Council Member Matt Frumin's Policy of Silence and Secrecy
The abduction of Georgetown University's Badar Khan Suri and ICE threats to DCPS highlight inaction and cheapening democratic values of D.C. city leaders.
Council member Matt Frumin (D-Ward 3) has sided with silence and secrecy.
I live in Ward 3 and asked to meet with Matt Frumin because he’s my representative. We met on April 4th to talk about what he might do for Badar Khan Suri, the Georgetown professor and postdoctoral researcher abducted by ICE on March 17th and ICE threats to DCPS.
Frumin is a politician who might take a principled stand. He is a good man, but a good man doing nothing.
That same day Roudah Chaker, a student of Khan Suri, spoke at a Hands-Off Education rally (minute 14) at the Department of Education. She spoke bravely and clearly in support of the rule of law, decency, democracy, and for her disappeared teacher.
“He brought warmth and wisdom wherever he went,” said Chaker.
Chaker shared his last words before being detained which were “take care of my students, make sure they are OK.”
Badar Khan Suri is also a good man.
His “crime” is being married to a Palestinian woman. Georgetown University has no reason to believe he has done anything illegal.
Khan Suri’s abduction, while not taped, was likely no less disturbing than the video of Rumeysa Ozturk’s frightening dystopian scene. The Tufts doctoral student co-authored an op-ed for The Tufts Daily.
Representatives nationwide are choosing to speak out and take action against these unjust arrests. Frumin could do the same.
He is responsible for the entire city. The success of our universities and schools is key to the success of Washington D.C., and our elected leaders should be concerned with the disappearance of our university professors. Frumin is not.
It was clear from the meeting that there are no plans to defend the rights of Khan Suri. Frumin said he would contact a Georgetown University governmental affairs representative. A week later, nothing of substance came from that pledge.
Frumin said he believes a policy of “flying under the radar” is the best approach for his 80,000 constituents in Ward 3. He believes most of his colleagues on the Council don’t stray far from that approach.
No D.C. official has publicly defended Khan Suri. Frumin’s assessment of his colleagues may be right.
Council member Brooke Pinto (D-Ward 2) who represents the Georgetown campus area wrote in an email after several attempts to understand her position — “I am deeply concerned and troubled by this situation and am looking into it to try to get to the bottom of what happened here as we strive for future protection.”
When she and her staff were asked to elaborate, the conversation ended. Pinto has made no public statement.
Good people are turning away.
Frumin’s silence also extended to the near abduction of a DCPS nurse.
Council member Brianne Nadeau (D-Ward 1) was the only Council member to speak up.
“We are stronger when we stand together,” Nadeau wrote.
Frumin and everyone else sat it out.
Asked if Frumin had plans to prepare Ward 3 School leaders for similar intrusions, he said online training was suggested earlier in the year to administrators. He was unsure if all Ward 3 schools were prepared for an ICE visit.
The DCPS staff member at H.D. Cooke Elementary was protected because the school and its neighbors at the Festival Center were prepared. Support from the Council and the Mayor is essential.
Laura Fuchs, a teacher and leader in the Washington Teachers’ Union, has pleaded for more support. Watch her testimony before the D.C. State Board of Education here. (minute 35:00)
Frumin and his fellow Council members are probably getting their bearings in an uncertain and understandably challenging time.
Frumin has however found his voice in support of secret meetings.
To strategize and deal with the threats that he and much of the Council are so quiet about, Frumin believes secret meetings are necessary to conduct the democratic business of the people.
Council members Charles Allen (D-Ward 6) and Janeese Lewis-George (D-Ward 4) are the only ones who voted against the anti-democratic measure.
Just as courage and principled stands encourage the same in others, so too fear and authoritarian inclinations become insidious habits.
On Jan. 2nd Frumin posted on Facebook:
Too often at the national level, we see politicians quote Dr. King without also acknowledging the reality that today, many of the same injustices he fought against are still present. I believe the best way I can honor Dr. King’s legacy is to use my platform to fight injustice in all its forms, including continuing to fight to expand access to quality education, increase safe and affordable housing, support job training and creation, and advocate for DC statehood, just to name a few.
Dr. King’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail becomes resonant.
“Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection,” King wrote.
On April 4th, the day of the Frumin meeting, and Khan Suri’s student spoke out at the Hands-Off Schools rally, it was also the anniversary of Dr. King’s assassination. One person I heard that day honored Dr. King’s legacy by standing for justice, while another opted for silence and secrecy.
Frumin, like Khan Suri, is a good man. He may yet find the will to act. But if Frumin and other D.C. elected leaders don’t do something soon, whether they like it or not, they will leave our democracy and this city with a damning legacy.
All the while a husband, father, teacher, and an innocent man spends another night unjustly imprisoned. DCPS schools are fearful of another ICE incursion. Expect more to come amidst the silence.