One vote in the U.S. House is not nearly enough for a coalition of activist groups that led their own marches Monday to demand D.C. statehood.
While Mayor Adrian Fenty led thousands of residents up Pennsylvania Avenue in a coordinated voting rights march, the Stand Up! for Democracy in D.C. Coalition and the D.C. Statehood Green Party, among others, sought to make a point of their own: The bill now under consideration by Congress is wholly inadequate.
The legislation would expand the House by two seats, one for the District and the other for Utah. But statehood advocates want it all — representation in the House, two U.S. senators and complete control over the local budget and all local laws.
“We pay high taxes, but we don’t have voting rights or power to pass bills,” one participant said. “We lack a voice on the Capitol.”
The D.C. Statehood Green Party described the voting rights bill as “sham democracy.”
Members of the coalition, known as Free DC!, were wrapped in dark shawls and chains painted to appear rusted, honoring the 3,100 slaves freed by Abraham Lincoln on April 16, 1862, the act commemorated on Emancipation Day. “We have to carry out that tribute until D.C. is truly freed, when we achieve statehood,” said Anise Jenkins, president of the Stand Up! for Democracy in D.C. Coalition.
The statehood groups organized their supporters and marched through downtown, eventually merging with the larger protest.
“We’ll continue to address our dissatisfaction with the fact the District lacks voting representation in Congress until we achieve full civil and human rights,” said Sam Jordan, a D.C. resident since 1952 and a candidate for Ward 7 representative on the D.C. Council.
Examiner intern Paula Vasan contributed to this report.
