all of the footage, that there is a special independent investigation into this incident and release of all the data on MPD stops that involve these roving police gangs, and that Mayor Bowser immediately rescind executive order 25-005, which mandates this local coordination and cooperation.” This was met with chants of “Bowser and Trump, sitting in a tree, attacking and terrorizing kids in DC!”

“No amount of concessions that Mayor Bowser makes can stop these racists in the White House from doing what they want to do,” said Gerima, “The only thing that can stop them is her standing with the people and defending Home Rule in DC!”

Then, reading a statement from Colectivo de Familias Migrantes , Gerima said, “We are here today because the collaboration between MPD and federal enforcement agencies does not keep our communities safe.” The statement continued, “Our community deserves respect, transparency and justice from the District’s government. It is time for our government to step up and ‘Protect Families not Feds!’”

After hearing from Gerima, the press heard from E. Paige White and Bernadette Armand – the attorneys representing the victim in a forthcoming civil case against the city.

“We are currently faced with an unjustified lethal shooting of a man during a traffic stop,” said White, “an unjustified shooting – let’s just be clear – is assault with intent to kill. That’s a felony here in DC and carries mandatory jail time. This was followed by a planned and ordered cover-up of this shooting by the Metropolitan Police Department. Covering up a crime is a conspiracy!” After finishing speaking, the crowd responded with calls of “shame!” and chants of “No Trump, no KKK, no racist USA!”

“If there was a passenger in this seat, they would be dead,” said Kristen Bonner of DCAARPR, holding up a picture of the bullet holes in the seat of the victim’s car, “this is what our community is going through, what our community is facing, and it’s going to take all of us coming together to stop it, stop Trump, and stop Mayor Bowser’s complicity in Trump’s racist and reactionary agenda.”

DCAARPR announced their plans to hold a Police Crimes Town Hall on Saturday, November 1, and invited all community members to attend and continue the conversation around MPD transparency and community control of the police in DC.

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