In D.C., A Local Apartment Became an Unlikely Sanctuary for Black Lives Matter Protesters

From Esquire

On the evening of Monday, June 1, 2020, just before D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s 7pm curfew went into effect, Secret Service police and the National Guard pushed back on a crowd of Black Lives Matter demonstrators to clear a path for President Trump to walk from the White House to St. John’s Church for a photo opportunity. Just over a mile away is where Rahul Dubey, a 17-year resident of Washington DC, lives. Dubey’s home—three stories and about 1600 square feet—isn’t as large as the sanctuary at St. John’s Church, but it became a sanctuary just the same. Hours after the curfew, around 70 protesters landed at Dubey’s home for a night-long standoff with police. As one protester taking refuge in Dubey's home put it, “It’s been a roller coaster between a lot of tension and a lot of chillin. Right now we’re chillin mostly because Rahul is an absolute legend and got some pizza delivered.” Amid the action, we talked on the phone with the "legend" who provided a home to those who needed it.

It was around 8:30, and I took a quick stroll around the block. It was a three-quarter moon, and I went over to the FreeMason Temple, which is about a block away from my house to get some fresh air because I knew I’d be in for the rest of the night. I had just stepped outside on my stoop. Next thing I know there was a convergence outside on the corner of 15th and Swann, and police had created this blocked wall. We were kind of just holding off, and there was a bottleneck, so people couldn’t go anywhere. A crowd had gathered outside of my house, and it got bigger and bigger, and the police crowd simultaneously was getting bigger and bigger, and they were pushing back. Before I knew it, it had happened really quick. A couple people had sat on my steps. We were talking about where they were coming from and one person asked if they could charge their phone in my house. Another person asked if they could use the bathroom because we were all holed up for like 25 minutes.

Next thing I know it was like “Get back! Get back!” and I heard screams and shouts and some pops and fire. I saw pepper spray going everywhere. I flung open the door, and I grabbed the railing and started pushing people into my house. It was like a human tsunami of people that the cops were pushing into my street, and the overflow was coming into my house. I hadn’t seen anything like it. All I kept on yelling was “Get in! Get in!” I kept saying, “Get downstairs! Get upstairs!”

When the police line had finally passed my house, that’s when the bodies stopped pouring in and I was able to shut the door and lock it. People were pouring milk on their faces, and water was being flung around. I went downstairs to get water for people. People were coughing. I had pepper spray in my eyes. They were shooting pepper spray in through the window. That was mayhem for about an hour and fifteen minutes, and then as soon as I stepped onto the front porch, [the police] said, “Get back in the house, or we’ll put you down,” and I said, “Look, I got a bunch of people in here.” They said, “Get the fuck back inside.” I waited about an hour, and I went back out and said, “I request to talk to somebody,” and they said, “We told you to get back. Get back or we’ll fucking arrest you,” so I went back in the house.

I looked around and saw kids from age 20 to 50 in the house scattered on all three floors and the backyard, and they were safe. They were active. They were asking questions. They were solving problems in little groups, and they are hunkered down here until 6 am. The police have tried to pull them out through trickery like five or six times. They send decoys to the door, telling them they can’t leave out the front, but if they leave out the back alley, they’ll be safe. I mean, bullshit stuff. They just hijacked the pizza delivery guy for an hour and wouldn’t let us come through. I mean, they faked a 911 call and said “yeah, someone called 911,” but no one did. There’s a lot of emotions.

I have a 13-year-old son, and luckily he’s with friends and family up in Delaware; he’s coming back tomorrow. He’s not there, but at the same time, I wish he was because he could see these amazing souls that are in my house are safe and they had every right to be doing what they were doing, and the police didn’t have a right to just beat them down on the street. For now, at least for the next four hours or so, we’re going to be safe here. I’ve never been so excited to get a Ducinni’s pizza in my life.

I couldn’t leave it to chance. I called the owner and was like, “Brother, I’ve been ordering from you forever. I need you to do me a favor. We are held hostage,” and he was like, “We got you man.” It’s like a covert mission to get Duccini’s pizza! I’m delirious, but it’s beautiful. It’s absurd that I had to get some stranger to hand me pizza over my back fence through police brigade, but it also shows the human spirit, too, and that’s what this is all about.

There’s about 75 people in my house. Some have got couch space. There’s a family, a mother and daughter here, that I gave my son’s room to so they get some peace and quiet. Yeah, even the ledges of the bathtub, and no one’s bitching. They’re happy—no, they’re not happy. They’re safe. They’re cheering. They’re backing each other.

I’ve lived in DC for 17 years, and I’ve never seen anything like this. I went down to the White House on Saturday, not to protest, around 9pm. I’m kind of a night owl, so I like walking around the city at night anyway. March 30, I posted on Instagram, I was walking at midnight around the White House, and there was no one there, and I found myself flicking it off. I posted the photo on Insta.

May 30, I was there—that was Saturday, and it was bedlam. I’ve been here for inaugurations. I’ve been here for the KKK. I’ve seen some shit, and it was heavy. There was a fierceness and an evilness that was there that I did not like. It was a heavy evilness, and a nonchalant calm on the authoritative side. Like, yep, we got you. It almost seemed staged, it was so surreal. And this. This was an out of body experience. Kids were screaming when they were running into the house. I mean, they were lining them off one by one and zip tying them. They’re baiting them and saying they won’t arrest them if they use my alley? Why? Because there’s no lights? So you can attack them? I had never seen anything this evil in my life.

There are still officers outside the house around the corner [at 2 a.m.]. They said they were going to leave and disperse after they were done processing, but they’re still there. They’ve got bus wagons that they’re putting people on. I told people to hunker down and grab some floor space. They’re welcome to leave, but I don’t advise them to.

It’s a good mix [of races]. You got myself. My family is from India. I’m a first generation here, and God, man, do we love America. My dad came over here at age 19 with eight dollars in his pocket. His daughter rose to the top ranks of corporate America, and his son is one of the top innovators in the world in healthcare. I love this fucking country, and I love it because what’s going on in my house right now. I got a Coca Cola commercial spread out from white dudes who are rapping to a couple of dudes smoking a J in the backyard to Asians to Latinos and another South Asian who gave me props to Blacks. Full on. We’re all in it together. It’s pretty cool.

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