On Friday, June 19, ONE DC partnered with Serve Your City, Bigger Than Key, Party for Socialism and Liberation, SURJ DC, IWW DC, It Takes Roots, Right to the City Alliance, and the Movement for Black Lives to commemorate Juneteenth with a Defund MPD / Cancel Rent Rally & Protest March. We gathered outside Landlord-Tenant Court in Judiciary Square to call attention to looming mass evictions. Tens of thousands of D.C. residents have lost work since the pandemic began, and ONE DC estimates over 1/3 of residents haven't been able to make their rent or mortgage payments. While Mayor Bowser pushes forward "ReOpen DC," Black and working class residents still haven't gotten the relief they need. ONE DC's Right to Housing Committee is demanding the city "Cancel Rent" by creating a way for tenants affected by COVID-19 to have their rent forgiven.

ONE DC member-leaders Nzingha and Shakeara co-MC'd the rally. You can watch the rally on our Facebook Live (speakers start at about the 14:00 minute mark) or Instagram Live. Speakers connected the issues of racist police terror and displacement. The mayor's proposed budget adds an additional $18 million to MPD, on top of a budget that is already over half a billion dollars, while affordable housing programs face cuts. We also heard performances by poets Christian Sutton and Kiana Kelly, and  BYP 100's Black Joy Experience.

The Defund MPD/Cancel Rent protest was one of four local feeder marches that converged on Freedom Plaza as part of the Movement for Black Lives national day of action. Thank you to all of our members, supporters, and partners who joined!

The Cancel Rent campaign continues! The Right to Housing Committee meets every other Thursday. Click here to join the Cancel Rent campaign and receive updates.

Photo credits: JoJo Morinvil

This past month was filled with preparation, planning, and most importantly, outreach for our annual Juneteenth in DC events. Thanks to the hard work and mobilizing efforts of ONE DC members, interns, and staff, the events turned out to be a huge success!

On Saturday, June 15, we hosted our 2nd Annual Juneteenth in DC Festival at the vacant lot owned by Bethlehem Baptist Church, located next to our Black Workers and Wellness Center in Anacostia. There was an estimated 500+ turnout, with over 60 vendors, community partners, performers and food trucks.

On Wednesday, June 19, in commemoration of the first observance of Juneteenth, ONE DC held a Juneteenth Community Learning Event with over 230 people in attendance. Dr. Camara Jules P. Harrell, Professor of Psychology at Howard University and author of Manichean Psychology: Racism and the minds of people of African descent, started off the program with a presentation on the history and significance of Juneteenth. In his presentation, Dr. Harrell disrupted the narrative of Abraham Lincoln as a benevolent white savior and uplifted the long history of rebellion of Africans in the U.S. against the system of slavery. They fought to liberate themselves by “…running away, rebelling violently, fleeing to the British, murdering slave-catchers…refusing to work, breaking tools….” In this legacy, ONE DC members continue our fight against the oppressive system of racial capitalism today.

Following the presentation, Aidyn & Addison Ellis-Otovo, two sisters from DC who have a passion for the arts and equal rights advocacy, performed on violin "Lift Every Voice and Sing." We also heard spoken word and musical performances from Pchs, Mena, Iyon, and closed the program with a healing mediation by Sista Alchemy.

It's not too late to become a sponsor of Juneteeth! By making a donation, you help ONE DC cover the costs of food, space and equipment rentals, and supplies.

Thank you all for commemorating Juneteenth with us!

On Saturday, June 17th, ONE DC members, SURJ members, and supporters came together for an afternoon of good food, music, political education, conversation, and fundraising to celebrate Juneteenth! Baltimore-based hip-hop artist Son of Nun performed a couple of his amazing tracks. We heard stories & wisdom of movement building from our elders-- Betty Robinson, Arthur Brown, Jr. and Linda Leaks. Talented artists from around the DMV donated their art for a silent art auction.

As many of you know by now, in 2016, ONE DC launched a 2-year 10th Anniversary capital campaign to fundraise over $2 million for the Black Workers Center and to sustain our future work. We are close to purchasing a building to house the BWC. A community-controlled space is critical to building power, political education, and leadership development with an emphasis on Black workers.

It is essential that ONE DC, a Black-led organization, operate from a liberated space East of the River, where unemployment rates are the highest in the city and where residents are vulnerable to a new wave of mass displacement and gentrification. All Juneteenth donors who give $50 dollars or more will be receive of honor of being recognized on our sponsorship “Wall of Liberation” when we succeed in purchasing a building to house the Black Workers Center!

Please donate today to get YOUR NAME on the Wall of Liberation!

On Juneteenth Weekend, ONE DC celebrated 10 years of fighting for equity in the District!

Thanks to the support of our extended community, this event was a glowing success.

First, we learned and coordinated with vendors in our marketplace.

Then, we discussed community organizing in DC with Angela Davis and Barbara Ransby.

We heard moving testimonies by some of our members.

Finally, we celebrated our DC with music, dancing, and togetherness.

We at ONE DC cannot express how grateful we are for the honor of ten years of working with DC residents. Through our triumphs and our trials, we always come out on top because we have the support of a community who believes in our work. From the bottom of our heart, to our members, our volunteers, our supporters, our sponsors....

ONE DC's 10th Anniversary Juneteenth celebration served as the kick-off for a major capital fundraising campaign to raise over $1 million to fund the opening of ONE DC Black Workers Center, as well as to fund #Another10Years of organizing for our human rights to housing, income, & wellness in DC.

Our organizational shero Ella Jo Baker once said, “We who believe in Freedom cannot rest." For us at ONE DC, the type of freedom we are fighting for won’t be granted by the system today. No, the freedom we need today will not be given. It must be won through political struggle.

For the last 10 years, ONE DC has been in the political struggle for freedom and justice. ONE DC has been fighting for a more just DC—a DC truly governed by the people, not corporations or the wealthy. We want justice! It’s a justice that requires housing for every person, not just those who can afford it. We must have decent and dignified and unionized work for everyone who wants it! We want a city that values people over profit—that allows us, the working-class, to democratically decide what we need in our communities. We need education that does not mentally enslave us to the inequitable systems of our day. We need free and universal education that nurtures political thinkers and leaders. We demand an end to a criminal injustice system that tears apart our families, locks up our sisters and brothers, and frees the police officers who shoot our children with impunity! And lastly, we demand self-determination, which means we must control the land and social institutions meant to rear our children and guide our work.

At ONE DC, we believe that in order to order to fulfill our mission of organizing for racial & economic equity and justice, we need to be funded by our base. That means people just like you. Because if you believe in freedom—if you believe we still have to march towards a better form of justice in the District, then you want to organize with ONE DC. We ask that if you are moved to join ONE DC’s freedom and justice struggle, then please donate today. If you want to give a dollar or a thousand—no amount is too small. We appreciate you and we need you in ONE DC’s freedom movement…because we who believe in freedom cannot rest!