WASHINGTON, D.C. – More National Guard troops are headed to our nation’s capital following the President’s federal takeover of the city. This latest deployment is escalating tensions with the people who live there. Some residents are “making noise” to protest this move.
At eight p.m. on the dot, some DC residents take out their pots and pans and make a whole lot of noise protesting President Donald Trump’s decision to take over DC.
“For us to do the [in Spanish] which is pots banging,” said Stella Ghazi, a DC resident.
“Tonight I was banging pots and pans and I was drawing stuff with chalk,” said DC resident Emma who is nine years-old. “I wrote Free DC and yeah and stuff like that and as a way celebrating that America should not be like this.”
We asked Emma’s brother, Gabe, who is also nine years-old, what he wrote with in chalk: “Some things my mom prohibited me from saying,” replied Gabe.
This protest is part of the Free DC campaign. Their goal is to protect Home Rule, which gives local leaders more control of DC. The President declared a crime emergency in the city, took control of DC police and sent federal agents to patrol the streets. According to data, crime has gone down in the past couple of years.
“President Trump has kind of like attacked our city,” said Ghazi. “Claiming that our city is crime infested just exaggerating our situation, disregarding the wonderful people we have here.”
Some describe it as an occupation.
“My understanding is that there is still a lot of crime in DC,” said DC resident Andy Feeney. “I don’t think that handing power to a would-be dictator is the answer to crime.”
Feeney is concerned about more national guard troops getting deployed to other cities, too.
“He wants to send federal troops to democratic cities,” said Feeney. “Cities with mostly black and Latino populations, right? And I don’t think this is- yes there’s crime here, but I don’t think this is about crime. This is about him wanting to take power.”
“The sound is a sign that we are not going to stay silent.” said Ghazi, referring to the pots and pans.
