The Grassroots DC team put together a zine summary of our media literacy workshop. We hope this content will spark conversations about how we gather information and decided what we believe and what we doubt.

Learn How To Use The Media Before It Uses You at our Media Literacy workshop!

In this workshop we will:

• Unpack the ways local news is created

• Learn to how to make mainstream media work for you

• Deconstruct the way the local news reports on issues that affect our community

• Understand when and why the news gets it wrong

• Learn how to convince local news producers to pay attention to issues they normally ignore and include perspectives that they usually omit

Let’s face it.  DC is becoming more and more dystopian by the minute.  Just like the frog in the pot of water that’s slowly coming to a boil, we District of Columbia residents are likely to get used to it.   In truth, the water’s been simmering for a long time, well before Trump took control of the stovetop.  Things are getting hotter though.  The question is will we survive or get out of the pot in the nick of time?

Dystopia:  A society where life is miserable, oppressive and dehumanizing.  Characteristics include a suppression of dissent, constant surveillance, arbitrary arrests and detention, environmental collapse, extreme inequality, etc.

Dystopias persist not only because we don’t realize we’re in them—’that’s happening to them, not to me’—but also because they’re not bad for everyone.  For a small few, dystopia is the foundation for their own personal utopias.  Those who benefit, even if only temporarily, will do whatever is necessary to keep them going.   Those not oblivious to the suffering, who also have enough time and resources, may choose to fight as allies alongside those clearly targeted by the regime in power.   Most will find ways to physically and/or emotionally insulate themselves.  Some will simply relocate to happier climates.  

So where does that leave the rest of us—the targeted, the soon to be targeted, the complicit?  In 1971, the revolutionary George Jackson made this strongly worded suggestion: 

“Settle your quarrels. Understand that fascism is already here, that people are already dying who could be saved, generations more will live poor butchered half-lives if we fail to act.”  

We’ve been dying and living poor butchered half lives for generations.  Sometimes it’s more of us, sometimes it’s less.  

What’s true for everyone is the need for security, shared resources, and the ability to cooperate on complex problems.  This is why societies come together.  Here on Turtle Island, most commonly known as the United States, we humans formed a representative democracy as the basis of our society.  We rely on elected officials to create and enforce laws that respect our rights and dignity, to use our tax dollars to meet our collective needs, and to achieve things that we couldn’t possibly achieve as individuals.  

Once more for the folks in the back: Congress’ Plan to Defund DC by $1 Billion Is Not Yet a Done Deal!

The Congress has jurisdiction over the District of Columbia.  [If you were raised in the District of Columbia, you will have learned this in your DC History class.]  It means that we have a shadow senator and two shadow “representatives” of the House but neither of them have the right to vote in either congressional body.  In essence, DC residents have no federal representation.  Despite this, we pay plenty of federal taxes.   

Even if you learned your American History outside of the District, you probably remember that “no taxation without representation” was a key rallying cry during the lead-up to the American Revolution.  Back then, folks willing to fight a tyrannical regime thought it was unjust to impose taxes on citizens without giving them a voice in the legislative body that determines how taxes would be levied.  It’s still unjust.

It’s been some time since many of us had any kind of history class [decades for me]. I don’t know why the US Constitution was set up to screw over the citizens of the capital city but that’s where we are and have been since the nation’s founding.  But let’s not digress.   

Because Congress has jurisdiction over the District of Columbia, the argument can be made that every DC resident is a constituent of every senator and representative that does have a vote.  It is perfectly legitimate for each and every DC resident to go to the congressional office buildings, knock on the doors of the elected officials there and say, “I didn’t vote for you.  You do not represent me.  You have no right to tell DC’s city council and mayor—the people who do represent me—how to spend the taxes that I pay to the District of Columbia.”

On the other hand, we may not be prepared to do a repeat of the Revolutionary War.  A more strategic option might be to ask them to pass the DC Local Funds Act.  Below is a plan of attack put together by Free DC.  We can get some control over our tax dollars without firing a single musket. 

https://freedcproject.org/news/encourage-representatives-to-pass-the-dc-local-funds-act

A series of important events affecting our communities

Representation for Ward 8 residents is under attack.  As you may have heard, Councilmember Trayon White (D, Ward 8) was arrested on a criminal complaint of bribery on August 18th.  The claim alleges that White accepted payments in exchange for the extension of contracts with the Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (ONSE).  The investigation is being conducted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, the FBI, the D.C. Office of the Inspector General, and the IRS Criminal Investigation Washington Field Office. 

Not unlike many other council members who have been involved in scandals and/or criminally charged, Trayon White is not perfect. The violence interruption programs that he supports are being credited for reducing crime and violence in Ward 8. If fully supported, they could transform policing to one that is more community-based. An increase in the number of violence interrupters may also result in a decrease in the need for the current number of patrol officers in the areas, something that the Office of the DC Auditor’s MPD audit suggests is needed. Trayon White’s involvement in a potential bribery case could jeopardize those programs.  What's more consequential, is that the case could leave Ward 8 without DC council representation, in a city filled with residents who are not given equal representation in congress.

On Monday, September 9th at 7pm many residents of Ward 8 and the city at-large signed into a virtual community town hall hosted by Harriet’s Wildest Dreams (HWD) titled “What’s at Stake for Ward 8”.  The meeting was facilitated by HWD’s Co-Founder and Executive Director, NeeNee Taylor and HWD Policy Organizer, Jillian Burford.  Who, after grounding the meeting in the organization's principles, gave the virtual floor to Councilmember Robert White (D, At-large) to go over what will and may happen next in regards to Trayon White’s seat on the DC Council and several committees. 

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Many mainstream media outlets are reporting as though Trayon is sure to be found guilty but during the community town hall many called for reminders that we are all innocent until proven guilty in this country.  As an elected official, he continues to represent Ward 8 until voters decide otherwise. Federal charges don't change that immediately, and with an upcoming election, we'll soon find out who Ward 8 residents choose to represent them.