A Message From The Publisher
Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. —Proverbs 16:18 ESV
From the Publisher’s Desk By Bobby Henry, Sr. Westside Gazette
While our children were sharpening pencils, lacing up new shoes, and stepping nervously into classrooms on the first day of school, President Donald Trump was sharpening his political blade and aimed it squarely at Washington, DC.
In a move wrapped in patriotic slogans but reeking of power politics dung, Trump declared “Liberation Day” and sent 800 National Guard troops into our nation’s capital, federalizing its police department. Not because the streets were out of control, crime in DC is down nearly 26% this year. It was done because it plays well in the theater of fear.
And it’s not just the troops. This president’s actions are fraught with symbolic disrespect. All caught up in his self-imposed power, he had President Barack Obama’s official portrait quietly removed from its rightful, public place and hidden in some obscure corner out of sight, out of his mind. That wasn’t an accident. That was a message: certain people’s histories, certain leaders, certain victories are to be erased, buried, and replaced with his own narrative.
This is not an isolated act. Time and again, Trump paints Black-led cities with the same poisonous brush by calling them “crime-infested,” “ghettos,” and “hellholes.” From Baltimore to Chicago to Atlanta to DC, the pattern is as clear as it is insulting when African American leaders are in charge, Trump’s narrative isn’t about progress, it’s about danger. He doesn’t visit to celebrate falling crime rates or community successes—he parachutes in to declare war zones.
Why? Because in his political playbook, fear wins votes. It’s easier to sell America the story of the “dangerous city” than to admit that those cities are achieving historic lows in crime despite underinvestment, systemic inequities, and decades of federal neglect. It’s easier to vilify Black mayors and councils than to confront the truth to which they are often doing more with less and succeeding.
Trump’s DC stunt isn’t about safety. It’s about control. It’s about sending a message to every Black-led city: your authority is conditional, your successes are invisible, and your autonomy can be stripped at a moment’s notice.
On a day when parents should have been focused on reading lists and bus schedules, they were forced to watch soldiers on the streets of our capital. What lessons do that teach our children? Are their cities dangerous by default? Can their leaders be undermined without cause? Is that democracy only for some White and privileged ZIP codes?
You’re not fooling anyone. As a matter of fact, we don’t believe you’re trying you’re representing who you truly are. We see the pattern, Mr. President. And we reject it.
Our children deserve better than the politics of fear. They deserve leaders who celebrate their communities’ victories, who build trust rather than deploy troops, and who protect democracy as fiercely as they claim to protect safety.
The first day of school should be about possibility, not witnessing power grabs. If this president can strip local control from DC when crime is on the decline, and try to erase Black History, by hiding the portrait of America’s first Black president in the shadows without consequences, he will begin to believe he can do anything anywhere he wants to. The question is, how long are we going to let him?
