The residents of the capital only have a spectator role in the parliament that houses their city. A campaign to change this is underway. Discrimination against black people in the USA also plays a role in the topic.
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(dpa)
The American House of Representatives plans to grant Washington state status for the first time. A corresponding draft law was passed on Friday (local time) with the majority of the Democrats in the parliamentary chamber.
In the Senate – the second chamber of parliament, in which the Republicans of President Donald Trump have a majority – the bill is likely to fail.
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser at a press conference on June 25 with a mask printed “51”.
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The District of Columbia currently sends only one non-voting representative to the House of Representatives. The district and its residents are not represented in the Senate.
Capital Mayor Muriel Bowser wrote on Twitter: “As Washington citizens and as tax-paying American citizens, we demand what we are entitled to – the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution.” The residents of the capital have long complained that they pay taxes without being represented in parliament – a slogan (“Taxation without Representation”) even emblazoned on the license plates of vehicles that are registered in Washington.
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✋????✋????✋????✋???? ✋????✋????✋????The color of your skin should not decide whether you get a vote in our democracy.#DCStatehood now.
– Mayor Muriel Bowser (@MayorBowser) June 26, 2020
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A large proportion of the capital’s population is Afro-American – a factor that, according to proponents of the reform, plays a role in the discussion about the status of the city. Mayor Bowser writes on Twitter under a number made of black hand emojis: “The color of your main color shouldn’t decide whether you can vote in our democracy.”
The bill would provide for the then 51st American state to be called Washington State, Douglass Commonwealth. This would pay tribute to the first American President George Washington, but also to the former slave Frederick Douglass. He was one of the most prominent activists for the abolition of slavery in the 19th century.
“More than 46% of its 700K residents are Black. Make no mistake: Race underlies every argument against #DCStatehood. And denying its citizens equal participation and representation is a racial, democratic, and economic injustice we cannot tolerate.”
Listen to @RepMaxineWaters: pic.twitter.com/kwFIR3uRjE
— The Leadership Conference (@civilrightsorg) June 26, 2020
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