WASHINGTON, D.C. (HUNS) – “Who keeps us safe?” shouted Frankie Seabron, activist and community organizer with the Free D.C. Project.
“We keep us safe!” Howard University students responded in unison.
In solidarity with three other D.C. universities, Georgetown, American and George Washington, hundreds of students and faculty participated in a walkout to protest the federal occupation of the District.
The Yard at Howard became a boiling pot of students, organizers and news broadcasters, all crowding around the flagpole where Seabron stood with a bullhorn.
“Raise your hand if you’ve seen overwhelming federal forces in our city,” Seabron said after the call-and-response. Every hand went up.
Seabron then asked how many students knew what to say if stopped by authorities.
This time, no hands were raised.
For students, the moment captured what they say is the reality of living in a city without full political autonomy.
“It is now legal for you to be stopped based off of the language you speak and the color of your skin,” said Funmilayo Coates, a freshman at Howard who stepped forward to join the group of speakers. “This is abhorrent behavior of a government that’s supposed to protect us, but we all know that was never the case.”
Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.
— Funmilayo Coates reciting Langston Hughes’ poem “Let America be America Again.”
“I feel so bottled up in my emotions in this overwhelming time of occupation in D.C.,” Coates said. “I even feel targeted myself, as I am part Nigerian. I’m scared that just because of my name or if I’m caught speaking another language, I could be stopped.”
Coates closed her remarks with a reading of Langston Hughes’ poem “Let America be America Again.” She linked the historic struggle for Black freedom to the current fight for D.C. autonomy, stating she felt the message is “still relevant today.”
The verses drew nods and quiet applause from the crowd.
With words of encouragement, an unnamed student urged the crowd to find strength in optimism and to have faith in our future.
“Even if this is for something that won’t materialize in our present, even if it is fighting for a sunrise that I know I will never see, I still have hope — hope that maybe the next generation, the next or the next will be that change,” he said.
“That hope is enough for me. For as long as a spark of hope is alive, you can use it to ignite the flame in the darkest of times.”
“Keep hope alive.”
Cyrus Hampton, a professor in the Department of Literature and Writing at Howard, joined students on The Yard.
“When y’all call on us, it falls on us — and us first and foremost — to ensure you are safe, to ensure you are supported, to ensure you are empowered,” Hampton said. “I wanted to make sure I was out here with students, supporting students.”
Hampton joined the walkout to fulfill his promise of protecting students who are owed “Truth and Service,” a core value at Howard and its motto.
“Truth and Service that’s what we’re supposed to give y’all; I cannot honestly say that we do,” he added. “The way we change this is by us talking together and working together.”
On American University’s campus, just five miles away from Howard, passing cars honked in support as a crowd of nearly 100 students and residents rallied in front of the School of Public Affairs, shouting chants and holding signs that denounced former alumna and current D.C. mayor, Muriel Bowser.
“We see how Mayor Bowser has failed to stand up against Trump’s bullying,” says Malini Ranganathan, assistant professor at AU’s School of International Service. “We see how she is [willing] to accommodate the National Guard and ICE to oppress her own people.”
The Sunrise Movement, a climate justice organization, partnered with the Free D.C. Project to organize this day of walkouts.
One organizer with Sunrise said the planning took unity and motivation from personal grievances. He and other members of the rock climbing club at American encounter the National Guard consistently while taking public transportation.
“It doesn’t make us feel safe; it makes us feel scared.”
The junior public health major says the federal occupation is an overarching problem that is also tied into the climate crisis, one of the reasons that the Sunrise Movement became involved in the walkout.
“A lot of big oil, a lot of weapon developers who are damaging the climate are sending these weapons to the National Guard who’s coming into D.C., to Gaza, to continue the genocide of the Palestinian people.”
“It fills me with a lot of hope to see this organized student body come together from cross campuses, cross-organized.”
He hopes to see the conjoined campus effort continue.
Chelsea Morgan, a student speaker at the event, urged attendees to use their voice to fight against oppression.
“Washington, D.C., is the fifth most-educated city in the country,” Morgan says. “That means we cannot sit back in comfort while our neighbors live in fear. We must use our privilege, our education and our voices [for] justice.”
Morgan called for Congress to end the federal occupation through a vote tomorrow.
“We owe it to the next generation,” she continued, “to create a world where they can learn, love and live without fear — for the streets they walk are not patrolled like battle fields, where their schools, homes and neighborhoods are spaces of growth, not surveillance.”
The group took their march to one final stop on Massachusetts Avenue and Nebraska Avenue.
They chanted: “We want justice. We want peace. Get the soldiers off our streets” and “ICE off our campus now.”
visualizing their thoughts. (Photo: Bamidele Aina/HUNewsService.com)
At George Washington University, students rallied near the president’s house at 1p.m.
Even after the protest concluded, students still felt strong convictions on how it impacted them.
A 19-year-old sophomore sociology major at George Washington University said people from immigrant and international backgrounds on campus are fearful — especially since he said his university has made little to no effort in combating the safety of students from the Trump administration.
“I think it’s important that even though GW University is in the Foggy Bottom bubble, there are plenty of black and brown communities here in D.C. who are being constantly harassed under this occupation. People don’t feel safe.”
The student said the main focus is to make sure that the National Guard is not deployed any longer.
“The most important thing to do is realize that we are not outnumbered; we are out organized,” he said. “Here at GW, we have a sanctuary campus campaign and the point of the campaign is essentially to demand that the administration protects the students.”
The GW student highlighted that despite the short notice of the protest, they were able to mobilize. This made him realize the shared effort against the occupation.
“There are people who wanna take a stand and wanna actually do something rather than just be upset about it,” he said. “We can turn our frustration into actual action.”
Bamidele Aina, Damenica Ellis, Briana Outlaw and Kevin Vaughn Jr. are reporters for HUNewsService.com.
