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JOHN,
Trump is deploying National Guard troops in our nation’s capital and temporarily taking control of the city’s police force, abusing presidential powers meant only for emergencies.
He’s warned about expanding this to other cities, but he can move quickly now in D.C. because D.C. residents lack statehood and local self-governance.
Local activists, who don’t have voting representation in Congress, are asking people in U.S. states to push their members of Congress to end this fascist takeover and finally enfranchise D.C. residents by making D.C. a state.
Please sign on to demand Congress stop Trump’s D.C. takeover and demand Congress give D.C. residents full voting rights by passing the Washington, D.C. Admissions Act to grant D.C. statehood.
Under the D.C. Home Rule Act of 1973, presidents can temporarily take over D.C.’s city government during an emergency. Trump is lying about crime-related emergencies: In D.C.—as well as other Black-led and majority-Black cities he’s threatened to target—crime rates are at historic lows.
Trump mentioned Chicago as one of the cities he may target with a militarized takeover next. The mayor of Chicago said, “If President Trump wants to help make Chicago safer, he can start by releasing the funds for anti-violence programs” that Trump cut.
We also know that investing in communities’ needs like housing, food, and healthcare is a key part of building true public safety.
Instead of spending more of our tax dollars on state violence and militarized policing, I’ve advocated to save lives by funding lifesaving needs and unarmed emergency/crisis response teams.
I’ve also pushed to end police brutality and mass incarceration and to support unhoused people, who are Trump’s latest targets.
Trump is deploying National Guard troops in part to violently displace and lock up unhoused people. This will also disproportionately harm Black people, who make up 85% of D.C.’s unhoused population.
He refused to send in the National Guard on January 6th as a white supremacist mob attacked the Capitol, but he has no problem sending them into D.C. neighborhoods with majority Black residents.
We’ve got to stand up to these fascist attacks and defend vulnerable communities. That starts by speaking up and humanizing the people Trump wants to disappear. It also involves pushing governmental leaders to take action.
Please add your name to demand Congress end this false “emergency” now to get National Guard troops and federal agents off D.C. streets, and urgently pass the Washington, D.C. Admission Act to finally grant D.C. statehood.
Thank you. Together we’ll keep building a world that truly values people’s safety and well-being, where everyone’s dignity and humanity is honored.
With you in this fight,
Rashida
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Rashida Tlaib
Date: Thurs, Aug 14, 2025
Subject: Sign to remove U.S. military from our nation’s capital:
To: [email protected]
JOHN,
The U.S. military has arrived in our nation’s capital, with National Guard troops on the ground along with a surge in federal law enforcement. We cannot be silent as Trump tries to silence dissent and militarize Black neighborhoods.
The racist-in-chief named potential cities he may target next, including Chicago, Baltimore, Oakland, and other cities with Black mayors and majority Black and brown populations. He’s encouraging violent repression, telling law enforcement to “do whatever they want” and “knock the hell out of” people.
Trump’s anti-Black and authoritarian takeover is a test run to target other major cities. His administration is planning to set up a rapid response group of National Guard troops for this very purpose.
Trump didn’t want to send in the National Guard on January 6th as a white supremacist mob attacked the Capitol but has no problem sending them into D.C. neighborhoods with majority Black residents.
Now is the time to speak up, before this fascism spreads further.
Sign the petition to demand your members of Congress stand up to Trump’s fascism and end this militarized takeover.
Trump is targeting Democrat-majority cities, likely punishing people for their votes and punishing Democratic politicians for opposing him. For example, Washington, D.C. is a majority Black city where over 90% of voters choose Democrats for president.
Trump is starting with D.C. because the city’s residents have less power—they don’t have statehood and they don’t even have full self-governance of their city.
In an abuse of his presidential power, Trump is exploiting a loophole in the D.C. Home Rule Act of 1973 that enables presidents to temporarily take over D.C.’s city government if there’s an emergency. But Trump’s “emergency” claims are racist lies: In D.C. and the other cities he’s named, crime rates are at historic lows.
D.C. residents weren’t able to vote for president until the 1960s, and they still lack voting representation in Congress. They even have limited control over their own city government: Congress can rewrite or block D.C. city budgets, and Congress reviews and regularly blocks city policies that have been voted for by a majority of D.C. residents.
This is the un-democratic status quo, which began and has persisted due to anti-Blackness.
Many enslaved people fled to D.C. after the Civil War and started to elect Black political leaders. White people pushed back against growing Black political power, using racist tropes to claim that Black people couldn’t govern themselves. Congress and the president began controlling the city, appointing leaders and overriding local democracy.
It’s past time for D.C. residents to finally have full enfranchisement and voting rights. With 700,000 residents, D.C. is more populous than Vermont and Wyoming. Both of those states have two senators and a voting member of the House of Representatives. The people of D.C. have voted overwhelmingly in support of statehood, but Congress hasn’t yet passed a policy to make it happen.
Right now, local activists are asking people across the country to push their members of Congress to do three key things: end Trump’s emergency declaration and get troops off D.C. streets, stop freezing D.C.’s city funds and trying to overturn local laws, and finally pass legislation making D.C. a state.
Please sign on and urge your members of Congress to act now. You can give D.C. residents a voice, since they have no voting member of Congress.
Last time Trump was in office, he called in the National Guard to D.C. during protests following George Floyd’s murder. Federal agents used rubber bullets, smoke bombs, flash grenades, and chemicals on peaceful protesters.
As part of the current attack on the city, Trump is deploying National Guard troops to forcibly displace unhoused people and lock them up. Because of the still-growing racial wealth gap, 85% of unhoused DC residents are Black—so this will have clear racial impacts.
This is happening during Black August, a month that honors Black political prisoners and other activists who’ve pushed for Black liberation. Pushing back against racist policing and making D.C. a state is part of the fight for Black liberation, power, and self-representation.
I’m a proud co-sponsor of the Washington, D.C. Admission Act to grant D.C. statehood. I’ve also pushed for policies to keep our communities safe from police violence, reduce mass incarceration, empower and support unhoused people, keep people in their homes, and make housing more affordable.
Our government should fund housing and care, not criminalization and prisons. I will keep pushing for this in Congress and I will keep fighting back against Trump’s fascism.
Since D.C. residents don’t have a voting Congressperson, they’re asking you and others around the country to advocate on their behalf, urging your senators and representative to act now.
Add your name to demand an end to this fascist takeover and demand equal citizenship for D.C. residents.
Thank you for taking action. Together, we’ll keep pushing for a democracy that lives up to the ideals of equal rights and representation for all. We must also keep defending the most vulnerable among us.
In solidarity,
Rashida
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