The Washington Post - USA (2022-05-08)

C8 EZ SU THE WASHINGTON POST.SUNDAY, MAY 8 , 2022

MARIAM ZUHAIB/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Demonstrators gather outside the Supreme Court last week after a leaked draft opinion showed the
justices seem ready to overturn the landmark 1973 ruling that legalized abortion in the United States.

ASTRID RIECKEN FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

Similar — yet very different — signs in front of neighboring homes in Alexandria. The man behind the

second sign wanted to distance himself from the first, which he feared spoke for his property, too.

BY JASMINE HILTON

Two officers who shot a man

Monday morning in Greenbelt,

Md., after responding to a report

of a suicidal person have been

identified.

The officers are acting s ergeant

Troy Arnold and Officer Eric

Thomas, the Greenbelt Police De-

partment said. Arnold was hired

in 2014 and Thomas i n 2021,

according to the department.

Both officers have been placed on

paid administrative leave.

Police said the officers saw a

man holding a six-inch knife when

they responded to the unit block

of Plateau Place on Monday morn-

ing and approached a residence.

After being commanded to drop

the knife, police said, the man

exited, moved toward the officers

and raised the knife. Both officers

fired and wounded the man.

Police said the incident was

“approximately 21 seconds long”

from the “first knock on the resi-

dence door to the last shot fired.”

Arnold and Thomas fired five

shots each, police said.

The man was taken to a hospi-

tal and remains in stable condi-

tion, police said.

An investigation of the man’s

actions is being conducted by

Prince George’s County police,

and an investigation of the offi-

cers’ actions is being conducted

by Greenbelt police.

The police said the Maryland

Attorney General’s Office’s Inde-

pendent Investigations Unit de-

clined the case “based on the

nature of the subject’s injuries.”

A spokesperson with the Inde-

pendent Investigations Unit said

in an email: “Currently, Maryland

Law states that ‘The Independent

Investigative Unit shall investi-

gate all alleged or potential po-

lice-involved deaths of civilians.’

The Greenbelt City Police Depart-

ment’s officer-involved shooting

did not result in death and there-

fore falls outside the scope of our

authority.”

MARYLAND

O∞cers named in Greenbelt shooting

Street.

But the signs to him seemed

more confusing than troubling —

especially after a fourth sign ap-

peared on the grassy lawn. It was

about a movie, saying in those

same rainbow letters that the

legal thriller “Michael Clayton”

was a “vastly underrated cin-

ematic masterpiece” and “and

exactly one of the five best films of

the 21st century.”

“I still haven’t quite figured out

what they are trying to say,”

Langer said from his front porch

where he spends most mornings

with his breakfast. “But I think

people have a right to express

themselves. It shows the diversity

of the neighborhood.”

Whether the sign owners

wanted their front yard to ad-

vance freedom of expression, take

part in the culture wars or simply

bring color to the neighborhood,

one resident wanted to provide

some clarity.

The 33-year-old man, who

spoke on the condition of ano-

nymity to protect his privacy,

said he moved into his town-

house on Oronoco Street in Janu-

ary and noticed the “Black Lives

Matter” sign in an adjacent front

yard. He worried it spoke for his

property, too, and wanted to

separate himself from the words

that he felt oversimplified issues

that should be discussed with

nuance.

So naturally, he googled “politi-

cal yard signs” and looked for a

placard for his side of the yard. He

found one on Etsy that perfectly

expressed his beliefs, soon plac-

ing the “Simplistic Platitudes”

poster on his side of the grass. He

said he tried to position it as far

away from his neighbor’s as possi-

ble — out of respect.

A few weeks later, the third

sign appeared countering his re-

ply, and the man realized his sign

might have bothered his neigh-

bor. But he said they never talked

about it, nor did he ever try to

engage them on the cultural is-

sues he thought were better ad-

dressed in person.

“We didn’t talk a whole lot

before the signs,” he said. “But I

admit, I don’t think the signs

were a positive step there.”

The owner of the original Black

Lives Matter sign declined to

comment other than to write in

an email that “we are on pleasant

terms with our neighbors.”

As for the Michael Clayton

sign, the 33-year-old was just as

confused as the rest of his neigh-

borhood when it appeared in his

yard. He said he does not know

who put it there or why.

But he decided to leave it,

happy that his Etsy purchase had

stimulated a conversation even

though his yard now advertises

the brilliance of a movie he has

never seen.

Te o Armus and John Harden

contributed to this report.

— an apparent response to the

response — appeared in the front

yard on Oronoco Street.

This one said: “In this house we

believe that using snark and sar-

casm and pedantic, overly com-

plex language to respond to oth-

ers’ somewhat meaningless vir-

tue-signaling is just divisive and

trollish behavior, but hey, signs

are fun.”

The exchange caught the atten-

tion of Brittany Shadd, a 33-year-

old who lives nearby. A Black

woman, Shadd said that the back-

and-forth over a sign that started

with “Black lives matter” felt

ironic given the makeup of her

neighborhood. She said she rare-

ly sees another neighbor who

looks like her.

“Signs like that don’t go with

the community,” she said. “They

say ‘Black lives matter,’ but

they’re not really friendly when it

comes to housing for Black peo-

ple.”

The number of Black people in

the area around Shadd has de-

creased by more than 10 percent

over the past decade — falling

from about a third of the popula-

tion to less than a quarter as the

community grew. Over that same

period, the number of White resi-

dents increased by more than 40

percent, accounting for more

than 62 percent of the total popu-

lation by 2020, according to cen-

sus data.

The yard with the signs is on

the edge of the Parker-Gray His-

toric District, a historically Black

neighborhood named after two

principals of segregated schools.

In 1980, the area that includes

the district was 90 percent Black.

By 2020, Black people made up

only 23 percent of the popula-

tion, according to data provided

by the Alexandria City govern-

ment.

Erick Langer, 66, has watched

the yard sign dialogue unfold on

walks with his dog, Luna. A

history professor at Georgetown

and a longtime Alexandria resi-

dent, Langer is aware of the

neighborhood’s complicated

past. He knows that he lives on

the edge of a historically Black

neighborhood and a brisk walk

away from the childhood home

of Confederate Gen. Robert E.

Lee, who grew up on Oronoco

that second sign, available on

Etsy for $31.95, was supposed to

say. Was it a direct rebuke of the

idea that all were welcome in

their community? Was it an at-

tack on the messaging of the

Democratic Party, which often

uses such phrases as rallying

cries? Or was it just trying to be

funny?

Either way, many neighbors

said, the dueling yard signs made

public a sort of tension that is

rarely articulated in an area

proud of its understated brand of

liberalism.

“It’s a very Alexandria move,”

said Nicholas Sarofolean, a 25-

year-old marketing copy writer

who lives in the area and had

noticed the sign drama on walks

with his dog, Gus. “People are

indirect here, so they express

themselves through signs.”

He considered putting up his

own sign that said, “Y’all Petty.”

The oasis on a quiet corner in

Alexandria has in many ways

stayed above the cultural fray

that has dominated other parts of

Northern Virginia over the past

few years. There have been no

fights over promoting drag

queens at local festivals like there

were a few miles away in McLean,

nor have there been explosive

rallies over critical race theory in

schools like in nearby Loudoun

County. Residents pridefully

point to their school board’s

unanimous vote to rename their

local high school from T.C. Wil-

liams to Alexandria High School,

ditching the association with a

racist former superintendent, as

proof that they are united in

rejecting racism.

But the yard signs were far

from the first indication of divi-

sion over the social issues that

have come to define the times.

Residents in and around Old

Town have frequently clashed

over proposals for new develop-

ments that would bring more

building density and affordable

housing to their neighborhood.

Most recently, city lawmakers

began considering an ordinance

that would extend developers’

ability to surpass building

height zoning limitations in ex-

change for an increase in afford-

able housing to more areas, in-

cluding parts of Old Town — a

proposal that has already

alarmed some homeowners who

fear it would permanently alter

the historical riverfront neigh-

borhood.

On the block of Oronoco Street

where the yard signs appeared,

some residents said they almost

never discuss their views on

housing or politics. They much

prefer to learn the names of each

other’s dogs and kids, exchanging

pleasantries but respecting each

other’s privacy.

That dynamic made it all the

more unusual when another sign

SIGNS FROM C1

Signs of the times on Alexandria block

“It’s a very Alexandria

move. People are

indirect here, so they

express themselves

through signs.”

Nicholas Sarofolean, a 25-year-old

who lives nearby and noticed

the dueling yard signs on

walks with his dog

BY MEAGAN FLYNN

D.C. Council member Brianne
K. Nadeau introduced legislation
Friday that would create a
“ human rights sanctuary” in the
District for anyone traveling to
the city to get an abortion.
The District already has a law
on the books protecting the
right to an abortion, but officials
last week pledged to do every-
thing they could to strengthen
protections after the leak of a
Supreme Court draft opinion
suggesting a majority of justices
are poised to overturn Roe v.
Wade.
The bill, if passed, would pre-
vent the District from aiding in
any interstate investigation seek-
ing to penalize people for coming
to the city to get or perform an
abortion. It also would create a
private right of action against
parties that “successfully bring
Texas-style bounty claims”
against anyone engaging in the
protected conduct in the District,
noted Nadeau (D-Ward 1), refer-
ring to the Texas law allowing
private citizens to sue people
involved in performing an abor-
tion after the restrictive six-week
window.
Additionally, the new bill
would extend protections to peo-
ple coming to the District to
obtain contraception or gender-
affirming health care, people en-
gaging in lawful sexual conduct,
and same-sex couples living in
the District. Some have feared
the rights to contraception and
same-sex marriage, similarly en-
shrined in landmark Supreme
Court decisions, could be in jeop-
ardy as well under the logic
Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. ap-

plied to his draft opinion on

overturning Roe.

Nine council members, in-

cluding Chairman Phil Mendel-

son (D), joined Nadeau in intro-

ducing the bill. “It is rare that we

get a sneak peek into a court

decision that will have such a

devastating impact to our resi-

dents, and it is clear from the

draft opinion that even more

than the right to abortion is at

stake,” Nadeau said in a state-

ment.

“Under Samuel Alito’s regres-

sive, political, results-oriented

reading of the Constitution, all

substantive due process and

equal protection rights, such as

the rights to marriage,

n on-procreative sexual conduct,

and the use of contraception are

under threat. With this legisla-

tion I am hoping we can solidify

the rights of our own residents as

well as those who may now be

forced to travel here to preserve

their own,” she continued.

Like the District, 16 states

have laws on the books explicitly

protecting the right to an abor-

tion. But about half of states have

laws that, if Roe is overturned,

will ban or severely restrict abor-

tion. The new legislation aims to

help those who could be crimi-

nalized or penalized in some way

in their home states for seeking

abortion.

At a news conference Tuesday

at Planned Parenthood in the

District, one doctor, Serina

Floyd, said she recently saw a

patient from Texas who flew to

the District to get an abortion,

since the Texas law meant she

could no longer legally get an

abortion there.

According to federal health

data, more than two-thirds of

people who obtained an abortion

in the District in 2019 came from

other states. While abortion

rights proponents have applaud-

ed its protective laws, the city is

in a position unlike other blue

jurisdictions. Because the

D istrict is not a state, Congress

has oversight of its laws.

L ast week, city leaders said

they feared that if Republicans

take control of Congress after the

November midterm elections,

they could seek to ban or severely

restrict abortion at the federal

level. Congress already prohibits

the District from using local

dollars to subsidize abortions for

women on Medicaid.

Appearing with doctors and

nurses at Planned Parenthood,

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton

(D-D.C.) and Mayor Muriel E.

Bowser (D) issued an impas-

sioned plea for statehood on

Tuesday, while calling on Con-

gress to codify federal abortion

protections.

“This decision, if this is the

decision, poses a unique risk to

the District of Columbia,” Norton

said. “It poses a risk to women

across the country. But when it

comes to the District, we are at

special peril. The Republican

Congress is likely to use this

decision to try to ban abortion in

D.C. Other states will be left to

decide for themselves. Until the

District gets statehood, we can-

not make that decision for our-

selves.”

The bill to make the District

the 51st state has passed the

House twice but has stalled in the

Senate, where not all Democrats

have agreed to support it.

THE DISTRICT

B ill aims to safeguard abortion rights

Legislation would make

D.C. a ‘sanctuary’ for

those seeking procedure

“This decision, if this is

the decision, poses a

unique risk to the

District of Columbia.”

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton,

on the leaked Supreme Court draft

opinion that would overturn t he

1973 d ecision that legalized

abortion nationwide