On March 8, Congress voted to overturn DC law for the first time in more than 30 years. This is an incredibly dangerous precedent that threatens the safety and rights of the people of DC. Republicans are now working to overturn more DC laws and to prohibit DC from spending our own money how we see fit.

The members of Congress working to overturn DC laws do not care about our safety. They don’t live in our neighborhoods, and they have never attended community meetings here. Conservatives in Congress are out to stoke fear of Black cities and Black leadership, because fear is the only tool they have.

In solidarity with communities across the country, we rise to defend DC’s right to govern ourselves — especially when it comes to community safety. Our coalition includes more than 50 organizations working at the intersection of police abolition, representative democracy, and the multiracial fight for justice to say in unity: hands off DC.