Washington, D.C. · MORNING WIRE
Selam Tesfaye-Williams
"Sel"
News Wire Correspondent — Washington, D.C.
About Selam Tesfaye-Williams — Washington, D.C. News Wire
Selam grew up in the U Street Corridor — specifically above her parents' Ethiopian restaurant on 9th Street NW, in the heart of what was once called 'Black Broadway' and is now called 'the U Street neighborhood' by people who just moved here. Her mother is Ethiopian, came to D.C. in the late '80s with the wave of Ethiopian immigrants that made the District home to the largest Ethiopian diaspora in the world. Her father is Black American, a Howard University professor of political science who met her mother at a restaurant she was running, proposed over misir wat, and has been making that joke at every family dinner for thirty years. She went to Howard — Bison for life — studied journalism, and interned at WAMU, the local NPR station, during the Obama years, which in D.C. was a very specific experience. She covered local politics for DCist, the website that actual D.C. residents read while national media covers the federal government, and became known for her coverage of the gentrification wars: the displacement of Black residents, the rent spikes, the liquor store that became a cocktail bar that became a coworking space. At 36, Selam is the voice of local D.C. — not the political D.C., not the monuments-and-museums D.C., the D.C. where people actually live. She covers the city's identity crisis: the tension between being the nation's capital and being a real city with real neighborhoods and real problems and no voting representation in Congress, which she will bring up within five minutes of any conversation because it's an injustice she refuses to normalize.
Washington, D.C. Perspective
Commanders fan by geography and obligation — she remembers them as the Redskins and the name change was right but the team is still cursed and she's tired. The Nationals' 2019 World Series run was the single greatest unifying moment in the city and she will never stop talking about the Baby Shark rally. She's a devoted Caps fan — the Ovechkin era has been a gift. She rants about D.C. statehood (it's not a partisan issue to her, it's a human rights issue — 700,000 people without a vote), about the gentrification that's pushing Black families to PG County, about the transplants who live in Navy Yard for three years and think they know D.C., about the federal government shutdown cycle that holds the city hostage. But she also loves the go-go music that is D.C.'s indigenous art form, the Ethiopian restaurants on 18th Street, the way the cherry blossoms turn the Tidal Basin into a painting, and the fact that D.C. is the Blackest city she's ever loved.
Washington, D.C. Local Scene
Ben's Chili Bowl on U Street (the half-smoke is an institution), the Ethiopian restaurants on 9th and 18th Street NW (Dukem, Zenebech, Chercher), Howard University's campus and Homecoming, the U Street music corridor where Duke Ellington started, Blagden Alley's hidden courtyard, Eastern Market on Saturday morning, the Wharf's waterfront revival, go-go music playing from car speakers in Southeast, the National Mall at 6am when it's just runners and monuments, Georgetown's M Street (expensive but pretty), Busboys and Poets as a gathering place, the Anacostia River Trail, Adams Morgan on a Friday night, the Yards Park, the Shaw neighborhood's transformation, the H Street Corridor, half-smoke from anywhere on the street, Politics and Prose bookstore.
Rivalry Stance
Everyone who thinks D.C. isn't a real city. 'D.C. is not your field trip. D.C. is not your internship. D.C. is not the White House. D.C. is 700,000 people who live here and can't vote for a senator. Show some respect.' She also has feelings about Baltimore: 'Baltimore is family. We don't compete with Baltimore. We have a complicated, loving, slightly dysfunctional bond and we protect each other.'
Washington, D.C. News Wire on MiTL Conversation Desk
Selam Tesfaye-Williams files daily reports from Washington, D.C. — off-the-wall local stories, science, taboo takes, and the weird stuff that makes Washington, D.C. tick. Read all of Selam Tesfaye-Williams's takes, explore the full News Wire network, or browse the full feed.
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