D.C. Council member desperate to contain the 'cancer' of violent crime in the city

A member of the Washington, D.C., city council called this week for the mayor to join him in calling out the D.C. National Guard to help regain control of the streets overrun by violent crime.

Trayon White, 39, made his case at a press conference very close to where three people were shot and killed just days before. He described Ward 8, which he represents on the council, having become a “cancer,” which is spreading to other parts of the city.

“Desperate times call for desperate measures,” Mr. White said. “We have young men wandering through the community with AK-47s, letting off 60, 90, up to 100 rounds — daily.”

White said he reached out to Mayor Muriel Bowser about his proposal to call up of the National Guard, which would require coordination and cooperation with the Department of Defense, the Department of Justice and the White House, as the president has authority over the local guard units.

“The District has seen 13 slayings in just the first nine days of August. The 161 homicides recorded so far this year represent a 28% increase from 2022, and violent crime is up 37%, with sexual assaults, robberies, assaults with a dangerous weapon and carjackings all seeing year-over-year increases,” according to The Washington Times.

“The District regularly requests the support of the DC National Guard where our needs are within their mission,” a representative of the Bowser administration said in a statement to The Washington Times.

“We will continue to make these requests as appropriate while also being mindful of the staffing constraints of the DCNG. Our focus, and where we will continue to request Council support, is on attracting and retaining more officers at the Metropolitan Police Department and ensuring they have the resources and policy environment to do their jobs, have a strong presence in our neighborhoods, and make arrests and close cases.”

White, who has been a supporter of Louis Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam, said “While we’re in a homeless crisis and a crime crisis, we’re in a hopelessness crisis right here, and we got to call it what it is.”