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D.C. mural of Black icon Paul Robeson defaced

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D.C. mural of Black icon Paul Robeson defaced


A mural of Black icon Paul Robeson — a twentieth century singer and civil rights activist — was defaced within the U Avenue hall Sunday night time, witnesses stated.

As first seen on the Twitter account Washingtonian Problems, the vandalism was captured in a short video shot in an alley within the 1300 block of U Avenue NW. The video reveals an individual with a mustache and carrying a stocking cap protecting photos of Robeson with silver spray paint.

“Why are you defacing Black historical past in D.C.?” somebody asks within the video. The painter doesn’t reply.

Jason Taylor, who shot the video, stated he was out with mates within the U Avenue space Sunday about 9 p.m. after they caught the particular person within the act.

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“We didn’t wish to method him as a result of we didn’t know his thoughts state,” Taylor stated. “When the police approached him, he took off on a skateboard.”

D.C. police didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.

Taylor stated he wasn’t certain what motivated the vandalism. Robeson, who died in 1976, was criticized for his communist beliefs throughout his lifetime, and his politics are sometimes dissected throughout discussions of his legacy.

A Renaissance man — he was a school soccer hero who grew to become lionized for his wealthy bass voice in performances of “Ol’ Man River,” to call only one instance — Robeson praised the Soviet Union, visiting the nation beneath Joseph Stalin within the Nineteen Thirties.

“Right here, I’m not a Negro however a human being for the primary time in my life,” he stated after one journey. “I stroll in full human dignity.”

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In the USA, Robeson was interrogated by the Home Un-American Actions Committee on the peak of McCarthyism within the Fifties.

“You’re the non-patriots, and you’re the un-People, and also you should be ashamed of yourselves,” he advised the committee.

Paul Robeson was an unrepentant Stalinist. Rutgers ought to acknowledge that.

But for his music and his leftist politics, many thought of Robeson — the son of an enslaved one who spoke out in opposition to fascism overseas and Jim Crow at residence — a towering determine of the previous century.

“My father captured the creativeness of the black neighborhood, which compelled the bigger neighborhood to just accept him as a hero,” Robeson’s son Paul Robeson Jr. advised The Put up in 1989. “Dad was a father of civil rights … a logo of our cultural, athletic, political strengths.”

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Taylor, who stated he works at a D.C. constitution college, was indignant concerning the mural’s demise. Robeson isn’t as popularly often called figures reminiscent of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr., he stated. This wall that honored him had been ruined.

“He’s a type of figures we don’t discuss,” Taylor stated. “To deface his image — it was very disrespectful.”

Abdur-Rahim Muhammad, who has owned a martial arts studio for many years within the constructing the mural adorns, stated the mural is the most important tribute to Robeson on the planet: 144 ft lengthy and 31 ft excessive. It’s a worthy tribute to a person who fought in opposition to racism and colonialism whereas additionally battling for employees’ rights, he stated.

“When Robeson was doing his work, he was just about on the market by himself,” he stated.

An interactive mural paying tribute to Paul Robeson is coming to U Avenue

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Cory Lee Stowers, who painted the mural in 2015 and is the founding father of the road artwork group Artwork B.L.O.C, stated the piece has been defaced repeatedly over time. On Monday, no less than seven different tags appeared beside the not too long ago utilized paint.

Stowers wasn’t offended. He blamed the District’s failure to interact younger graffiti writers in public arts applications, pointing on the market must be area for them to make artwork simply as there are skate parks for skate boarders.

“Persons are making an attempt to ascribe a motive to [the vandalism],” he stated. “I believe it’s extra a few younger’un not likely having an appreciation for murals.”

Repairing the mural will value as much as $1,000 and can required as much as 30 hours of labor, Stowers stated, and people curious about serving to ought to comply with Artwork B.L.O.C on Instagram.

A quote attributed to Robeson above the mural’s photos stays undamaged.

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“I make no separation between my work as an artist, and my work as a human being,” it reads.





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Washington, D.C

Preparations underway in DMV for snowstorm

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Preparations underway in DMV for snowstorm


Local and state snow crews are preparing to treat secondary and neighborhood streets throughout D.C., Maryland and Virginia.

“It’s me and three other fellas, so it’s fairly small,” said Jason Swain with the Department of Public Works in Kensington Maryland.

He says his team may be small, but they’re mighty and ready.

“We get the plows ready, make sure everything’s working,” Swain said. “We have salt, which has been kindly given to us by the state, ready to put into the spreaders.”

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He says the biggest hurdle when plowing snow, oftentimes, is cars.

“Some people don’t have driveways, but if they’re going to park on the street, try not to park directly across from each other because when we come through, you literally got inches between the edge of our plow and the cars,” Swain said.

In the District, plenty of people decided to step out before snow crews put plow to pavement for a potential all day snow event.

“Mayor Bowser activated the snow team, and they’ll begin their operations tonight, treating and then plowing roads throughout the day tomorrow,” said Clint Osborn with the District’s Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency.

D.C.’s smaller plows will be on back roads and alleys, while heavy trucks will focus on primary streets.

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“We’ll have a full deployment out throughout all day tomorrow into Monday as we support the inaugural activities in the District,” Osborn said.

Icy conditions in Prince George’s County during the region’s last snowstorm led to different strategies this go round.

In a statement, the county’s Department of Public Works and Transportation says, “We have implemented adjustments to strengthen our response, and these improvements have prepared us for this round of winter weather.”

The biggest piece of advice for tomorrow:

“Tomorrow would be a good day, since it’s a Sunday, to stay home,” Swain said. “Read a book, have some hot chocolate, relax. Can come out after we finish.”

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Days before Trump takes office, thousands of protestors march in Washington, D.C.

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Days before Trump takes office, thousands of protestors march in Washington, D.C.


WASHINGTON (AP) — Thousands of people from around the United States rallied in the nation’s capital Saturday for women’s reproductive rights and other causes they believe are under threat from the incoming Trump administration, reprising the original Women’s March days before President-elect Donald Trump’s second inauguration.

READ MORE: Trump arriving in nation’s capital for inaugural celebrations to mark his return to power

Eight years after the first historic Women’s March at the start of Trump’s first term, marchers said they were caught off guard by Trump’s victory and are determined now to show that support remains strong for women’s access to abortion, for transgender people, for combating climate change and other issues.

The march is just one of several protests, rallies and vigils focused on abortion, rights, immigration rights and the Israel-Hamas war planned in advance of inauguration Monday. Around the country, over 350 similar marches are taking place in every state.

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Jill Parrish of Austin, Texas, said she initially bought a plane ticket to Washington for what she expected to be Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris’s inauguration. She wound up changing the dates to march in protest ahead of Trump’s swearing-in instead, saying the world should know that half of U.S. voters didn’t support Trump.

“Most importantly, I’m here to demonstrate my fear, about the state of our democracy,” Parrish said.

Demonstrators staged in squares around Washington ahead of the march, pounding drums and yelling chants under a slate-gray sky and in a chilly wind. Protesters then marched to the Lincoln Memorial for larger rally and fair, where organizations at the local, state and national level will host information tables.

They held signs with slogans including, “Save America” and “Against abortions? Then don’t have one” and “Hate won’t win.”

There were brief moments of tension between protesters and Trump supporters. The march paused briefly when a man in a red Make America Great Again hat and a green camo backpack walked into a line of demonstrators at the front. Police intervened and separated him from the group peacefully as marchers chanted “We won’t take the bait.”

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As the protesters approached the Washington Monument, a small group of men in MAGA hats walking in the opposite direction appeared to draw the attention of a protest leader with a megaphone. The leader veered closer to the group and began chanting “No Trump, no KKK” through the megaphone. The groups were separated by high black fencing and police officers eventually gathered around.

Rick Glatz, of Manchester, New Hampshire, said he came to Washington for the sake of his four granddaughters: ” I’m a grandpa. And that’s why I’m marching.”

Minnesota high school teacher Anna Bergman wore her original pink pussy hat from her time in the 2017 Women’s March, a moment that captured the shock and anger of progressives and moderates at Trump’s first win.

With Trump coming back now, “I just wanted to be surrounded by likeminded people on a day like today,” Bergman said.

Rebranded and reorganized, the rally has a new name — the People’s March — as a means to broaden support, especially during a reflective moment for progressive organizing after Trump’s decisive win in November. The Republican takes the oath of office Monday.

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Women outraged over Trump’s 2016 presidential win flocked to Washington in 2017 and organized large rallies in cities throughout the country, building the base of a grassroots movement that became known as the Women’s March. The Washington rally alone attracted over 500,000 marchers, and millions more participated in local marches around the country, marking one of the largest single-day demonstrations in U.S. history.

This year, the crowd was far fewer than the expected 50,000 participants, already just one-tenth the size of the first march. The demonstration comes amid a restrained moment of reflection as many progressive voters navigate feelings of exhaustion, disappointment and despair after Harris’ loss.

WATCH: Harris loss causes some to question what it will take to elect a woman president

“Before we do anything about democracy, we have to fight our own despair,” said one of the event’s first speakers, Rachel O’Leary Carmona, executive director of Women’s March.

The comparative quiet contrasts sharply with the white-knuckled fury of the inaugural rally as massive crowds shouted demands over megaphones and marched in pink pussyhats in response to Trump’s first election win.

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“The reality is that it’s just hard to capture lightning in a bottle,” said Tamika Middleton, managing director at the Women’s March. “It was a really particular moment. In 2017, we had not seen a Trump presidency and the kind of vitriol that that represented.”

The movement fractured after that hugely successful day of protests over accusations that it was not diverse enough. This year’s rebrand as a People’s March is the result of an overhaul intended to broaden the group’s appeal. Saturday’s demonstration promoted themes related to feminism, racial justice, anti-militarization and other issues and ended with discussions hosted by various social justice organizations.

The People’s March is unusual in the “vast array of issues brought together under one umbrella,” said Jo Reger, a sociology professor who researches social movements at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan. Women’s suffrage marches, for example, were focused on a specific goal of voting rights.

For a broad-based social justice movement such as the march, conflicting visions are impossible to avoid and there is “immense pressure” for organizers to meet everyone’s needs, Reger said. But she also said some discord isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

“Often what it does is bring change and bring in new perspectives, especially of underrepresented voices,” Reger said.

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Middleton, of the Women’s March, said a massive demonstration like the one in 2017 was not the goal of Saturday’s event. Instead, it’s goal was focusing attention on a broader set of issues — women’s and reproductive rights, LGBTQ rights, immigration, climate and democracy — rather than centering it more narrowly around Trump.

“We’re not thinking about the march as the endgame,” Middleton said. “How do we get those folks who show up into organizations and into their political homes so they can keep fighting in their communities long term?”

Associated Press writers Gary Fields, Ellen Knickmeyer and Mike Pesoli contributed to this report.



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DCA warns flyers to bundle up after heating system outage

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DCA warns flyers to bundle up after heating system outage


The primary heating system at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) has been out since Friday evening, and the airport is warning travelers to bundle up before they arrive.

“We apologize for any discomfort to travelers as we work diligently to return the heat to normal levels,” DCA said on its website.

DCA is still operational, and the broken heating system has not affected flights, TSA or airline operations, or any of the shops and restaurants inside. Temperatures outside in Alexandria hovering around 45 degrees Fahrenheit, and according to a statement from the airport, temperatures inside the building are “generally in the 60s.”

“We are conserving heat in the building and are running alternate heating sources in a few locations,” DCA said in a statement posted to X.

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Airport maintenance crews are working to repair the heating system, and have been since Friday night.



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