{"id":7174,"date":"2025-09-07T14:47:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-07T14:47:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/?p=7174"},"modified":"2025-09-07T14:47:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-07T14:47:12","slug":"bowser-announces-collective-bargaining-agreement-critics-say-she-showed-no-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/?p=7174","title":{"rendered":"Bowser Announces Collective Bargaining Agreement; Critics Say She Showed No Fight"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Stacy M. Brown<\/a><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

In a collective bargaining agreement signed Sept. 2, many local activists and residents argue that District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser has handed President Donald Trump control of Washington\u2019s Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), issuing an order that keeps federal officers embedded in the city even after the president\u2019s 30-day National Guard deployment was set to expire.<\/p>\n

Instead of resisting, Bowser signed up to continue cooperation, a move critics say shows she offered no fight to protect D.C.\u2019s autonomy and no defense of the residents she was elected to represent.<\/p>\n

Trump used the District of Columbia Home Rule Act to seize authority over the MPD last month, claiming \u201cspecial conditions of an emergency nature\u201d justified the takeover. His order was about to lapse, but Bowser stepped in with her own directive requiring D.C. law enforcement to work with federal officers \u201cto the maximum extent allowable by law within the District.\u201d<\/p>\n

“This order will provide the pathway forward beyond the presidential emergency,\u201d said Bowser, who also recently announced more funding for MPD officers. \u201cWorking with the federal government allows us to advance shared priorities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before the surge, Bowser said crime in the city was already falling. Yet last week she credited the federal takeover for an 87% drop in carjackings and a 45% decline in violent crime. Her words raised the question: if Trump\u2019s move produced the drop, was Bowser misleading residents when she had earlier insisted crime was trending downward on her watch?<\/p>\n

Despite many questioning the mayor\u2019s move, she insisted her order \u201cdoes not extend the presidential emergency.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt does the exact opposite. It lays out a framework to exit this period,\u201d she wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter<\/a>. \u201cI want the message to be clear to the Congress: We have a framework, and we don\u2019t need a presidential emergency.\u201d<\/p>\n

Local Leaders Push Back on Mayoral Order<\/strong><\/h2>\n

However, members of the D.C. Council have accused Bowser of providing cover for Trump\u2019s authoritarian agenda.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur mayor\u2019s words are now being used to justify harmful federal overreach in cities nationwide,\u201d said Councilmember Zachary Parker (D-Ward 5).<\/p>\n

Parker also noted the importance of \u201cresisting creeping authoritarianism\u201d and warned Democrats not to \u201clegitimize an illegitimate agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n

Councilmember Brianne Nadeau (D-Ward 1) described the federal surge in grim terms.<\/p>\n

\u201cD.C. is under siege from the federal government, with armed military patrolling our streets and masked agents scooping up neighbors,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Nadeau added that \u201cresidents are afraid, hesitant to go out and to work, angry that our limited autonomy is being eroded.\u201d<\/p>\n

At-large Councilmember Robert White (D), said Bowser\u2019s words sent the wrong signal.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe should not, as the District of Columbia, be giving people the impression that this is a good thing,\u201d he said, adding that the federal surge \u201cis not helping the city\u201d and called it \u201ctrampling on democracy in real time.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an op-ed submitted to The Washington Informer, Rep. Oye Owolewa, D.C.\u2019s shadow representative, expressed his extreme disappointment not only about the mayor\u2019s collective bargaining agreement, but her responses to federal pressures throughout the year.<\/p>\n

\u201cRather than join the rest of us in fighting back, Mayor Bowser has decided to make deals with the White House to live another day. This year alone, our mayor ripped up Black Lives Matter Plaza, walked back the District\u2019s sanctuary city status to protect non citizens, removed 25,000 working class people off D.C. Medicaid and criminalized homelessness by arresting unhoused Washingtonians,\u201d he said. \u201cIn return, we have received virtually nothing. We still have $1.1 Billion of our money held ransom by Congress and today National Guardsmen are being overpaid to clean parks all while D.C. faces the highest unemployment rates in our country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Activists Say Bowser \u2018Reinforced\u2019 Trump\u2019s Harmful Plan<\/strong><\/h2>\n

For activists, Bowser\u2019s decision confirmed long-held doubts about her leadership.<\/p>\n

\u201cD.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser shows what\u2019s wrong with the Democrats: they parade as champions of POC (people of color), then cave to white supremacy at the first chance, choosing career over true resistance,\u201d popular social media user and activist Jean Jacques Dessalines wrote on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n

D.C.-based organizations that advocate for the rights of Black and Brown communities have responded to the mayor\u2019s announcement, including: Advancement Project<\/a>, Black Swan Academy<\/a>, DC Girls\u2019 Coalition<\/a>, EmpowerEd<\/a>, CARE Anacostia<\/a>, Anti-Racist DC,<\/a> DC Action<\/a>, The T.R.I.G.G.E.R. Project<\/a>, Guns Down Friday<\/a>, Crowns Inc. and Critical Exposure<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cMayor Bowser just reinforced Trump\u2019s harmful plan, using \u2018public safety\u2019 as an excuse to endanger our communities.\u00a0 After years of being blamed and criminalized for simply being young, Black youth in D.C. now face even greater danger.\u00a0 This executive order extends, escalates, and normalizes a militarized police state in the District,\u201d the organizations wrote in a statement.<\/p>\n

Bowser\u2019s decision comes as she also promised to raise the wages for MPD officers, a move many critics say only furthers challenges.<\/p>\n

“At a time when our safety nets are on their last legs [the extra funding] diverts essential resources from the community directly into the pockets of those terrorizing our neighbors. Black youth and immigrant communities will continue to disproportionately suffer the worst consequences of these heartless policies,\u201d the D.C.-based organizations continued.<\/p>\n

Source: Published without changes from Washington Informer Newspaper<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Stacy M. Brown In a collective bargaining agreement signed Sept. 2, many local activists and residents argue<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7175,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[255,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-america-under-attack","category-regular-column"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7174"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7174\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7176,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7174\/revisions\/7176"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}