Dozens of city hall staffers walked out of the John A. Wilson Building Tuesday morning in protest — of the decision of grand juries not to indict the white police officers involved in the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, who were African American, but also of the congressional budget deal that seeks to block the city’s marijuana legalization initiative.
About 50 D.C. Council and mayoral staffers stood on the steps of the Wilson Building, some of them holding sheets of paper spelling out “BLACK LIVES MATTER.” The protesters were of all ages, and while most were African American, not all were.
Among the group was Christopher Barry, the 34-year-old son of the late former mayor Marion Barry.
Organizer Dionne Calhoun, an aide to D.C. Council member David Grosso (I-At Large), said the protest was staff-driven. Change is needed in the criminal justice system, she said, but also on Capitol Hill.
The protest came together, Calhoun said, after it became clear that the budget deal threatened Initiative 71, which would legalize marijuana possession, in part, to refocus police resources and end a racial disparity in arrests.
“D.C. is a political pawn,” she said. “We wanted to stand here today and say enough is enough.”