00:00Though we pay taxes, in fact, we pay more than most states per capita.
00:08We're not a state.
00:09We don't control the D.C. National Guard.
00:12We don't have senators or full autonomy.
00:17Limited home rule gives the federal government the ability to intrude on our autonomy in many ways.
00:27My message to residents is this.
00:31We know that access to our democracy is tenuous.
00:35That is why you have heard me and many, many Washingtonians before me advocate for full statehood for the District of Columbia.
00:46We are American citizens.
00:48Our families go to war.
00:51We pay taxes and we uphold the responsibilities of citizenship.
00:55And while this action today is unsettling and unprecedented, I can't say that given some of the rhetoric of the past that we're totally surprised.
01:08We have been advised, and we will continue to make this clear that this is needed in our city, that all law enforcement be identifiable by uniform, a badge, a jacket, so that people know that they are law enforcement.
01:28I did not know that the request of MPD would be made.
01:34I believed that they would announce that they were going to call up the National Guard.
01:41I had one brief phone call related to the National Guard issue over the weekend.
01:50Well, what I would point you to is the home rule charter that gives the president the ability to determine the conditions of an emergency.
02:00And we could contest that, but the authority is pretty broad.
02:04And so, like, if you wanted to say the most outrageous thing, one might say, well, I won't say that.
02:12It could be something very small.
02:14Like, I'm not saying that that's what he's doing, but it could be.
02:17And if he deems it and he puts the meat around it and the argument around what he thinks is an emergency.
02:25When we think of emergencies, it usually involves surges in crime.
02:29I'm going to work every day to make sure it's not a complete disaster.
02:34Let me put it that way.
02:36And I think that with Chief Smith's leadership and her expertise in both the federal space and the local space,
02:47we are going to do our level best to maintain, as the chief talked about, to maintain the trust that D.C. residents have in us.
02:57What could be a disaster is if we lose communities who won't call the police.
03:05That could be a disaster.
03:07What would be a disaster if communities won't talk to the police, if a crime has been committed and could help solve that crime?
03:15That could be a disaster.
03:17It would be a disaster if people who aren't committing crimes are antagonized into committing crimes.
03:24That would be a disaster.
03:25So we are going to work every day to get this emergency put to an end, I'll call it the so-called emergency, and continue to do our work.
03:44We are going to work every day.
03:46We are going to work every day.
03:47We are going to work every day.
03:48We are going to work every day.
03:49We are going to work every day.
03:50We are going to work every day.
03:51We are going to work every day.
03:52We are going to work every day.
03:53We are going to work every day.
03:54We are going to work every day.
03:55We are going to work every day.
03:56We are going to work every day.
03:57We are going to work every day.
03:58We are going to work every day.
03:59We are going to work every day.
04:00We are going to work every day.
04:01We are going to work every day.
04:02We are going to work every day.
04:03We are going to work every day.
04:04We are going to work every day.
04:05We are going to work every day.
04:06We are going to work every day.
Comments