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Tuesday, 02 June 2020 17:14

Message to the President

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President Donald J. Trump walks past police in Lafayette Park after visiting outside St. John's Church across from the White House in Washington, DC, on Monday, June 1, 2020. Part of the church was set on fire during protests on Sunday night. President Donald J. Trump walks past police in Lafayette Park after visiting outside St. John's Church across from the White House in Washington, DC, on Monday, June 1, 2020. Part of the church was set on fire during protests on Sunday night. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) The Associated Press

Dear President Donald J. Trump: 

Please excuse the intense emotion of this letter, but it must be burning HOT! As a DC resident, speaking on behalf of what I must estimate is a majority of our residents, I must say – No, I MUST INSIST – that your violation of our First Amendment rights to speak out and demonstrate against the government cannot ever be forgotten or forgiven. 

Your violation took the form of the teargassing of a group of peaceful demonstrators in front of the White House in Lafayette Park. You have previously expressed your opposition to statehood for the District of Columbia. 

But we say that we need nothing more than your heinous actions, which we are sure you ordered in the most undemocratic and dictatorial spirit, so that you and a few of your supporters could walk across the street to have a photo op at St. John’s Church. You had your way cleared a full 25 minutes before the 7:00 pm curfew ordered by our duly elected Mayor Muriel Bowser. 

Such brazen violation of our constitutional right to protest demonstrates your contempt of the U.S. Constitution and the rights of citizenry. We know that you had few supporters or potential voters for you in that group and had no idea of how to gain their support, but we DC residents among them know that our quest for DC statehood has received the momentum that will lead us to victory much sooner than later. 

You have missed your opportunity to be the first president of a United States of 51 states! Do not mistake DC for a territory or some beggar that does not pay our fair share of federal taxes. District residents pay the highest federal taxes per person in this country and its residents are entitled to full recognition of our constitutional rights to protest you or any other elected official with such a dictatorial intent.

We demand that we be treated with respect to which all Americans are entitled – Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness – which is basically what these protests are all about!


Anise Jenkins
Executive Director
Stand Up! for Democracy in DC (Free DC)

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