People carried signs reading “End the Federal Invasion” and “I like my ICE crushed.” As the crowd moved past Foundry United Methodist Church on 16th Street, the sound of church bells mingled with chants of “sí, se puede” and “no justice, no peace.”
Last Saturday, thousands marched from Meridian Hill Park to Freedom Plaza as part of the “We Are All DC” protest of the Trump administration’s takeover of local law enforcement—the largest such demonstration since the president declared a public safety emergency and deployed the National Guard to the city in early August.
The protest, which included members of the area’s largest labor unions and immigrants rights groups, was partially organized by Free DC, a relatively new campaign to protect the city’s Home Rule and ensure residents control their own government.
Taking its name from the 1960s Free DC movement co-founded by future Mayor Marion Barry that organized acts of civil disobedience by students, the contemporary Free DC has organized three other large protests, held a lobbying day on Capitol Hill, and put on near-daily events ranging from campaign orientation sessions that have drawn hundreds of people to “know your rights” trainings. Supporters of the group also gather to bang pots and pans nightly, and have organized groups to walk immigrant children to school.
“We’ve been organizing since January to stop this administration’s attacks on DC,” said Free DC co-founder Alex Dodds. “And stop their attacks on—I don’t want to say ‘democracy’ because that just sounds so trite—but stop the attacks that they’re doing on everyone in our country.”
Here’s what to know about the organization:
It was created by experienced local organizers
Founded in January, the seeds of Free DC were planted during the 2023 “Hands Off DC” campaign, which protested President Biden and Congress overturning DC’s proposed revisions to its criminal code. Dodds, who worked on DC Council member Janeese Lewis George’s first campaign, helped organize that event.
During the 2024 campaign, Trump said multiple times he would “federalize” the District. After Trump won, it was those statements that spurred Dodds and fellow co-founders Keya Chatterjee, Kelyse Adams, and Nee Nee Taylor to begin organizing what would eventually become Free DC.
Like Dodds, the group’s other co-founders have experience in advocating for DC’s autonomy. Taylor, who co-founded Harriet’s Wildest Dreams, was also involved in “Hands Off DC” and Adams helps lead Long Live GoGo and DC Vote, an organization dedicated to achieving statehood. Chatterjee served as a local Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner. She is also a former federal employee and climate advocate who helped to organize the “Fork Off” protests earlier this year against Elon Musk and DOGE.
Though the organization describes itself as a “grassroots campaign,” it does have some organizational structure. Chatterjee, Dodds, and Taylor make up its three-person leadership team, while Adams sits on its seven-person advisory council that includes community leaders from across the city. Free DC also has teams supporters can join based on areas of interest, such as communications or making protest art.
At Free DC’s orientation meetings, people introduce themselves and share something they love about the city. Facilitators then explain the group has teams organized across the District, mostly based on neighborhood geography. These teams meet monthly to host very local events like house parties and canvassing.
While the group itself isn’t incorporated as a nonprofit—like many grassroots campaigns—Community Change, a larger non-profit that supports racial justice advocacy and progressive organizing campaigns acts as its “fiscal sponsor.”
It has a number in mind
Free DC’s ultimate goal is to organize 3.5 percent of District residents—around 24,500 people. Why that specific number? It derives from the work of social science researcher Erica Chenoweth, who found nonviolent civil resistance is most effective when roughly that percentage of the population gets involved in a movement.
In addition, Free DC wants to train those people to conduct boycotts and strikes. “It’s not enough to just have a really big protest,” Dodds said.
Dodds declined to tell Washingtonian how close Free DC has come to its goal, but said the group has had “thousands of people join our work just in the last few weeks alone.” At a panel Wednesday evening, Chatterjee said the group had trained over 5,000 people.
While social media can be a poor metric for measuring in-person participation, the group’s Instagram account has amassed more than 55,000 followers, and “Free DC” lawn signs have popped up in neighborhoods throughout the District.
It has allies
Numbering in the thousands, last Saturday’s march reflected Free DC’s efforts to pull together existing organizations already adept at mobilizing people: labor unions, faith organizations, immigrant’s rights groups. The protest was co-sponsored by over 70 groups, and many of the attendees Washingtonian spoke with said that while they had heard of Free DC, they were attending the march with another group.
Sam Epps is the president of the Metropolitan Washington Council AFL-CIO, which represents over 150,000 workers in DC and surrounding areas. He told Washingtonian that a partnership between Free DC and his union began after a number of local unions said the federal takeover was significantly impacting their membership—many of whom are low income immigrants and people of color.
“We saw [during] this federal takeover that many of our workers and families were being impacted with this,” Epps said. “We had a convening of all groups who had been impacted and who had been leading the fight on this. And so this was a convening here that happened at the AFL-CIO at my invitation. It was to talk about next steps and how we all could work together.”
Though unions could—and theoretically would—play a large role in any future boycotts or workers’ strikes, Epps said there haven’t yet been any serious discussions between Free DC and his union about that possibility. “I think everything is on the table,” he said. “There has not been a plan. I’ve certainly heard it from other corners, but to date, that [has] not been discussed.”
Free DC is not happy with Mayor Bowser
Free DC has been critical of how Mayor Muriel Bowser has handled the Trump administration’s actions, arguing that she should be taking a less conciliatory approach.
“The Mayor is elected to represent the people of the District of Columbia, and we know from some recent polling that 80 percent of DC residents are opposed to federalization of law enforcement,” Dodds said, referring to a recent Washington Post poll. “We need our leaders to be united against what is happening, not saying things like we welcome it and it should go on indefinitely.”
In early September, the Mayor signed an order requiring that local law enforcement coordinate with federal law enforcement agencies “to the maximum extent allowable by law within the District.” Though the order did not specifically list Immigration and Customs Enforcement among those agencies, DC police have in recent weeks collaborated with ICE agents to detain people at traffic stops, sparking fear and anger among DC residents.
At Saturday’s rally, Chatterjee directly addressed Bowser. “Your constituents call on you to stop cooperating with this administration,” she said. “Do not make their work easier or convenient. We do not welcome indefinite coordination.”
To date, Bowser has brushed similar criticism off, insisting that her ultimate goal is to protect the District’s autonomy. (Her office did not respond to a Washingtonian request for comment.) Last week, Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson said House leaders would not hold a vote to extend the federalization of the DC police—which expired this week—because of Bowser’s cooperation.
Charles Wilson, Chair of the DC Democratic Party, which helped to co-sponsor the Saturday march, told Washingtonian that Bowser is doing her best to manage a difficult position. “This is her hometown,” he said. “I’m sure she’s just as frustrated as everybody else, but she’s having to manage a relationship with the White House. I think the mayor’s in a tough spot right now. I’m sure she’s had conversations with the White House that a lot of us will never be privy to.
“I had a call yesterday with Democrats in other states, and they were confused by the mayor’s comments, and I had to remind them that we’re not a state,” said Wilson, who believes that the takeover is moving DC statehood up the national Democratic party’s priority list. “When I did that, they got it.”
Free DC’s actual local political power is TBD
Like Wilson, former DC Council member Elissa Silverman acknowledges that Bowser’s approach—including her public comments about cooperating with the federal government—has left many locals frustrated. “She presented this bureaucratic flow chart to show they’re co-piloting with the administration but that messaging failed,” Silverman told Washingtonian.
While Free DC might have valid concerns about Bowser, Silverman added, the organization doesn’t yet have an alternative candidate articulating a different approach to support in next year’s mayoral race—which means its actual impact on city hall ultimately may be limited. “Free DC can march, can speechify, [but] unless they have a real credible candidate, Bowser will be mayor for four more years,” she said.
For many of the attendees at Saturday’s march, however, next year’s mayoral race wasn’t the most pressing concern. Instead, people were excited to be involved with a group that seemed to be making progress on the issue of autonomy for the District. “I’ve been to protests where there are 20, 30, 40 people,” one attendee holding her “Free DC” sign said. “So, I mean, I am so happy to see the number of people who are here today.”
