Object Details
Names
District of Columbia. Police Department
Tompkins, Dera
Collection Creator
Smithsonian Institution. Anacostia Community Museum
Citation
Black Mosaic: Community, Race, and Ethnicity among Black Immigrants in Washington, D. C. exhibition records, Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Scope and Contents
Dera Tompkins explained in detail Operation Caribbean Cruise, the 16-month operation set up by the 4th district police department in Washington, DC and executed on February 22, 1986 at 5am. She stated Operation Caribbean Cruise was the largest drug raid executed in Washington, DC at the time, and the police target was Caribbean community, Rastafarians, and Rastafarianism. Tompkins also explained her role in the response to the police raid, including learning the raid was against Black people, fighting against the police, and organizing the community.
Tompkins discussed flyers, buttons, slides, press releases, and her other materials about the Caribbean and Rastafarian communities' response to Operation Caribbean Cruise. She stated the community's motto was "Stand Firm". Tompkins read portions of the Washington, DC police department's handbook on Operation Caribbean Cruise, and explained how she obtained a copy of the handbook.
Interview is in English. Digital audio files include white noise and static, and music in the background. Interviewee's voice can be heard clearly.
sova.acma.03-027_ref1885
General
Associated documentation for this interview is available in the Anacostia Community Museum Archives.
Title created by ACMA staff using text written on sound cassette, contents of audio recording, textual transcript, and/or associated archival documentation.
Place
Washington (D.C.)
Topic
African Americans
African American women
Caribbeans
Rastafarians
Rastafari movement
Police
Drug control
Gun control
Racism
Interviews
Culture
Jamaicans
See more items in
Black Mosaic: Community, Race, and Ethnicity among Black Immigrants in Washington, D. C. Exhibition Records
Black Mosaic: Community, Race, and Ethnicity among Black Immigrants in Washington, D. C. Exhibition Records / Series 3: Oral History Interviews
Sponsor
Funding for partial processing of the collection was supported by a grant from the Smithsonian Institution's Collections Care and Preservation Fund (CCPF). A number of oral history interviews in this collection were digitized and catalogued in 2022 with support from the Smithsonian American Women's History Initiative.
Extent
2 Digital files
1 Sound cassette
Date
circa 1992-1993
Archival Repository
Anacostia Community Museum Archives
Type
Archival materials
Digital files
Sound cassettes
Collection Rights
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Note
The total playing time of interview recording is approximately 50 minutes.
Collection Restrictions
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Please contact the archivist to make an appointment: ACMarchives@si.edu.
ACMA.03-027_ref1885
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/qa7fd3a38f3-2011-4391-8b63-82a8a8084fb3
ACMA.03-027
ACMA
Record ID
ebl-1712088000981-1712088003353-0