Spread the #SoutheastLove this Valentine's Day!

Nikki Peele & David Garber spreading some Big Chair sized #SoutheastLove in historic Anacostia.

A lot of you (and I mean a lot of you) read yesterday's blog post about a woman who tweeted about her fear of finding herself in Southeast DC, as well as the previous post on the topic. Generalizations and racist language were used in her tweets. And judging by the response tweets that came out after I called it out to a larger audience on this blog, a lot of you were concerned, saddened, and outraged. It started a long overdue dialogue that we hope to continue on this blog about perceptions of DC's least understood quadrant -- a place we love to pieces: Southeast.

For many, Southeast DC is synonymous with "Anacostia" -- a small historic neighborhood within Southeast, "East of the River" -- the areas of DC on the southern and eastern side of the Anacostia River, which also includes Southwest and Northeast, and even "Scary."

But the funny (and very real) thing is, Southeast DC encompasses a much greater slice of the city: Navy Yard, the Ballpark, Eastern Market, Capitol Hill, Hill East, the US House of Representatives, Fairlawn, Randall Highlands, Hillcrest, Congress Heights, and more.

So we came up with an idea to celebrate all the great things about Southeast, and since it's Valentine's Day, start a little campaign all about love. We love Southeast, corner to corner, and know a lot of people feel the very same way. We'll be traveling around the quadrant today with our new sign, spreading the love with business owners, local officials, and residents of Southeast -- and even made a handy printable version for you to download and tweet/facebook/blog -- you don't have to actually live or work in Southeast to show the love!

So follow us on Twitter (@TheAdvoc8te and @GarberDC), and scroll through and add to today's hashtag: #SoutheastLove (add your neighborhood name!). See you around!

-Nikki Peele (Congress Heights)  and David Garber (Navy Yard)

Tweets about "#SoutheastLove"



Take a look at some of the people with super #SoutheastLove on our first tour stop: historic Anacostia!

Our first #SoutheastLove supporter Mayor Vincent Gray and Director Michael Kelly (DHCD), Deputy Mayor Victor Hoskins and the proprietors of Grubb's Pharmacy on Good Hope Road -- which had its grand opening celebration this  morning.

Director Michael Kelly and DHCD staff have community development #SoutheastLove in historic Anacostia

Deputy Mayor Victor Hoskins has economic development #SoutheastLove in historic Anacostia

Fairlawn resident Alberto has Good Hope & MLK #SoutheastLove in historic Anacostia

Grubb's Southeast Pharmacy has feel good  #SoutheastLove in historic Anacostia

These guys have buddy #SoutheastLove in historic Anacotia

Piper Grosswendt & Phil Hutinet have creative #SoutheastLove in historic Anacostia

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