Denis James, president of the Kalorama Citizens Association, was whacked across the head with a pole, crowbar or some other iron bar-like instrument at 7 p.m. last Thursday. Whatever the implement, the lick left quite a gash.
A vocal presence in the Kalorama/Adams Morgan communities, James says he clearly was targeted for violence as he made his way to his monthly association meeting at the Good Will Baptist Church. His attacker, he said, had been lurking on the front steps of an adjoining home in the 1800 block of Kalorama Road, hidden by a retaining wall, and ignoring other passers-by.
In addition, James said, he wasn’t robbed, though his trip to Sibley Hospital’s emergency room did earn him 14 staples. As he wrote to friends and neighbors on a local online message board, “I’m lucky to be alive.”
“It was a rough period immediately afterward until I was released from the emergency room at 11 p.m. that night,” said James, 56. “But a couple of Tylenol and I haven’t had headaches. I’m amazed.”
His colleagues agree that this was not a random act.
“It was not a robbery,” said Lawrence Karr, association treasurer. “It’s obvious.”
Like a number of Adams Morgan-area activists, James, a Kalorama resident since 1971, has kept a particularly watchful eye on ABC establishments. He has been active in development and preservation issues. He says he has been threatened before.
And on the third Thursday of every month, everyone knows where to find him — walking up Kalorama Road to the church.
“No public service should be dangerous,” said Ward 1 D.C. Council Member Jim Graham, who has been in contact with police about the yet-unsolved incident. “We’re going to get this investigated.”
Though it was his first direct contact with violence, James certainly isn’t the first District activist or advisory neighborhood commissioner to be marked for assault. Activism demands extra vigilance, Graham said.
“It’s just shocking to think that someone who has contributed as much as this man has would be exposed to this type of violence,” he said.
