August means that students are heading back to school. On a college campus, upper-class students will usually go out the first week of classes to a local bar to get drinks and catch up with the friends they haven’t seen for three months. Freshmen often venture off campus and try to find their way in a new city or town. This year, however, I think students at Howard University need to do something else. It’s not safe for Black people in those D.C. streets.
Suggested Reading
Despite the crime rate being at a 30 year low in the District of Columbia, on August 11th, President Trump signed an Executive Order declaring a crime emergency in the city. D.C. That puts students who attend Howard University in danger.
The boys (and girls) in blue are making the city damn near unlivable for the nearly 300,000 Black people who live in the city. They are indiscriminately employing the ‘stop and frisk’ tactic that was made infamous by the New York Police Department.
They are also racially profiling as they crack down on crime. Here is a video of them invading a Black community and harassing the people who live therein.
Let’s just be honest. College students specialize in doing dumb sh*t. They often drink too much, party too hard and make bad decisions. And it’s understandable why.
There are thousands of young people without fully developed frontal lobes on every college campus ion the nation. So of course students will do dumb things when they are on their own and unsupervised around people their age. That’s to be expected.
But Black kids are not white ones. A misunderstanding with a police officer for a white college student can lead to a night in jail. For a Black student, it can lead to a trip to the cemetery.
The President has set a trap for Black people in Washington, D.C. By sending troops into one of the Blackest cities in America, he has not exactly declared war on Black America. But he is mighty close.
Students at Howard need to be aware what is happening around them at all times. I know many love to go to U Street and bar hop, but this semester may not be the time to do that. Instead, consider staying within the safe confines of your university’s campus until President Trump’s takeover of the city dies down. (I know that Howard is a dry campus in theory…but we all know that students get around the rule of no alcohol on school grounds. I am confident you guys will still find a way to have a good time.)
Howard University students, I hope you have a wonderful and successful school year. But most of all, be safe. The cops out on the streets won’t see a college student when they look at you. They will only see the color of your skin.
Straight From 
Sign up for our free daily newsletter.