I will never forget sitting in my Washington, D.C. history class during my senior year of high school, listening to my teacher talk about statehood. Our teacher was trying to ingrain in us, a class of D.C. residents, how important it was to understand this issue.
“When you go to college, and you have that D.C. flag on your wall, it’s your job to tell them about what it really means to be from D.C.,” he said. “It’s your responsibility to tell them about the statehood movement.”
Now, I do have a D.C. flag on my wall and I do try to educate others about the movement. And I truly believe that it is a national issue, not one only relevant to a small city on the East Coast. Many Lewis & Clark students pride themselves on being activists, and D.C. statehood is essential to racial activism. If made a state, D.C. would have the highest percentage of Black residents of any state; at 45%, Black Washingtonians are the racial plurality.
Considering this, the fact that D.C. has no voting members in Congress is a blatant act of racialized voter suppression.
(Photo screen grab from Pioneer Press; Illustration by Madeline Cox)