The January 6 insurrection at the Capitol reminded us again of the unsafe, unjust outcomes of denying statehood to Washington, D.C.
With a right-wing mob pounding on their doors, members of Congress pleaded for the National Guard to be deployed to stop the insurrection. But because DC is not a state, their elected leaders don't control the National Guard. Donald Trump did. And that impeded a timely deployment.1
In 2020, the House of Representatives passed a bill to enfranchise nearly one million voters and make D.C. a state.2 But it died in Mitch McConnell's Senate -- which Democrats now control. Can you tell Congress to stop this egregious voter suppression and make D.C. a state?
Sign the petition: Tell Congress to make D.C. a state!
There's no excuse for the mass disenfranchisement of people who live in Washington D.C.
If D.C. were a state, it would have a larger population than either Wyoming or Vermont, both states where over 90 percent of the population is white. And despite lacking representation, D.C. residents pay the highest per capita federal income taxes in the country, and more in total income taxes than 22 other states.3
But Senate Republicans have been insistent on blocking statehood for D.C., worried about their political fortunes instead of voting rights. Republican Senator Steve Daines from Montana even went so far as to say that people in D.C. aren't "real people."4
Daines told the Senate to "go out to where the real people are at across the country and ask them where they think," rather than ask D.C. residents themselves.5 This rhetoric, depicting D.C. residents as less "real" than other Americans, is implicitly racist, and only more evidence that D.C. needs a voice in Congress.
Refusing to allow D.C. to become a state is a key element of the right-wing grip on power in Congress. It's time to act to restore democratic, majoritarian rule to the federal government.
Will you tell Congress that you won't stand by as nearly one million of your fellow Americans are denied representation, simply because of where they live?
Tell Congress: D.C. deserves statehood!
Sources:
1. New York Times, "The 51st State? Washington Revisits an Uphill Cause With New Fervor," January 10, 2021.
2. Washington Post, "DC statehood bill passes House of Representatives," June 25, 2020.
3. Government of the District of Columbia, "Why Statehood for DC," October 3, 2020.
4. Roll Call, "Republicans push back on Democrats' DC statehood bill," July 1, 2020.
5. Forbes, "GOP Senators Stoke Racial Controversy With Arguments Against D.C. Statehood," July 1, 2020.