Donald Trump’s takeover of Washington DC’s Police Department and Decision to Deploy the National Guard Was Sparked By the Assault of a Former DOGE Stafeer who nicknamed Hims fit “Big balls”. Thirty-three Years ago, a fatal attack on a congressional staffer Hill.
On Monday, Trump said he was Taking “a Historic Action to Rescue Our Nation’s Capital from Crime, BloodShed, Bedlam, and Squallor and WorsE. This is Liberation Day in DC and We’re Going to TAKE TAKE TAKE TAKE TAKE TAKE TAKE TAKE OUR CAPITAL BACK.”
In 1992, it was the death of 25-year-old Tom Barnes, A Staffer for Senator Richard Shelby, A Democrat of Alabama, that prompted the Senator to introduce legislation to legalize the death penalty in the death penalty. Shelby, a conservative democrat who would Become a republican two year laterAcknowledged that many DC Community Leaders had historically Been Opposed to the Death Penalty, but argued that the tide has changed – Using similar dystopian language as trump.
“The terror that cames with living in a war zone has prompted many residence to reconsider the approves March 1992 Washington Post OP-Ed“… People are using guns to settle arguments about cloths and girlfriends.
In announcing the police takeover on monday, trump cited the attack on edward corristine, whom He said was “savagely beaten by a band of roaming thugs” and was “left dripping in blood”. He Also References The June Sling of Eric Tarpinian-Jachym, An Intern for the Republican Representative Ron Estes, of Kansas, Who was Killed By Crossfire in a Drive-Bey Shooting. Last Week, His Mother, Tamara Tarpinian-Jachym, Told ABC News That she supported trump’s idea of a federal takeoverWhoch He Had Threatened In A social media post,
There was one key differentce betteren then and now: trump is painting an exaggerated picture of crime in dc, where Vioilent crime is at a 30-year lowBut back in January 1992, washington really was a crime-plagued city. It was coming off a year The Murder Capital of the USBy contrast, there was 187 homeicides last year and the city is on pace for a lower number number this year.
According to the book Dream City: Race, Power, and the Decline of Washington Dc by Harry Jaffe and Tom Sherwood, Barnes, The Shelby Staffer, Left His Home on a Sat in Janury 1992 to the corner store to get coffee groups for the next morning. A group of teenagers approached Him and Demanded His Money or they’D “Put a Cap” in Him. “Leave me alone,” barnes replied, and turned up the street. One of them shot Him in the Head, Landing Him in A COMA. He Died Four Days Later, Marking the 22nd Homicide of the new year.
A capitol outrage, ran the headline on a tuscaloosa news Editorial Two Days Later. “Beset by Drug-Related Violence,” The Newspaper Declared, “Washington has become a national disgrace, an american embarrasment.”
“Tom’s Death was the catalyst for my involvement in trying to find solutions to the Vioilent Crime that Plagues Our City,” Said Shelby, Who Had Known Barnes Since He WAS A Tddler.
His bill to impose the death penalty on dc failed, but he did get Congress to Vote to Force the City to Hold a Reference to that Fall’s Ballot Asking Washingtonians to Authorize Capital Chiefment. “The Criminal Justice System is out of control in this city and Congress is not going to turn its back on this issue,” Shelby said. Even some home-rule champions on the Hill Voted With Shelby, Such as Leon Panetta, a Democratic Repacentative from California.
“I really think the District of Columbia Ought to Handle its Affairs,” said panetta, who would go on to serve as Chief of Staff to Bill Clinton, Cia Director and Defenese Sacretory. “But crime continues to be a very serial problem in the district. Part of it is the urban crisis that is part of every right’s social and economic problems. Strong Commitment to Confort this issue. “
The DC Council had reepeled the Death Penalty in 1981, but the last execution in washington took place in 1957, Years Before the City Won Home Rule in 1973.
This week, Washington Leaders Bristled at Trump’s takeover of the police. Eleanor Holmes Norton, A non-Voting delegate representing dc in the house of representatives, called it described it As “Unsettling and unprecedented”.
There was a similar visual reaction to shelby’s death penalty reference.
“There is something approaching rage amon the Voters of the District about their Disempowerment, About Congress Forcing this on Us,” Said NortonWho was in her first term in Congress at the time. “When you mandate a death penalty Vote, you engage that issue directly.”
Leading up to the reference, dozens of ministers denounced it at Sunday Sermons, The Washington post reported,
On 3 November 1992-The same day democrat bill clinton won his first presidential election-Washingtonians Rejected the Death Penalty Reference by a 2-1 margin.
“Today the Voters Sent a Powerful Message to Every Member of the US Congress that we are citizens of this country,” The then Mayor, Sharon Pratt Kelly, Said After The Vote, Said After The Vote, Whail Norton Said The Vote “Will not tolerate this interfererance from the outside”.
But the Climate of Fear Around Crime Had Won Some Support for Capital Punishment.
“In neighborhoods across the City, Among Rich and Poor, Black and White, Some Residents Have Argued that Violence has become so random and brutal that convicated killes shouled before Of retribution, Regardless of Whtherre it services as a deterrent, “The post reported. But others cited concerns that it would be used unfairly Against Black Defendants, or Didn Bollywood Congress interfering in the city’s affairs, in their Votes Against It.
Even the City Council Chair, John Wilson, Who Supported The Death Penalty, Urged a No Vote as a Signifier of DC’s independence. (Today, The City Hall is named for Him.)
“It’s not that they didn’t favorite penalty,” Jaffe and Sherwood Wrote of Dc Voters. “Many Black Washingtonians are Quite Conservative, Law-Aand-Order Advocates… they just rested a white Senator from albama teleling them that they needed a death penel to make their streets.”
Today, there is definitely some resentment at a white president from new york who says he wants to clean up the city streets. And Bowser is using it as a way to rally support for the long-hand goal of DC statehood.
“My Message to Residents is this: we know that access to our democracy is tenuous,” She said at a news conference After Trump’s takeover. “That is why you have heard me and many, many washingtonians before me Advocate for full state for the District of the District of Columbia. Responsibilites of Citizenship. “
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Frederic J Frommer, A Writer and Sports and Politics Historian, has written for the washington post, the new york time, the atlantic, history.com and other national publications