by Dionne "DJ Magic" Ledbetter

For my family, Washington D.C. is a place to discover yourself, your community, and your passion. Growing up, I’d hear my dad and my sister speak with so much reverence for D.C. and about how the District shaped their lives in special ways. I didn’t need to be convinced. After hearing their words all those years, I knew where I was headed.

So, I decided to attend Howard University at 17 years old, and I was curious to find answers for myself. The “discovering my passion” part was easy – I knew it hid somewhere in music. I majored in music composition with hopes of becoming the next John Williams, but my new love of DJing – and my new persona, DJ Magic – was speaking to me in ways that I couldn’t ignore. Discovering myself and my community, though, proved to be more difficult. Like many others, starting college was a crucial moment in my coming-of-age. But it was my sexuality that made this moment much harder than expected.

Living in D.C., in an area culturally known for its large Black population, it was easy to take pride in my Blackness. In my queerness...I struggled. It was hard for me to understand what queerness looked and felt like on me. Even though everyone on the street and in my classes looked like me, I still felt trapped in my identity. That first year in D.C. was so rough that, honestly, I didn’t want to come back for my sophomore year. But there was something so inexplicably rich about D.C. that I couldn’t allow myself to leave so soon. Who knew that the following year, my saving grace would come in an email titled: Please don't play Vogue by Madonna !

The email was from a classmate asking if I could DJ a queer Lover’s Ball at a Northeast art gallery. The subject line was a polite request to avoid the overplayed and assumed theme song of ballroom culture by the general public. Before this, I’d only DJ’d at cookouts, volleyball games, and small house parties for the near-pointless currency of exposure. But my classmate was paying the big bucks this time – $50 to be exact – so I was excited. I brought a handful of friends to the gig, not knowing that the night ahead would change everything I knew about parties, people, and DJing.

It felt like opening another realm. Up until that night, I never saw boys dancing with boys and girls dancing with girls. I never saw that many queer people in one room enjoying themselves with their community. I was no longer in the world of playing line dances and clean edits. That night opened my eyes to what queer spaces could be. It showed me that we don’t have to force ourselves to obey the brutal and severely gendered customs of nightlife. Instead, it was a space where we could exist comfortably outside of the norm. I didn’t have to perform a false image of myself. I was who I was, and that was appreciated.

That night unraveled not only my love for DJing but also DJing for other queer people. We built something freeing, something warm, something loving – just for us. It’s a special thing to be musically responsible for curating great memories at parties, but that’s doubled when it’s for your own community. That night planted the seed in my head that Black queer people need the space to enjoy ourselves not just during Pride, but throughout the year.

The flower that bloomed from that night was Femme Fatale: an LGBTQ+ inclusive celebration of love, power, and strength (here’s a playlist for a taste of the vibe). The following year, I threw its first iteration in a Northeast basement. Little did I know that some of the D.C.’s first Black queer parties in the 1970s were in the basements of homes in the same quadrant. Then later on that year, I was able to throw a few more (in a home that I’m pretty sure had the same flooring as children’s bounce houses). Three years since its inception, Femme Fatale has evolved from sweaty basement walls and champagne-filled storage bins to a standing residency at DC9 in the U Street area.

Femme Fatale is the vehicle that allowed me to come into my own as a queer Black woman and it is my hope that as we continue to grow, we can help people come into their own as well. At its root, this space is a love letter to the breakthrough that allowed me to embrace myself and my identity. And if it wasn't for that Northeast art gallery, I would’ve never discovered what pride is: honest love for yourself and for your community.

More often than not, when Black queer people in D.C. participate in nightlife, they are only presenting half of themselves. Blackness and queerness are rarely embraced simultaneously. However, there is a rich Black queer legacy in D.C. The District is home to the nation’s first black LGBT political advocacy group: the D.C. Coalition of Black Lesbians, Gays and Bisexuals. D.C. is also the home of the earliest Black Pride celebration, which took place at Banneker Field in 1991.

We have always played an important role in the development and preservation of our culture, and I think it’s our duty to contribute to that legacy, doing whatever we can to ensure its perpetuity. Black queer environments as a whole give us a break from our hardships. As one such space, Femme Fatale gives us an opportunity to build a culture and be a part of a community that is essentially bonded by music.

And more than anything, these environments allow us to recognize that we are worthy of a loving space to celebrate both our Blackness and our queerness at the same time, all year round.

If any of this resonated, I warmly invite you to a Femme Fatale party so you and others can also build something freeing, warm, and loving – just for us. The next event is this Friday, June 10. But if you want to support our future shows, follow us on Instagram!

Last Tuesday, May 10, 2022, marked the first of several D.C. Council votes on the Fiscal Year 23 Budget and Budget Support Act (BSA). One of the most important decisions the Council made, in an 8-5 vote, was to maintain its commitment to phase out police from schools and replace them with non-police safety resources.

Last year, the Council unanimously passed legislation to gradually reduce the number of school resource officers (SROs) in D.C. public and charter schools, beginning July 1 of this year, eventually sunsetting the Metropolitan Police Department’s (MPD) School Safety Division in 2025. The decision was largely informed by young people who, for years, have raised alarms about the negative impact of school police on their ability to learn and feel safe in school. Over the last two years, these students have met with District leaders and testified before the Council multiple times, detailing traumatizing encounters with law enforcement outside of and within their schools. They have held actions and shared stories with one clear message to District leaders: “Love us. Don’t harm us.”

Replacing police officers with non-police safety staff was also a key recommendation of the D.C. Police Reform Commission, an entity established by the D.C. Council to examine policing practices and provide evidence-based recommendations for reform. In its 2021 report, the Commission found that “racial disparities in school-based policing are pervasive and the harmful effects of police contact for school-aged children are significant.” Acknowledging that the presence of police in schools increases negative interactions between youth and law enforcement, the Commission concluded that District dollars currently spent on SROs (roughly $14 million a year) should be reallocated and invested in non-police safety staff better suited to fostering youth development and creating healthy school environments.

Ignoring this evidence and the voices of D.C. youth, in her FY23 budget proposal Mayor Bowser asked the Council to reverse course and maintain the status quo of keeping law enforcement officers in DC schools indefinitely. Thankfully, a majority of the Council rejected this proposal with their vote last week.

As several Councilmembers noted during last week’s debate, the Council made a commitment to both students and community in passing the SRO phase-out legislation last year. Reversing this decision would send the message that the voices and experiences of Black and brown youth don’t matter; it would also ignore decades of data showing that police presence in schools perpetuates the school-to-prison pipeline, creates and stressful and punitive school environment, and does not meaningfully increase safety of students.

The #PoliceFreeSchools campaign isn’t just about removing SROs; it’s about creating a healthy school environment that’s conducive to learning for all students. This includes fostering trusting and dependable relationships between students and school staff that are not linked to the carceral system, investing in social-emotional learning, and providing support staff skilled in trauma-informed, trauma-responsive care and de-escalation. No matter how much additional training SROs receive before working in schools, they are no different from other police officers. As Councilmember Allen underscored at last week’s budget vote, SROs “went through their training to be a police officer, not an educator, counselor, or mediator.”

The debate around police in schools also highlights a larger problem with D.C.’s police-centric approach to public safety. What proponents of this approach are arguing for is the continuation of a failed system. Councilmember Robert White drew attention to this fact, pointing out that no SROs have actually been removed from schools, yet there is increasing concern about the spread of violence in schools, demonstrating that SROs are not effective at keeping students safe.

While we all share concerns about crime and violence in the District, decades of data and experience have demonstrated that we cannot police our way to safety. It’s time for a different approach, and we hope District leaders will continue to listen to young people most impacted and to prioritize the investments needed to achieve real safety.

If you’re looking for ways to plug into the #PoliceFreeSchools campaign, the latest initiatives the ACLU-DC is leading or supporting, and what’s going on at the D.C. Council, here are some upcoming events and resources:

• The Council takes its final vote on the budget next Tuesday, May 24. Tune in to that and other D.C. Council meetings and hearings—see the Council’s calendar for upcoming dates and access instructions.
• The Dream Up Police-Free Schools: Teach-In is on Thursday, May 26 at 5:30–7 pm. Register here.
• Join us for Virtual Candidate Forums as we ask D.C. Council At-Large and Council Chair candidates how they will help achieve community safety if elected to serve the District on Thursday, May 19, and May 26 at 6 pm. Register here.
• Call or write to Councilmembers in support of Police-Free Schools. Visit the Council’s page for contact info for all Councilmembers.