By Stacy M. Brown
NNPA Senior National
Correspondent
Donald Trump’s takeover of Washington, D.C.’s police force and his threats to extend the same approach to other Black-led cities are being denounced as racially motivated and tied directly to the Project 2025 blueprint.
The facts tell a different story: under Black mayors, these cities have recorded some of the most dramatic drops in violent crime in decades.
In the nation’s capital, Trump declared what he called “liberation day in D.C.,” vowing to “wipe out crime, savagery, filth, and scum.”
But his rhetoric is at odds with his own Justice Department’s data, which shows the District reached a 30-year low in violent crime in 2024. Overall violent crime fell 35% from the year before. Homicides dropped 32%, robberies 39%, and armed carjackings an astonishing 53%. Assaults with dangerous weapons also declined, continuing a trend of steep reductions since a post-pandemic peak in 2023.
Chicago has seen similar success. Mayor Brandon Johnson noted that the city reduced homicides by more than 30% and shootings by almost 40% in just one year, calling the progress historic.
The results reflect investments in youth employment, community outreach, and neighborhood-based violence prevention programs.
In Los Angeles, Mayor Karen Bass reported that homicides dropped 14% between 2023 and 2024, crediting expanded gang intervention programs and community-based initiatives aimed at preventing retaliatory shootings. Bass dismissed Trump’s federal intervention as nothing more than a “power grab,” a political stunt meant to undercut local leadership.
Baltimore has also posted consecutive annual declines since 2022. Officials report that homicides and nonfatal shootings have fallen significantly, carjackings were down 20% in 2023, and other major crimes decreased further in 2024.
Only burglaries saw a slight rise. Mayor Brandon Scott pointed to the city’s Comprehensive Violence Prevention Plan, launched in 2021, which treats violence as a public health crisis and invests in community interrupters, victim services, and neighborhood stabilization. Scott accused Trump of using crime as a “wedge issue and dog whistle” while cutting federal support for anti-violence programs.
Oakland stands as another example. According to the Major Cities Chiefs Association, homicides fell 21% and all violent crime dropped 29% in the first half of 2025 compared with the same period in 2024.
The gains are credited to the Department of Violence Prevention, created in 2017, as well as partnerships with grassroots organizations.
“The things we are doing are working,” said Nicole Lee of the Urban Peace Movement, while warning that Trump’s threat to send in troops or impose youth curfews would only create “an environment of fear” and put young people of color in the crosshairs.
Despite the hard data, Trump has smeared these cities as “crime-ridden” and “horribly run.” His words have been matched by actions — stripping authority from local leadership in D.C., deploying National Guard troops on city streets, floating youth curfews, and threatening to replicate the model elsewhere.
For Black mayors, the motive is clear. “It was not lost on any member of our organization that the mayors either were Black or perceived to be Democrats. And that’s unfortunate,” said Savannah Mayor Van Johnson, president of the African American Mayors Association.
Trump’s moves track directly with the hardline agenda of Project 2025, which aims to consolidate federal power and weaken local autonomy. Black mayors say they will continue to stand together and defend the progress their cities have made.
“We need to amplify our voices to confront the rhetoric that crime is just running rampant around major U.S. cities,” Johnson stated. “It’s just not true. It’s not supported by any evidence or statistics whatsoever.”
