MidCity’s Private Police Force Calls MPD to Arrest Brookland Manor Children, Seniors for Community Film Screening
The Brookland Manor/Brentwood Village Residents Association (BMBVRA), representing the largest remaining affordable housing community in NE DC, attempted to host a Ward 5 community screening of the 2018 film What Happened 2 Chocolate City on Saturday, May 22, 2021 outside of 1320 Saratoga Ave NE. The event was held in the gated front yard outside of BMBVRA President Minnie Elliott’s front door. Owner MidCity’s private police force shut down the event by calling Metropolitan Police Department’s (MPD) Fifth District and threatening everyone in the crowd - mostly elderly Black women and children - with arrest for trespassing in their own front yards.
Tenants Demand CM McDuffie Put Call for Equity to Work for Affordable Housing in Ward 5
What does equity in housing really mean for residents when affordable housing is replaced with luxury apartments? As their elected official, Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie talks a good talk but does not support action to preserve, let alone expand, affordable housing in Ward 5. In fact, development in Ward 5 usually means that affordable housing disappears and Black families, among DC’s most vulnerable during the COVID-19 pandemic, are displaced.