Don’t provoke. Don’t engage. And other advice for D.C. residents living under Trump’s takeover.

Here’s a sentence I never thought I’d write: My beloved hometown of Washington, D.C., is under military occupation.

A video making the rounds on social media shows a group of men in law enforcement walking up to a Black male D.C. resident smoking in front of his home and asking for identification. Thankfully, all involved stayed calm, and the situation didn’t escalate. But it easily could have — and that’s what scares me.

The reason we’re living through this ridiculous moment in the first place is because President Donald Trump decided to flex his authoritarian muscles over what used to be known as Chocolate City by seizing control of the Metropolitan Police Department from Mayor Muriel Bowser and activating National Guard troops to fight crime in the city.

This, despite an announcement by the U.S. Department of Justice earlier this year that violent crime in the district is at a 30-year low.

My advice to my old neighbors in D.C. during these tense and uncertain times is to exercise caution. If approached by law enforcement, remain calm — just like the man in the video. Don’t take the bait. Don’t provoke. Don’t engage in a way that puts you at risk. Don’t give any members of law enforcement an excuse to take you into custody.

Also, don’t assume you know what any law enforcement officers you may encounter are thinking. Some may agree that this entire situation is a waste of time and taxpayer money.

Although I moved away from the district years ago, my heart is right there with you. My late parents owned a home in Brookland, a quiet, middle-class neighborhood in the northeast section of the city. Life was good. For the most part, we felt safe. I have many happy memories of riding my bicycle through our neighborhood. Our family thrived in D.C.

Granted, it has been decades since I lived there, but I’ve dreamed of one day returning, maybe even buying a fixer-upper in my old neighborhood, which some folks call Little Rome because of all the Catholic institutions in the area, including the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception and the Catholic University of America.

But those dreams are on hold for at least the next month or so — that’s how long the district’s Home Rule law allows presidents to keep federal law enforcement officers in the city. After 30 days, Trump will need approval from Congress if he wants to keep at this, which Democrats, and possibly some Republicans, will resist.

Trump’s decision to take over the district’s police force comes after a 19-year-old staffer with the Department of Government Efficiency was injured earlier this month during an attempted carjacking.

Authorities said a group of teenagers approached Edward Coristine early on Aug. 3 near Dupont Circle. Coristine reportedly managed to push a female companion inside a vehicle to safety, but was beaten by several assailants. Police have arrested two 15-year-old Maryland residents in connection with the incident.

Trump posted about the attack on Truth Social on Aug. 5, saying, “If D.C. doesn’t get its act together, and quickly, we will have no choice but to take Federal control of the City, and run this City how it should be run, and put criminals on notice that they’re not going to get away with it anymore.”

He added: “Perhaps it should have been done a long time ago, then this incredible young man, and so many others, would not have had to go through the horrors of Violent Crime. If this continues, I am going to exert my powers, and FEDERALIZE this City. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

For Trump, exerting those powers has meant sending in 800 members of the National Guard, roughly 100 FBI agents, and about 40 agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to start policing the streets of D.C.

This is frightening because of what it may mean for other cities.

This president is not exactly known for showing discipline and restraint. Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper claimed Trump inquired about shooting protesters during the unrest that followed the police killing of George Floyd in 2020. Trump’s aides kept him from going down that road.

But Trump 2.0 doesn’t seem to have any guardrails. So what’s happening in the district now is a trial run, a test. Just like what Trump did in Los Angeles in June, when he ordered 700 Marines to the city to protect “federal property and personnel” during protests over U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests.

Trump has shown us who he is, what he’s about, and how public safety is something he only invokes when it serves his own agenda. Where were his frantic calls to the National Guard on Jan. 6, 2021, when an angry mob violently attacked U.S. Capitol police officers and tried to stop the 2020 presidential election from being certified?

But he has activated the National Guard in Washington, D.C., now.

And if you think he won’t take steps to similarly militarize Philadelphia or some other city like he has done in Los Angeles and D.C., you’re ignoring the signs. Like those two cities, we are a Democratic stronghold, we have a significant Black population that is both engaged and energized, and we’re led by an outspoken Black female mayor.

I’ll say it again: I’m with you, D.C.

And one day, what you’re living through now, the rest of us may wind up experiencing, as well.