Demonstrators gathered near the Supreme Court throughout the weekend following the Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. On Saturday, a crowd of nearly 1,000 abortion rights supporters chanted “Not your uterus, not your choice,” “Abort the court,” and “My body, my choice!” the Post reports.
Kate Ireland, a Chevy Chase resident, came with her daughter and sister, Elizabeth McNamee, who lives in D.C., according to the Post. Ireland says she has been reading books to her 2-year-old daughter Eleanor about why people march and hopes “protest” will soon enter Eleanor’s lexicon.
Anti-abortion protesters also rallied outside the Court, saying this ruling is just the beginning. In a demonstration on Sunday, some called for further action, such as a ban on abortion after 15 weeks, which is on the table in several states, including Virginia. Anti-abortion proponents who are also pushing bans on abortion pills are seeking to stop people from traveling out of the state to receive abortion services. But U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement Friday that states can’t ban mifepristone and misoprostol, also known as the abortion pills.
Meanwhile, abortion rights activists called for folks to mobilize to vote in midterm elections in “haven states” such as Maryland, which will become destinations for people living in states where abortions are illegal or severely restricted. They’re pushing for state legislatures to codify abortion rights protections to ensure abortion will remain legal in their states, WUSA9 reports. Without statehood, D.C. is vulnerable to anti-abortion legislation if Republicans take control of Congress, DCist reports.
Protests in and out of the District are expected to continue in the coming weeks as states react to the court’s decision. Groups such as Shout Your Abortion and Harriet’s Wildest Dreams have been organizing in front of the Supreme Court and in community talks about how to take action.
Multiple Youths Shot in Northwest
A string of shootings over the weekend left four people, including a 15-year-old boy and an 18-year-old woman, dead. At least two more juveniles were injured in Northwest D.C. late night Saturday and early Sunday morning. The deaths pushed D.C. past 100 homicides for the year, according to police data.
The 15-year-old, Blu Bryant, was shot in the 1700 block of 8th Street NW, near the Shaw-Howard University Metro station, around 9:20 p.m. Saturday, according to MPD. A man was also found shot alongside Bryant, WJLA reports.
Then, police say, 18-year-old Kyndall Myers was shot and killed around 12:09 a.m. in the 800 block of Quincy Street NW. Two juveniles, one boy and one girl, were also shot and wounded.
Other shootings over the weekend in Northwest and Northeast left multiple adults injured and two fatally shot: 23-year-old Markel Ford, who police found in the 500 block of 50th Street NE, and 45-year-old Jason Ford, found in the 1700 block of West Virginia Avenue NE.
The T.R.I.G.G.E.R. Project, a local organization working to change the norms and narrative around gun violence, along with other local orgs, is hosting the second annual End Gun Violence Citywide Conference on Wednesday. The event will take place from noon to 5 p.m. at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library and streamed online.
—Ambar Castillo (tips? acastillo@washingtoncitypaper.com)
- To see today’s COVID-19 data, visit our coronavirus tracker.
- Starting tonight at 9:30 p.m., you can ride the Metro one way for a $2 flat fare on weeknights. Metro expanded the $2 flat fare that previously applied only to weekend rides. [WTOP]
- Hundreds marched in a unity rally at the National Mall on Saturday to protest anti-Asian violence, the underrepresentation of Asian Americans in media and government, and reproductive rights issues that disproportionately affect women of color. [Post]
- A man crashed his motorcycle in Northeast after being chased by D.C. police. It’s unclear whether anyone is hurt. MPD restricts its officers from engaging in vehicle chases unless officers suspect the threat of violence. [NBC4]
By Mitch Ryals (tips? mryals@washingtoncitypaper.com)
- Election officials have finally counted all the votes remaining from Tuesday’s primary, with margins for Mayor Muriel Bowser and Council Chairman Phil Mendelson shrinking slightly but results generally staying the same. The Board of Elections says a surge in ballots at drop boxes on election day accounted for the delays. [Post, Twitter]
- D.C. leaders say they continue to hope President Joe Biden will stand up to protect abortion rights in the city, but acknowledge that the District has been used as a bargaining chip on the subject before. [Axios]
- At the same event lamenting the end of Roe v. Wade, Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh dubbed the conservative majority on the Supreme Court “Taliban judges.” Many have since observed the Islamophobic undertones of such a comment (not to mention the irony, considering that two of the justices grew up in the D.C. area). [Twitter]
By Alex Koma (tips? akoma@washingtoncitypaper.com)
Good Taste: Bar Amazonia Brings Trippy, Tasty Peruvian Jungle Vibes To Blagden Alley
Walking up the steps to Bar Amazonia, you get the feeling you’re not in Blagden […]
- Frank’s Burger Place in Wheaton “trades in classic comforts, the gustatory equivalent of paging through a comic that you loved as a child, oblivious for a few sweet moments to the problems of an adult world,” writes Tim Carmen. [Post]
- The summer of food festivals has begun. [Washingtonian]
By City Paper staff (tips? editor@washingtoncitypaper.com)
Thirty Years Later, Fires in the Mirror Still Burns
Crown Heights, Brooklyn may have been a fast-gentrifying province of Hipsterville for the past decade, […]
- Northeast is celebrating the grand re-opening of the Lamond-Riggs/Lillian J. Huff Library today. The new building is 23,500 square feet—nearly 5,000 square feet larger than the original. Mayor Bowser and councilmembers Kenyan McDuffie and Trayon White will be among those at today’s ribbon cutting ceremony at 11 a.m. [Twitter, dc.gov]
- “Theater is inherently an art form about freedom. Its mission has always been to challenge us to reflect in novel ways on the state of the world—as a vehicle not just for the loudest voices, but also for society’s most contrarian, oppressed, marginalized,” writes theater critic Peter Marks following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. [Post]
- A Q&A with playwright and director Anthony Green, creator of When Boys Exhale, returning to D.C. this July. [DC Theater Arts]
By Sarah Marloff (tips? smarloff@washingtoncitypaper.com)
- Brittney Griner’s trial in Russia will begin Friday. She has been detained in the country since February after authorities there found cannabis oil in her luggage. [CNN]
- The case for naming Katie Ledecky as the DMV’s greatest athlete. The legendary swimmer just won four more gold medals in the world championships in Budapest. [Post]
- Virginia native and NBA star Grant Hill talks about life and the game he loves in a new memoir, Game: An Autobiography. [WTOP]
By City Paper staff (tips? editor@washingtoncitypaper.com)
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