WASHINGTON – “Dump Trump” was the message emblazoned across the chests and signs of dozens of protesters Thursday, near the site of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s newest hotel four blocks from the White House.
Several companies have cut ties with Trump following his comments last month about Mexican immigrants. Most recently, Chef José Andrés announced he would no longer be opening a restaurant in the Washington hotel, which is still under construction, prompting the Trump family to threaten a lawsuit.
“I think that it is completely and utterly atrocious that we would continue to allow the name Trump to grace this amazing building,” Eugene Puryear, director of field operations for labor rights organization Justice First, said. “To have it marked with the name of a racist is not only inappropriate, but it’s highly offensive.”
Demonstrators called for Trump to pull out of the project and the federal government to end its $200 million contract with him. The contract granted the Trump Organization a 60-year lease and the responsibility of remodeling the historic Old Post Office Pavilion where the hotel would be located.
“Mr. Trump didn’t build that building, he didn’t buy that building and he doesn’t own the land. That’s the people’s building,” Paul Strauss, shadow senator for the District of Columbia said. Shadow senators and representatives are elected to campaign for D.C. statehood, but are not paid and do not have any role in Congress.
A handful of counter-protesters rallied across the street, holding signs supporting Trump’s presidential candidacy. Anti-Trump protesters carried signs with Trump’s face marked out with a red X, alongside similarly marked images of a Confederate flag and a member of the Ku Klux Klan.
Michael D. Brown, also a D.C. shadow senator, said that Trump’s comments and mindset do not fit with those of the people of D.C.
“Mr. Trump needs to understand that you cannot tell the content of a person’s soul by looking at the color of his skin or finding out where he was born or what God he worships,” Brown said. “This is America, and what Mr. Trump needs to know is that he’s not fit to do business in our city.”
Mexican immigrant and Latino LGBT activist José Gutierrez, who has worked in the Washington area for 25 years, called on Trump to recognize the harm his words inflicted on the Mexican community.
“I think we are more than 37 million Mexicans living in the United States. And we are not rapists, we are not killers and we are not drug dealers,” Gutierrez said. “We are people who are working hard for the country.”
Reach reporter Nadia Dreid at [email protected] or 202-408-1491. SHFWire stories are free to any news organization that gives the reporter a byline and credits the SHFWire. Like the Scripps Howard Foundation Wire interns on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
