The Federal Policing of D.C. Has Made Us Less Safe

A History of Policing and Racialized Fear

In my fifty years of ministry, activism, and community organizing, I have witnessed how racialized fear has repeatedly been used to justify policing strategies that target Black communities.

I lived through Boston’s “stop and frisk” era after the Charles Stuart hoax — when a white man murdered his wife, blamed it on a Black suspect, and city leaders unleashed police terror on Roxbury. I thought I had seen it all.

But today in Washington, D.C., history is repeating itself.

The recent assault of 19-year-old Edward Coristine, a former city worker and software engineer known online as “Big Balls,” has been exploited by the Trump administration and its supporters. Instead of treating it as a crime, they have used it as propaganda — proof, they claim, of a city spiraling out of control. The parallels to Boston in the 1980s are striking: one incident leveraged to criminalize an entire community.

The Trump Administration’s Power Grab

President Donald Trump and his MAGA allies have seized on Coristine’s case as justification for a sweeping federal intervention in D.C. Trump declared that the capital is plagued with crime, unsafe for visitors, overrun by homeless encampments, and in desperate need of federal “order.”

He has openly threatened to erase D.C.’s home rule and fully federalize city governance. Mayor Muriel Bowser initially sought to appease him — even dismantling Black Lives Matter Plaza, which had been dedicated in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. But appeasement did not work. Trump was not interested in statistics showing crime rates were down; he wanted a narrative of chaos to justify authoritarian control.

This federal overreach has left our city under what can only be described as martial law — even if it has not been formally declared.

A City Under Occupation

Over the past weeks, I have witnessed scenes that confirm this occupation.

Unmarked cars, masked officers, and troops from agencies most residents have never encountered now roam our streets. I have seen D.C. residents pulled over for trivial reasons, surrounded by half a dozen vehicles from different agencies. What once might have involved a single patrol car now escalates into a military-style operation.

One night, I watched as officers detained a Black man for nothing more than tinted windows. Ten officers from different agencies swarmed the scene, handcuffing him as his elderly grandmother sat helplessly in the passenger seat. The lieutenant promised she would be taken home, but the message was clear: everyday D.C. residents are being treated like enemy combatants.

The Chilling Effect on Communities

The heavy federal presence has also disrupted the fabric of everyday life in immigrant neighborhoods such as Columbia Heights and Adams Morgan. These areas have long been vibrant spaces where vendors sell goods and families gather. But over the past month, we have watched vendors vanish and foot traffic thin.

At a recent boycott demonstration outside a Target store, I saw D.C. police stop a Latino motorcyclist over his license plate. An officer I knew admitted that he was under orders to enforce laws they would normally overlook. That admission spoke volumes: residents are being harassed for the sake of appearances, not safety.

Then came Homeland Security agents, clad in brown uniforms resembling troops in Iraq or Afghanistan. Their presence transformed the encounter into a standoff. A crowd of bystanders quickly grew, chanting at the agents to leave, their voices unified across race, age, and gender. In that moment, it became obvious that the true threat was not the motorcyclist, but the militarized occupation itself.

The Fuse of Racialized Violence

The Trump administration wants an uprising. By flooding D.C. with troops and provoking communities, they seek justification for sending in even more forces — not just here but in cities across America. This strategy echoes a long history of racial scapegoating: from fabricated accusations of Black men assaulting white women to the Charles Stuart hoax in Boston.

The Coristine incident — the assault on “Big Balls” — is being framed not as a crime but as a symbol of the supposed threat Blackness poses to white life. That is the racial fuse being lit, and it is dangerous.

What I Have Seen on the Ground

Excessive Force in Minor Stops: Routine stops, like traffic infractions, now involve five to ten police cars.
Anonymous Agents: Officers appear masked, unmarked, and without clear identification.
National Guard Deployments: Many units come from majority-white states, creating a force that looks nothing like the racially diverse city it polices.
Community Anger and Unity: Crowds of residents, diverse and defiant, have come together to oppose this occupation. For the first time in years, I have seen solidarity that cuts across race and class.

This unity gives me hope. But I also fear that one spark — one unnecessary escalation — could ignite the uprising the administration seems to desire.

Martial Law Without the Name

Walk or drive through D.C. today and you can feel it. The militarized presence is everywhere. Federal policing has not made us safer; it has deepened mistrust, criminalized ordinary residents, and destabilized neighborhoods.

This is martial law in everything but name. It is a dangerous rehearsal for authoritarianism across the nation. If unchecked, it threatens to transform not just D.C. but the entire United States into what I call a “hostile white plantation” — a state where democracy is crushed, dissent is punished, and communities of color are occupied rather than served.

The Path Forward

I do not advocate violence, but I know what I have seen: communities unified in anger and resistance. This defiance is necessary. Without it, the occupation will only grow.

We must remain vigilant, vocal, and organized. We must resist the normalization of federal troops patrolling civilian streets. And we must continue to call out the racialized narratives that justify such occupations in the first place.

Because the truth is simple: D.C. is not unsafe because of its residents. It is unsafe because of the federal occupation.

Conclusion

The people of Washington, D.C., deserve home rule, democracy, and the right to govern themselves without interference. What we face today is not about safety — it is about control. The presence of federal troops and law enforcement agencies has destabilized the city, spread fear, and lit the fuse of racialized violence.

If we allow this to continue, we risk normalizing martial law as the new American reality. The only antidote is collective defiance, resistance, and unity across our diverse communities.

Because safety will not come from occupying forces. Safety will come from the people of D.C. standing together, demanding freedom, and refusing to be silenced.