Pruden allegedly went to the park, which has had a longstanding reputation as a “cruising” place for men seeking sex with other men, after sunset on five separate occasions. The assaults allegedly occurred between 20 at Meridian Hill Park, also known as Malcolm X Park, which is bounded by 15th, W, 16th and Euclid Streets NW, in the city’s Columbia Heights neighborhood. Pruden faces five counts of assaulting the victims on federal land, one count of impersonating a federal officer, and a hate crimes sentencing enhancement, based on the belief that Pruden assaulted four of the victims because of their perceived sexual orientation. Michael Thomas Pruden, 48, was arrested after a federal grand jury returned an indictment against him on a host of charges related to the alleged assaults, according to a press release from the U.S. Today, that coalition has expanded city-wide to become Washington Parks & People, based in the grand Josephine Butler Parks Center across the street from the park.A Maryland man was arrested in Norfolk, Virginia, on Thursday for allegedly impersonating a police officer and assaulting five different men with a chemical irritant on federal park land in Washington, D.C. Morris Samuel, Howard Coleman, and Josephine Butler. Friends of Meridian Hill, the community’s internationally celebrated coalition to reclaim and revitalize the park beginning in 1990 was led by three African Americans: Rev.The hilltop became a hub of Black activism for more than 50 years, including the Black Panthers and the old annual African Liberation Day and Malcolm X Day. Congressman Adam Clayton Powell of Harlem introduced legislation to formally change the name of the park, but it never passed Congress. The Malcolm X nickname came from Angela Davis, who, in a 1969 rally, called for the park to become a symbol of Black pride.While its official US designation as the center of the world ended in 1884, the hilltop has long been the center of DC’s densest and most diverse neighborhoods.
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