As DCist reported, one person was hospitalized after being stabbed, and though it’s unclear which side they were on, it’s a reminder that extremist presence leads to violence, as four more stabbings in December further evidenced. In November, I was sucker-punched during the extremist street protests, and a Black activist was violently attacked during an altercation, according to social media reports. “The Proud Boys and other right extremist groups have already given a glimpse of what’s to come with the violence they have demonstrated,” B. “If it was our battle, they'll be coming to Black communities, Black and Brown communities.”Ĭoncerns remain that without a sizable group of prepared counterdemonstrators at the ready, far-right violence will extend to more vulnerable spaces and cause more significant harm.
“It’s a white supremacy circus for January,” said Nee Nee, noting that the far-right extremists will likely be focused downtown, away from the neighborhoods where many DC residents live. In a press conference on Monday, Metropolitan police chief Robert Contee said simply that DC police would focus on “anyone who’s intent on instigating, agitating, or participating in violence in our city.” Earlier this week, footage of police and Proud Boys fighting in the street went viral, as the Daily Beast reported. In a December 13 interview with local outlet WTOP, Nee Nee raised similar concerns about local law enforcement enabling extremists. GTC has recognized that this call and the situation it may entail is risky, noting, “We’re fighting a battle on two fronts: The Proud Boys, and the police who watch them attack us but do little to nothing to protect us,” which is a frequent concern raised by activists. “We just want people who feel safe doing so to defend democracy and take a stance against fascism and hate,” B said in an interview. B*, an organizer with GTC, said a “vacuum” left by other groups was a primary motivator for this public call to action. Good Trouble Cooperative (GTC), a Black liberation organization that provides mutual aid and community defense, has put together a call to protect DC on January 6 and again during inauguration week.
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“We can’t get free if we lose soldiers and frontliners,” she told Teen Vogue, noting that the work for Black liberation “didn’t start with George Floyd and it won’t end with Biden.” She argued that there’s no point in putting Black and Brown bodies at risk for extremist violence or the coronavirus in “a battle that’s not ours over a system that needs to be dismantled.” Instead, she said, the focus should be on finding ways to continue being active in big-picture fights, like community building and mutual aid. Nee Nee, a co-organizer for BLM DC, said the group will take an offsite approach in response to any extremist events that happen in January. This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from. Activists say they’ve been outnumbered by groups like the Proud Boys: In November they numbered a few hundred, according to my own reporting and intel on the ground at the time, and then closer to 700 in December, according to former DC police chief Peter Newsham.
Meanwhile, DC mayor Muriel Bowser has been urging people to stay home. With Trump supporters and far-right extremists in the streets again, local activists and organizers have found themselves divided on what to do they say the MPD has consistently failed to show up proactively, but now the National Guard has been deployed. through the month of January – and whether they should at all. In the capital, questions have arisen about how activists can defend DC. Clashes between far-right extremist groups and counterprotesters in November and December left several injured and dozens arrested, according to data from DC’s Metropolitan Police Department (MPD). Washington, DC, has become a reflection of the political divisions fracturing communities across the country as pro-Trump marchers once again descend upon the city.
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