One Juneteenth DC rally calls for defunding police, canceling rent

In celebration of Juneteenth, one group is joining dozens of planned marches to raise awareness to the needs of the black community in D.C., particularly police reform and evictions.

One DC has celebrated Juneteenth with its largely black membership for a decade, said Brook Hill, who spoke to WTOP on behalf of the group.

This year, he said the group will use the moment of heightened awareness of the injustices faced by African Americans to call for change from the D.C. Council to defund the police and “cancel the rent.”

One DC is rallying support around its planned march starting at Judiciary Square on Juneteenth 2020. (Courtesy One DC)

“With so many of our members facing eviction and homelessness because of losses of income, and you know also, our members are working-class black folk, so they are often the people who are feeling the boot of MPD on their neck so to speak,” Hill said.

On Friday’s march, One DC members are meeting at Judiciary Square on Fourth Street NW at noon.

They will march by D.C. police headquarters and the Wilson Building, where the council meets. They will then join the Movement for Black Lives Juneteenth demonstration on the National Mall, along with many rallies and marches planned.

Don’t Mute DC, an organization that promotes keeping the cultural heritage, voices and music of the District alive, is one of the groups that also plans to march.

Go-go greats Big G from the Backyard Band and Sugar Bear from EU hosted a video shared on TikTok, announcing the group will have floats to lead a community walk at the corner of Florida and Georgia avenues Northwest at 3 p.m.

Juneteenth marks the day when, on June 19, 1865, a Union Army general read federal orders in Galveston, Texas, proclaiming that enslaved people were free, two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued.

You can find a list of Juneteenth events here.


More Juneteenth News


Megan Cloherty

WTOP Investigative Reporter Megan Cloherty primarily covers breaking news, crime and courts.

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