meetings to pitch the idea of the D. C. Guardsmen helping with neighborhood beautification projects.“ We live here. We work here. We serve here. We are your neighbors,” he told one group.
The message resonated with Joseph B. Johnson, chairman of an Advisory Neighborhood Commission in Southeast that holds frequent community cleanups. Johnson shrugged off concerns about National Guardsman being on the streets of Washington and accepted Hunt’ s offer of help.
“ I got tired to hearing all of this fear of the National Guard coming from our local leaders,” Johnson said.“ Sometimes, you just want to hear solutions to a problem, and we had a problem that the National Guard wanted to help us solve.”
Johnson blames the trash buildup in his neighborhood on loiterers from outside the community.“ They don’ t live in the area, but they congregate here and litter,” he said.“ The D. C.
Betty Scippio, who lives in Southeast D. C., heads out on a neighborhood clean up campaign Sept 20. The task went faster than usual because the D. C. National Guard pitched in.
government doesn’ t seem able to do anything about it. The city doesn’ t even provide the same level of street cleaning out here that residents receive in other wards.”
Some residents said that having the National Guard helping with the cleanup made them feel more at ease. Crime may be down in Southeast, but it persists, sometimes in ways that rarely, if ever, happen in more affluent parts of the city. In July, for instance, 3-year-old Honesty Cheadle died after being struck by a bullet while sitting in a car with her family. A few days later, a one-year-old was struck in the arm by a stray bullet.
Johnson said he believes the best way to deal with fear – whether fear of crime or the National Guard – is for residents to work together. He hopes the joint neighborhood cleanup effort will send a message that“ we are all in this together.”
But he also knows the National Guard deployment will eventually end and that more neighbors will be needed to help keep the community clean.
“ We know that there is not going to be anyone from the outside coming in to save us,” Johnson said.“ We have to be willing to put our own boots on the ground, as residents and community leaders.” •
Courtland Milloy is a former columnist and reporter of crime and politics for The Washington Post
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Joseph Johnson, second from right, organized a neighborhood clean up in Southeast Washington on Sept 20. The D. C. National Guard offered to help showed up armed with trash grappling poles but no guns.