Representative Ayanna Pressley said Wednesday that President Trump’s federal takeover in Washington, D.C., is less about public safety and more about stoking fear and racism, which she compared to the Stuart murder case nearly 36 years ago in Boston.
“You know, if we had [D.C.’s] statehood, we wouldn’t be in a situation like this, but it is racist and rogue,” the Massachusetts Democrat said during an interview with GBH News’ “Boston Public Radio” program.
Trump has placed the D.C. police department under federal control and has deployed hundreds of National Guard troops, ramping up his efforts that he says is to crack down on crime in the nation’s capital.
Pressley compared Trump’s federal operation in Washington to the Stuart case, the 1989 killing of Carol Stuart, a pregnant white woman whose husband, Charles Stuart, falsely told police that a Black man had attacked them while they were driving in Mission Hill.
During the search for the suspect, police carried out aggressive raids in Mission Hill, breaking down doors without warning and putting residents to stop-and-frisk searches.
“And what is happening here in D.C. and, then the targeting of Black men and Black youth, in particular, which to me is very reminiscent of Boston after the Charles Stuart case, is very reminiscent of New York under [former Mayor Rudolph] Giuliani with stop-and-frisk,” Pressley said.
In November of that year, after Charles’ brother Matthew told police he was responsible for Carol’s death, Charles leapt from Boston’s Tobin Bridge and died.
Pressley described the heightened tensions in the D.C. community, saying, “You know, my God children who live in the city, they’re young Black boys. And they’re afraid to go to their summer jobs. They’re fearful of what it’s going to be like, their walk [to] school.”
“And again, don’t think that anything Donald Trump has done, whether it’s his targeting of sanctuary cities or the militarization of D.C., this has nothing to do with public safety, [it] has nothing to do with law and order,” she added.
Pressley then referred to the arrest of Tufts PhD student Rümeysa Öztürk by immigration agents in Somerville, saying it was an example of targeting people in a way that amounts to terrorism, arguing that such actions from the Trump administration makes communities less safe.
“When you are disappearing people from the streets of Somerville, when you are targeting people in this way, it’s terrorism,” Pressley said. “And that terror, that fear that you’re stoking, makes us all less safe.”
Alyssa Vega can be reached at alyssa.vega@globe.com.
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