In the midst of recent political turmoil we face daily, I’ve found it increasingly difficult to limit my scope to the local community around me. Our own city is becoming subjugated to President Donald Trump’s global trade war, immigration policies and wars of Eastern Europe and  Middle East. The District’s officials and its communities must protect our city from the wrath of the expansive executive orders of Trump’s second term. Since Trump returned to office in January, he has instituted rampant changes that challenge the city’s individuality, values and landscape. And D.C. officials, like Mayor Muriel Bowser, are caving to them and refusing to admit their complacency.

After the death of George Floyd in 2020, D.C. erected the controversial “Black Lives Matter” Plaza just south of Trump’s White House. Needless to say, he was not pleased with its presence, a sentiment he put to action in his second term as the White House pressured Bowser into dismantling the plaza last month. Bowser, who once proudly stood behind the plaza’s presence in the city, with a population of 44 percent Black citizens, claimed that “we have bigger fish to fry” and excused the dismantling for the sake of the city’s residents and economic survival.

Realistically, this “pick your battle” attitude attests to Bowser’s complacency and minimal responsibility to stand for her city’s identity. Admittedly, this is a somewhat understandable complex situation for the mayor. President Trump’s public threats of taking over the city is an oppressively uphill battle, but Bowser’s quick surrender sets an explicit negligent tone and a bad precedent for the city authority in the age of Trump. I urge Mayor Bowser and city officials to make decisions backed by the city. Whether holding local meetings open to the voices of D.C. residents or speaking to local movement leaders, Bowser should have approached Trump’s pressure in a more forceful, democratic manner.

Trump’s D.C. crackdown also set its gaze on Washington’s unhoused population. On March 6, just hours following Trump’s warning to Bowser to clear the encampments, work crews began clearing an encampment right next to GW’s campus near the E Street Expressway, which local officials said was already on their radar and part of ongoing encampment clearings.

Mayor Bowser’s immediate compliance shows the willingness of D.C. officials to play into Trump’s visions for the city. As Trump will likely become more and more aggressive in his plans for Washington, Bowser’s willingness to bend to Trump’s will poses a threat to the city’s autonomy. For D.C., a federal district with no congressional representation, it is especially essential for Bowser to set the precedent of D.C.’s autonomy early in Trump’s presidency as decisions for the city have much less political backing given its lack of statehood. Washington’s city administration should publicize their approach and methods to working with the Trump administration, which allows transparency and citizen accountability. 

During my sister’s visit last weekend, I enjoyed showing her D.C.’s diverse architecture from Union Market to Dupont Circle, which reflects each neighborhood’s cohesive culture and attributes to Washingtonian’s love for the city. When I heard Trump’s recent attempts to “Promoting Beautiful Federal Civic Architecture” alongside his discussion of the “Democracy in Design Act,” which promotes classical architecture for federal buildings instead of brutalist and modernist styles, I was surprised. Spending millions of dollars to reconceptualize the city is not what makes Washington beautiful, it’s the diverse and cohesive architecture which is representative of its history that makes D.C. truly remarkable.

Today’s sociopolitical climate seems to be a never-ending warfare of current events vying to grasp a viewer’s attention as the most detrimental and important event. And most of the time, these are important stories that are valid in their acclaim and deserve to be heard. However, it is important that we take time to recognize the consequential patterns happening here in our own city and hold those we elected into power accountable. The city government, spearheaded by Mayor Bowser has set an underwhelming tone for the city’s approach toward the new administration, which is especially concerning as over 56,000 federal workers have been laid off, and Trump has abruptly taken over the city’s cultural hub at the Kennedy Center. Therefore, as a city and not just a capital, Washington deserves your awareness so that we can hold leaders accountable.