Republicans and right-wingers went all-out in a Congressional hearing to stop D.C. statehood. Can you fight back and tell Congress to make D.C. a state?
The Republican war on voting rights is making headlines across America. One of their most egregious attempts to undermine voting rights, especially for Black voters, is in our nation's capital.
Washington, D.C. has more people than Vermont or Wyoming. Nearly half of D.C.'s residents are Black. But unlike those mostly white states, D.C. residents don't have any representation in the Senate.1 And their Representative in the House cannot vote on legislation.
In 2020 the House voted to make D.C. a state. But Mitch McConnell blocked it in the Senate.2 Now that Democrats control the Senate, and with Joe Biden endorsing D.C. statehood last week, there's no excuse.3 Time for Congress to make D.C. the 51st 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.
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
At the hearing, the right-wing Heritage Foundation made the ridiculous claim that D.C. doesn't need statehood because members of Congress see yard signs on the way to work.5
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. Government of the District of Columbia, "Why Statehood for DC," October 3, 2020
2. Washington Post, "DC statehood bill passes House of Representatives," June 25, 2020.
3. NBC Washington, "Biden White House Backs DC Statehood: 'They Deserve Representation'," March 19, 2021.
4. Roll Call, "Republicans push back on Democrats' DC statehood bill," July 1, 2020.
5. Mark Joseph Stern video segment on Twitter, March 22, 2021.