A militant crowd of about 150 chanted and marched Aug. 5 outside the 79th annual convention of Kappa Alpha Psi, Mayor Adrian Fenty’s fraternity, in protest of the Fenty administration’s many attacks on working-class and poor communities in Washington, D.C. Visiting tourists and convention-goers heard loud chants of “One Term Mayor” and “Recall Fenty” and car horns honked by supporters driving by.
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The protest was the first of what will be many, presented by a broad coalition of several groups including the ANSWER Coalition (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism), Empower DC, Jobs With Justice, taxi drivers, and several unions representing government workers. Eugene Puryear, representing ANSWER, was one of several speakers at a rally near the end of the demonstration.
Fenty’s administration has been unrelenting in its attacks on public education, its privatization of public resources, and cutbacks severely affecting communities already hit hard by the economic meltdown.
The latest illustration of the Fenty administration’s disregard for the people of Washington, D.C., was his intent to have public funds used to pick up the $37,000 tab for a welcome reception for his fraternity. Legal advisors nixed that idea as an inappropriate use of public funds, and the fraternity reimbursed the city for its use of taxpayer money for the private party.
The city, in the meantime, facing a potential budget shortfall of $666 million over the next three years, is slashing services and firing workers.
