Mike the Mad Biologist

They’re not always just standing around like people claim. There is always the threat of unaccountable violence.

While I’m not naive about the various immunities and protections police departments receive, there are still some safeguards in place and some political response to dissent by the governed. But when it comes to the National Guard deployment, there is no political authority to which the residents of the mainland colony known as the District of Columbia can turn. And that means there is no recourse other than after-the-fact civil suits when something like this happens (boldface mine):

Anna King was sitting on a bench one afternoon outside her home on a busy street in Washington, D.C., scrolling on her phone when three National Guard members entered her front gate, confronted her and pushed her to the ground, tying her hands behind her back with zip ties…

“Get away from me right now,” King, a retired U.S. Army captain who served in Iraq and earned both a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star, can be heard telling the three male guard members in the video as they approach her on the bench. “You have absolutely no authority to detain me.”

As she tries to make her way to her front steps to go inside, the three Idaho National Guard members grab King and wrestle her to the ground. You can hear King yelling “Get off of me!” and coughing, while two of the troops tighten the zip ties on her hands…

Now, the ACLU of the District of Columbia and the private law firm Levy Firestone Muse have filed a federal tort claim against the Idaho National Guard on King’s behalf, seeking $3 million in damages from what they describe as an assault that led to lasting and serious injuries…

The National Guard says King was approached by the troops because she was suspected of assaulting a guard member two days earlier, something her attorneys called “baseless” in their filing. They say no charges around such an incident have been filed against King.

King’s attorneys say that they believe she was approached by the guard because she has been a vocal critic of their deployment in the city for months, hanging large signs outside her house with messages like “Occupation: Troops Out” and “National Guard Stop Being So Embarrassing.”

…Perloff says King sustained serious injuries to her wrist from the tight zip ties and required surgery, but is also suffering from post-traumatic symptoms from the incident.

Again, I’m not naive about the reality of policing, but we should not have unaccountable dipshits from Idaho entering people’s private property without warrants and arresting them without cause.

For most readers, D.C. statehood is about two more Democratic senators, but for the residents of the mainland colony is about self-governance and governing with consent.

D.C. statehood now.