February 15, 2007 - Issue 217

Civil Rights Issues Are Never Simply Local:
The DC Voting Rights Act Corrects an American Problem
By Ilir Zherka
Guest Commentator

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A favorite mantra of politicos is “all politics is local”. It’s a catch-all phrase that dismisses problems because of lack of an immediate local impact.

The problem with “all politics is local” is that civil rights issues are never simply local. Best said by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Even the most localized injustice, such as a problem that exists today affecting only 68 square miles of American soil, should be cause for all Americans to demand change.

This 68 square-mile plot of land is Washington, DC, the home to nearly 600,000 taxpaying American citizens who are denied voting representation in the United States Congress. Among Americans living in Washington, DC, 2 out of 3 belong to a minority racial group. DC residents, including more than 343,000 Blacks or African Americans, pay the highest per capita federal income taxes, serve on juries and die in wars to defend American democracy.  Yet, the very essence of American democracy – representation in Congress – is denied to Americans living in the nation’s capital. 

But momentum is building to correct this injustice. The DC Voting Rights Act (H.R. 328), a bill that would give DC residents their first-ever vote in Congress, has a strong chance for passage this year. After years of educating Americans and members of Congress on DC’s denial of voting representation, we have nationwide interest and members of Congress who are ready to act.

Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) has said, “We who live in the Washington metropolitan area believe that our country ought to take it as a moral cause to ensure the fact that every citizen of the District of Columbia has a vote in the Congress of the United States.” Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has also publicly expressed her support for DC voting rights.

DC Vote is capitalizing on this energy and holding a Congress Day on Thursday, February 15. Hundreds of supporters will turn out to urge Congress to take action on the DC Voting Rights Act. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) and Congressman Tom Davis (R-VA), the cosponsors of the bill, are working hard behind the scenes, and the District of Columbia Mayor and City Council are joining DC Vote to bring people out in droves for Congress Day on the 15th.

As civil rights legislation should be, support for the DC Voting Rights Act is bipartisan. The bill pairs a first-ever Washington, DC vote with an additional seat for Utah. Why Utah? It was the next state in line to receive an additional representative following the 2000 U.S. Census and missed it by less than 100 people.

This compromise legislation should move through Congress, but we need your help. We can begin to bring voting rights to Washingtonians this year, after more than 200 years of injustice in our nation’s capital.

I can’t stress it enough: the denial of voting representation to DC residents is not just a DC problem. It’s an American problem, and we invite people to join us in correcting this injustice by walking the halls of Congress on February 15 or writing your member of Congress today.

Ilir Zherka is Executive Director of DC Vote, an educational and advocacy organization dedicated to securing full voting representation in Congress for the residents of the District of Columbia.

 

Your comments are always welcome.