Black History Month 2024: First Class- Ch. 15 The Fall

This year for Black History Month we’ll review chapter by chapter Alison Stewart’s First Class: The Legacy of Dunbar, America’s First Black Public High School. This is more Truxton Circle related then this blog’s previous annual looks at Shaw resident and founder of Negro History Week (later Black history month) Dr. Carter G. Woodson’s Mis-Education of the Negro. As Dunbar High School is located in Truxton Circle currently taking up all of Square 554.

So it’s 2010 and Dunbar is going down. In flames. Figuratively.

Literally it was a hot mess. In the previous chapter the building was not only ugly as sin, it was also in meh to poor condition in need of serious repairs. The open classroom concept worked against classroom management and made it hard to teach. In a school. Where the whole point is to teach students. Crime was a problem. The crime around the school was also inside. Drugs and gambling were inside. And there was a publicized sexual assault of a student in a stairwell.

Mayor Fenty lost to Vincent Gray in 2010. With that polarizing Superintendent Michelle Rhee was not able to remain, even after being heroically portrayed in Waiting for Superman. Gray removed a lot of Fenty’s work, including the Friends of Bedford managing Dunbar. Rhee was replaced by Kaya Henderson and the FoB were replaced by interim principal Stephen Jackson.

Alumni did not seem to care for Jackson because he was a FoB hire. They did not care for the New York connection. Jackson survived that and was able to stick around for the plans for a 3rd Dunbar building.

An Observation – Drug deal

It has been a while since I have observed a drug deal on my street. This is mainly because I have been worn ragged by a pre-schooler with limitless energy and given a chance, I will take a nap. Sleep is awesome, but I digress.

I was going to take a nap, but I still had to deal with laundry so I opened up the blinds. I observed a young man moving by my spouse’s car, so I watched him. He was going over to a maroon hoopdie with a sun worn hood. He entered the car. Sat down and after a few seconds, maybe one minute, the hoopdie’s driver handed him a plain paper bag.

Remember, I’m high up enough to see down into the car. This makes me think that security cameras high up have a certain advantage…. depending on what you’re looking for.

I should also mention, I was once on a federal grand jury. I learned a lot about drugs and drug dealing. Cars are one place of exchange.

After the young man got the bag, he exited the car and crossed the street to another car. I was able to look straight down into the car. I decided if it was a weapon, I would call 9-1-1. Too many children have been shot by idiots with guns who shouldn’t have guns. But the way he handled the bag made it appear that the contents were too light to be a gun. It was a package of something. If my binoculars weren’t in storage, I would be more sure. But if I had to take a guess, it was fake weed, like Scooby-snax.

Then someone covered up with a hat and a blue mask came up to chat with the driver. Hat and mask guy could have been a local, but I could not tell as he was well covered. He left and then the young man walked off somewhere.

The  the driver sat there in their normal blue car for a while and I got bored looking at him and laid down for a nap. Later, I got up and he was gone.

Something made me look out the window again, and I noticed the blue car with the young man and the driver. The car could not find a parking space, so it was double parked. Then the driver decided to park illegally. The young man who had been in the car before got out and went to his own blue car. When they both drove off, I noticed their Maryland tags.

Help police find hate crime “person of interest”

As reported in the Washington Blade three gay men were horribly beaten on the 1400 block of P Street NW on Halloween. Police would like to find the person seen in the footage below. This person has not a been described as a suspect, and even if they were, “innocent until proven guilty” and all that jazz.

No one else is going to say it, so I’m going to say it. With so many attacks on white gay men by black persons (mostly men), it seems the city is saying it’s open season on white (and passing as white) gay men. When you read about a hate crime happening in DC there is some fantasy that it’s being carried out by Bloomingdale nazis or white guys in MAGA hats, because whoever is reporting it won’t dare mention the race of the perpetrators who kicked and beat the victims.

It is open season on white gay men because you and I know even if the suspects were charged with the crime, the number of hate crime convictions is measly compared to arrests…. if those arrests actually are made. And the reason for that is the standard in a court of law is higher than the standard needed for arrests…. the few arrests that actually get made.

So to my white gay neighbors, of which there are several, be safe out there. You are in charge of your safety.

Edited 8/25/22- Video removed because it was taken off YouTube

Wrong perp for the crime

I went to the impromptu August 7th ANC 5E meeting at Friendship 7th Day Adventist and there was something at the meeting that’s been bugging me. Nope. It wasn’t the ABRA case invovling Pub and the People.

Nope.

The thing that’s been bugging me is Robert Brannum’s resolution that he included in the meeting packet, to be voted on at a later date by the 5E ANC. I’ve embedded the proposal below:

Advisory Neighborhood Commission 5E Resolution No 2019 by Mm Inshaw on Scribd


One of the things that bugs me (and it a very tiny bug) is that the focus is on non-local incidents by non-local perps/ white supremacists. The beauty of the ANC system is that it is HYPER-local. It is about things occuring in the immediate neighborhood. In walking distance. This is not local.

A larger bug is the fact that crimes against gay men in Shaw and transgender women in NE have not been allegedly commited by white supremists. In April 2018, a gay couple was brutally beaten on the 2200 block of 10th St NW. From the grainy video, it looks like they were attacked by 3 black guys. A few months ago, a gay man, with his boyfriend was beaten very badly by a group of teens on the 1300 block of U St NW. Two teens are juviniles so no info there but the “adult” was a 19 year old Marcus Britt of Fort Washington, MD. That’s in PG County, bet money he’s of African descent. They were not charged with a hate crime. The alleged killer of a Black trans woman killed near the DC border (that’s what Eastern Avenue is) is not white.

Did you know fewer than half of LGBT hate crime arrests in DC are dismissed? Eleanor Holmes Norton enquired about that.

Sadly, the message the city and this resolution is indirectly saying is that if you are Black, you have a license to beat up people in the LGBT community in DC. It would help if the resolution denounced hate crimes commited by anyone, even teenage POCs.

Crime of Opportunity- Just a few seconds

I have a superpower, it is finding money on the ground. I cannot summon money, it would be absolutely awesome if I could. This superpower comes from constantly scanning the ground. I’m looking for poop, so I can avoid stepping in it. And while I’m keeping an eye out for poop, and spit, I’ll see money, or a SmartTrip card with money on it.

I also spot other things.

This weekend I spotted a purse, with a cell phone sticking out sitting on the sidewalk. It was next to an SUV, where a mother was doing something on the opposite side (out of view of her purse) on the 1500 block of 7th St NW. Her husband was about 2 car lengths away for some reason. He showed up when we pointed out to her that her purse was just… sitting there. I spotted the purse ahead as we walked past Compass Coffee. She waved off our concerns. This is why I don’t say things or point things out to people. Y’all obviously don’t care that if I’ve noticed that you left your car keys or house keys in the lock, or your laptop in the backseat (seriously people stop leaving your electronics in your car) or left your bike unlocked (yes, you’re popping in for one second). But if I’ve noticed, someone else who is more willing to walk off with your (keys, laptop, bike) stuff has too.

Yes, you are just leaving it there for a second. But it doesn’t take long for a young pair of legs to run off with it.

Sex, consent and local government- trigger warning

Crop of Marion Barry Vincent Gray
Credit: dbking via a Creative Commons License
Last night our Truxton Circle book group came together to talk about Dream City by Harry Jaffe and Tom Sherwood. It was my second time with the book. The first time I “read” (I cheat with audiobooks), it was prior to the #metoo movement and the many public discussions and arguments that regarding sexual and romantic relationships.

Just a quick review of the book: it is a sandwich. It’s local government bread holding a rise and fall and rise and decline of Marion Barry fixin’s. It’s about 75% Barry, going into his rise from his civil rights days as a student, to his messy relationships with and use of women, and his challenges with substances from booze to drugs.

Considering “Mayor for Life” Barry’s struggles with drugs, that horse has dang near beaten to death. However, Barry and women hasn’t really been reviewed in light of the new zeitgeist. This is probably because a)he’s dead and b) many women who enabled and or had sexual relationships with Barry are still alive and may still be involved in local government.

But back to the book and my title regarding consent, there were two ‘scenes’ in the book that struck me. There was one event that shocked me the first time I was aware of it. The authors’ claimed that in a hotel room in the Caribbean, various women were shuttled to Barry’s hotel room under the promise that the women could get jobs with the city government. Barry was under the influence and when one woman expressed not wanting to have sex with the mayor, he forced himself on her. The authors did not use the word “rape” for this instance, but it was rape. The other incident happened when the police were called to the apartment of a woman because of a disturbance. When the police arrived, the woman refused to let the police in because Mayor Barry was hiding in her bedroom. She protected and provided sexual favors to the Mayor because she did not want to endanger her program that needed city government support.

That second incident got me thinking, if a city contract or grant or job is in play is the sex consensual? If you swap out Barry for Harvey Weinstein and the grant/contract for a role in a movie, is it different? This also reminded me of the July 10, 2009 Washington City Paper headline, “You Put Me Out in Denver, ‘Cause I  Wouldn’t Suck Your ____” As I remember the lady in question was a city contractor and Barry was a City Councilman at the time. If she did provide the sexual act, would that have been consensual? Was the relationship consensual? It sure wasn’t ethical.

Yes, powerful men in this town have been receiving sex for jobs, money, votes, or whatever since they moved the capitol from Philadelphia. However, Barry’s corruption and problems with women was such an open non-secret, like Harvey Weinstein in Hollywood, but more in your face. Despite everyone knowing, too many people did not care if he had consent or not.

An usual murder in Shaw

As far as I can tell, and I can’t tell much, a man was murdered on the 1600 block of New Jersey Avenue NW. The MPD press release has the 3rd District responding so, I’ll guess it is the even side of the street.

Noe Alberto Gallardo Ponce was attacked somewhere on the 1600 blk of NJ Ave NW and first responders found him in his home? The press release says a residence. What makes his death unusual among Shaw deaths is that a suspect was arrested the same day the victim died, and the suspect shares a name with the victim, William Alexander Marrouquin Gallardo. And as far as I can tell this wasn’t a firearms related death. Actually no cause of death was stated.

MPD Press Release “Arrest Made in a Homicide: 1600 Block of New Jersey Avenue, Northwest

What what? Lewd act on 7th St NW in the middle of the day

So looking at the MPD listserv I spotted this:

August 22, 2018

Arrest Made in a Misdemeanor Sexual Abuse and a Lewd and Indecent Acts Offense: 1400 Block of 7th Street, Northwest

(Washington, DC) – Detectives from the Metropolitan Police Department’s Sexual Assault Unit have announced an arrest has been made in connection with a Misdemeanor Sexual Abuse and a Lewd and Indecent Acts offense that occurred on Monday, August 6, 2018, in the 1400 block of 7th Street, Northwest.

At approximately 2:58 pm, the victim was walking at the listed location. The suspect approached the victim from behind and engaged in sexual contact with the victim. The suspect then exposed himself to the victim and committed a lewd act. The suspect then fled the scene.

On Tuesday, August 22, 2018, pursuant to a DC Superior Court custody order, an 18-year old male, of Northwest, DC was arrested and charged with Misdemeanor Sexual Abuse and Lewd and Indecent Acts.

I’m glad someone, hopefully the right person, was arrested.

Please ID A ‘Person of Interest’ Regarding Armed-Gun Robbery

So this person, is wanted as a person of interest. The DC Police tweeted on July 20th a report of an armed robbery at the Unit block of Florida Ave NW, in Truxton Circle.

So here is the video of a person of interest related to that robbery at a chicken place on H St NE, buying what I gather is chicken.

If you can figure out who this person is, contact MPD by calling 911 (I guess since they don’t give any other number to reach them). You might just get one more idiot with a gun, who shouldn’t have a gun, off the streets.

Package Thieves Are Horrible People

They are horrible people because they don’t seem to care that they are captured by home cameras. I have said on several occasions there should be a YouTube channel just of package thieves thieving in the District of Columbia. However, I probably wouldn’t watch it because I’m really sick and tired of seeing people in my ethnic group stealing packages from steps and porches.

So here’s a photo of a guy who stole a package from my block last week.

I don’t know if he’s the same thief who stole a few other packages that same week from another house on our block, because that camera was too high up and the thief’s baseball cap hid his face. This camera getting a decent view of this jerk’s face was one of those doorbell cameras… which is great if you have a working doorbell.

Package thieves are horrible low scummy people because many times they don’t want what they stole. You ordered a medicine ball, and some a-hole stole it from your stoop, then they tossed it in the trash. Or worse, your mother crocheted a baby blanket for your new child, and a dumb donkey swiped it off your porch and they threw it in a treebox when they realized it had no street value.

Yes, I know the Amazon Locker Kelin at the 7-11 doesn’t take everything, there are no Etsy lockers, and you may not have a relationship with someone who lives in a building with a desk clerk or cool with a local business who can take your package. You may be like me and you can’t get packages at work, so what to do? I use a mix of sending things to my spouses’ workplace, sending things to a stay/work at home or retired relative/ friend/ former co-worker, the Amazon storefront in College Park, and sending small items that should fit in my mailbox to my home.