美国非洲裔市长协会的成员们去年开始注意到，其所在城市的暴力犯罪率有所下降。

当唐纳德·特朗普总统宣称华盛顿特区是犯罪猖獗的荒芜之地、需要联邦政府干预，并威胁要对其他黑人领导的城市采取类似干预时，多位市长交换了意见。

总统对这些城市的描述与他们去年开始注意到的情况相矛盾：在经历疫情时期的激增后，暴力犯罪率有所下降。在某些情况下，犯罪率大幅下降，这主要归功于加强青少年参与、枪支回购计划和社区合作。

如今，非裔美国人市长协会的成员们决心阻止特朗普抹杀那些他们早已认为被忽视的成就。他们正以政府在国家首都史无前例的执法接管行动为契机，驳斥他关于美国一些最重要城市飞地的说法。

美国佐治亚州萨凡纳市市长、非裔美国人市长协会主席范·约翰逊表示："这让我们有机会发声，驳斥那种认为犯罪在美国主要城市肆虐的论调。这种说法根本不属实，没有任何证据或统计数据支持。"

在向华盛顿部署首批800名国民警卫队成员后，这位共和党籍总统将目光投向巴尔的摩、芝加哥、洛杉矶和加利福尼亚州奥克兰等其他城市，称这些城市犯罪猖獗且'管理糟糕'。这些城市有一个共同点：均由黑人市长领导。

约翰逊表示："我们组织的每一位成员都清楚意识到，这些市长要么是非裔，要么被视为民主党人。这很不幸。作为市长，我们必须与场上的任何一方合作。"

联邦政府的举措增强了部分市长推行安全城市策略的决心。

特朗普辩称，在政府效率部（DOGE）一名重要雇员遭遇劫车未遂袭击后，联邦执法部门必须介入。他还以无家可归者营地、涂鸦和路面坑洼为例，证明华盛顿的情况正在'恶化'。

然而华盛顿都会区警方公布的统计数据与总统的说法相矛盾，数据显示自2023年疫情后犯罪率达到峰值以来，该地区的暴力犯罪已有所下降。

芝加哥市长布兰登·约翰逊对特朗普的言论嗤之以鼻，并赞扬该市取得了“历史性进展——仅过去一年就使凶杀案减少了30%以上，枪击案下降了近40%”。

洛杉矶市长卡伦·巴斯（Karen Bass）表示，联邦政府的接管不过是一场作秀式的“权力争夺”。据悉，该市在2023年至2024年期间凶杀案下降了14%。

巴尔的摩市官员表示，根据该市公共安全数据仪表板显示，今年凶杀案和非致命枪击事件出现历史性下降，且自2022年以来持续减少。2023年劫车案件下降了20%，2024年其他重大犯罪也有所减少。仅入室盗窃案略有上升。

市政府官员表示，犯罪率下降归功于采用“公共卫生”策略应对暴力事件。2021年，在市长布兰登·斯科特（Brandon Scott）领导下，巴尔的摩市制定了《全面暴力预防计划》，该计划要求加大对社区暴力干预的投入、为犯罪受害者提供更多服务并推进其他相关举措。

斯科特指责特朗普将犯罪问题当作“分裂社会的楔子议题和政治暗语”加以利用，而非真正关心遏制暴力行为。

他积极破坏那些在全国各城市拯救生命的有效努力，转而支持对黑人社区实施军事化 policing。

这位民主党市长指出，司法部今年削减了逾100万美元原本用于社区反暴力措施的拨款。他誓言不论如何都将持续推进这项工作。

斯科特表示：“我们将继续与地区联邦执法机构紧密合作——他们一直是优秀的合作伙伴，并将竭尽全力克服本届政府试图设置的障碍，持续推进相关工作。”

根据主要城市警察局长协会的中期报告，奥克兰市官员上周刚刚宣布，与2024年同期相比，今年上半年该市犯罪率显著下降，其中凶杀案减少21%，所有暴力犯罪下降29%。官员们将此归功于与社区组织及危机应对服务的协作，这些合作通过该市2017年成立的暴力预防部门得以实现。

“这些结果表明我们的方向是正确的，”芭芭拉·李市长在新闻发布会上表示，“我们将继续以同样的综合方法推进这一进展，正是这种方法让我们取得了当前的成绩。”

上周特朗普对奥克兰市作出评价后，她驳斥其言论是“危言耸听”。

社会正义倡导者一致认为犯罪率已有所下降，并指出特朗普正在延续长期以来困扰奥克兰市的夸大认知。

奥克兰组织"城市和平运动"的执行董事李妮可（Nicole Lee）表示，犯罪率下降的成果很大程度上应归功于社区团体。该组织致力于通过领导力培训、援助枪支暴力受害者等举措，增强有色人种社区和青年群体的权能。

李表示："我们衷心感谢社区合作伙伴及组织网络在过去几年疫情后为构建真正安全的社区所付出的艰辛努力。我们正在实施的措施已初见成效。"

她担心军事力量的干预会破坏这一进展。

李表示：“这在我们社区中制造了一种恐惧氛围。”

在华盛顿，来自多个联邦机构的特工、国民警卫队成员甚至美国公园警察均被目睹执行执法任务，从巡查国家广场到盘查违章停车人员。

五角大楼新闻秘书金斯利·威尔逊表示，警卫部队将不会配备武器，但拒绝详细说明他们执行安全巡逻和环境美化任务的具体安排。

萨凡纳市的约翰逊表示，他完全支持与联邦政府合作，但让军队出现在城市街头并非他所设想的方式。相反，城市需要联邦政府在跨州调查、打击枪支走私和网络犯罪等问题上提供协助。

约翰逊表示：“我曾是一名执法人员。市政执法机构所需的技能与军队不同。”

另有猜测称，联邦政府干预措施可能包括对年轻人实施宵禁。

但尼科尔·李指出，这种做法将适得其反，不仅会不成比例地影响有色人种青年，还错误地将年轻人假定为暴力的主要煽动者。

李表示：“如果你是年轻人，基本上可能仅仅因为在特定时间后外出，就会收到传票或被定罪。这不仅无助于解决暴力和犯罪问题，还会让年轻人成为刑事司法系统的针对目标。”

约翰逊表示，目前各州市长正密切关注他们在华盛顿的同僚穆丽尔·鲍泽，观察她如何应对这场前所未有的联邦干预。自特朗普接管以来，鲍泽一直在批评与合作之间走钢丝，但周五事态升级——官员们提起诉讼试图阻止接管行动。

约翰逊称赞鲍泽以庄重优雅的姿态继续前行。

“黑人市长们具有韧性。我们本质上是奋斗的儿女，”约翰逊表示，“我们学会了快速适应，我相信我们能够做到，而且正在这样做。”

Members of the African American Mayors Association started noticing last year declines in violent crime in their cities.

As President Donald Trump declared Washington, D.C., a crime-ridden wasteland in need of federal intervention and threatened similar federal interventions in other Black-led cities, several mayors compared notes.

The presidents characterization of their cities contradicts what they began noticing last year: that they were seeing a drop in violent crime after a pandemic-era spike . In some cases the declines were monumental, due in large part to more youth engagement, gun buyback programs and community partnerships.

Now members of the African American Mayors Association are determined to stop Trump from burying accomplishments that they already felt were overlooked. And theyre using the administrations unprecedented law enforcement takeover in the nations capital as an opportunity to disprove his narrative about some of the countrys greatest urban enclaves.

It gives us an opportunity to say we need to amplify our voices to confront the rhetoric that crime is just running rampant around major U.S. cities. Its just not true, said Van Johnson, mayor of Savannah, Georgia, and president of the African American Mayors Association. Its not supported by any evidence or statistics whatsoever.

After deploying the first of 800 National Guard members to Washington, the Republican president is setting his sights on other cities including Baltimore, Chicago, Los Angeles and Oakland, California, calling them crime-ridden and horribly run. One thing they all have in common: Theyre led by Black mayors.

It was not lost on any member of our organization that the mayors either were Black or perceived to be Democrats , Johnson said. And thats unfortunate. For mayors, we play with whoevers on the field.

The federal governments actions have heightened some of the mayors desires to champion the strategies used to help make their cities safer.

Trump argued that federal law enforcement had to step in after a prominent employee of the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, was attacked in an attempted carjacking. He also pointed to homeless encampments, graffiti and potholes as evidence of Washington getting worse.

However statistics published by Washingtons Metropolitan Police contradict the president and show violent crime has dropped there since a post-pandemic peak in 2023.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson scoffed at Trumps remarks, hailing the citys historic progress driving down homicides by more than 30% and shootings by almost 40% in the last year alone.

Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles, where homicides fell 14% between 2023 and 2024, called the federal takeover nothing but a performative power grab.

In Baltimore, officials say they have seen historic decreases in homicides and nonfatal shootings this year, and those have been on the decline since 2022, according to the citys public safety data dashboard. Carjackings were down 20% in 2023, and other major crimes fell in 2024. Only burglaries have climbed slightly.

The lower crime rates are attributed to tackling violence with a public health approach, city officials say. In 2021, under Mayor Brandon Scott, Baltimore created a Comprehensive Violence Prevention Plan that called for more investment in community violence intervention, more services for crime victims and other initiatives.

Scott accused Trump of exploiting crime as a wedge issue and dog whistle rather than caring about curbing violence.

He has actively undermined efforts that are making a difference saving lives in cities across the country in favor of militarized policing of Black communities, Scott said via email.

The Democratic mayor pointed out that the Justice Department has slashed over $1 million in funding this year that would have gone toward community anti-violence measures. He vowed to keep on making headway, regardless.

We will continue to closely work with our regional federal law enforcement agencies, who have been great partners, and will do everything in our power to continue the progress despite the roadblocks this administration attempts to implement, Scott said.

Just last week Oakland officials touted significant decreases in crime in the first half of this year compared with the same period in 2024, including a 21% drop in homicides and a 29% decrease in all violent crime, according to the midyear report by the Major Cities Chiefs Association. Officials credited collaborations with community organizations and crisis response services through the citys Department of Violence Prevention, established in 2017.

These results show that were on the right track, Mayor Barbara Lee said at a news conference. Were going to keep building on this progress with the same comprehensive approach that got us here.

After Trump gave his assessment of Oakland last week, she rejected it as fearmongering.

Social justice advocates agree that crime has gone down and say Trump is perpetuating exaggerated perceptions that have long plagued Oakland.

Nicole Lee, executive director of Urban Peace Movement, an Oakland-based organization that focuses on empowering communities of color and young people through initiatives such as leadership training and assistance to victims of gun violence, said much credit for the gains on lower crime rates is due to community groups.

We really want to acknowledge all of the hard work that our network of community partners and community organizations have been doing over the past couple of years coming out of the pandemic to really create real community safety, Lee said. The things we are doing are working.

She worries that an intervention by military forces would undermine that progress.

It creates kind of an environment of fear in our community, Lee said.

In Washington, agents from multiple federal agencies, National Guard members and even the United States Park Police have been seen performing law enforcement duties from patrolling the National Mall to questioning people parked illegally.

Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson said the guard troops will not be armed but declined to elaborate on their assignments to safety patrols and beautification efforts.

Savannahs Johnson said he is all for partnering with the federal government, but troops on city streets is not what he envisioned. Instead, cities need federal assistance for things like multistate investigation and fighting problems such as gun trafficking, and cybercrimes.

Im a former law enforcement officer. There is a different skill set that is used for municipal law enforcement agencies than the military, Johnson said.

There has also been speculation that federal intervention could entail curfews for young people.

But that would do more harm, Nicole Lee said, disproportionately affecting young people of color and wrongfully assuming that youths are the main instigators of violence.

If youre a young person, basically you can be cited, criminalized, simply for being outside after certain hours, Lee said. Not only does that not solve anything in regard to violence and crime, it puts young people in the crosshairs of the criminal justice system.

For now, Johnson said, the mayors are watching their counterpart in Washington, Muriel Bowser, closely to see how she navigates the unprecedented federal intervention. She has been walking a fine line between critiquing and cooperating since Trumps takeover, but things ramped up Friday when officials sued to try to block the takeover.

Johnson praised Bowser for carrying on with dignity and grace.

Black mayors are resilient. We are intrinsically children of struggle, Johnson said. We learn to adapt quickly, and I believe that we will and we are.