Tell your Senators: Pass the Washington DC Admission Act
Call BOTH of your Senators.
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Call Script
Short Phone Version:
My name is __________. I am a constituent, and my zip code is _______. I am a member of Indivisible SF. Please give your full support to H.R. 51/ S.51, the Washington, DC Admission Act. American democracy is built on the promise that all people should have a say in our federal government through elected representatives who can then create and execute laws on behalf of the people. However, that is not the case for the 700,000 Americans who live in the District of Columbia, who lack equal voting rights compared to their neighbors across the country. DC residents lack a voting representative in the House and have no representation in the Senate at all. Making DC the 51st state would go a long way toward making the legislative branch more representative of the country as a whole.
Longer Email/ResistBot Version:
My name is __________. I am a constituent, and my zip code is _______. I am a member of Indivisible SF. Please give your full support to H.R. 51/ S.51, the Washington, DC Admission Act. American democracy is built on the promise that all people should have a say in our federal government through elected representatives who can then create and execute laws on behalf of the people. However, that is not the case for the 700,000 Americans who live in the District of Columbia who lack equal voting rights compared to their neighbors across the country. DC residents lack a voting representative in the House and have no representation in the Senate at all. Making DC the 51st state would go a long way towards making the legislative branch more representative of the country as a whole.
In addition to being a critical democracy reform, DC statehood is also a racial justice issue. Historically, racist politicians have prevented DC from becoming a state to prevent DC’s Black residents from building political power. From the days of the Emancipation Proclamation to the present. DC, has long been a majority Black city, and the current population is still made up by a majority of Black people and people of color. If DC is granted statehood, it will be the only state in the nation to have a plurality of Black residents, and the second state after Hawaii where nonwhite citizens are in the majority.
Background
As Californians, we have a direct stake in winning DC statehood. The Constitution grants disproportionate political power in the Senate and Electoral College to Republican-leaning, low-population rural states. This disadvantages states with big urban populations like ours, which tend to favor Democratic candidates and policies. The District of Columbia is a densely populated multi-racial area like San Francisco; promoting DC to statehood will be a step towards restoring the political balance in both the Senate and Electoral College.
Washington, DC residents pay more taxes than residents in twenty-two states and pay more per capita to the federal government than any state—yet they have no votes in Congress. Like their counterparts in all fifty states, DC residents pay federal taxes, serve in the military and on juries, start businesses and families, and contribute to our national economy, but don’t have the same rights, which makes them second-class citizens.
In addition to being a critical democracy reform, DC statehood is also a racial justice issue. Historically, racist politicians have prevented DC from becoming a state to prevent DC’s Black residents from building political power. From the days of the Emancipation Proclamation to the present, DC has long been a majority Black city, and the current population is still made up by a majority of Black people and people of color. If DC is granted statehood, it will be the only state in the nation to have a plurality of Black residents, and the second state after Hawaii where nonwhite citizens are in the majority.
Congress can right this historic injustice now, with the passage of H.R.51, Washington, D.C. Admission Act, introduced as S.51 in the Senate on January 4, 2021.
References
H.R.51 Washington, DC Admission Act, bill text and history. https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/51
S.51 Washington, DC Admission Act https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/51
Why Statehood for DC https://statehood.dc.gov/page/why-statehood-dc
It’s Past Time to Grant DC Statehood https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/democracy/news/2020/08/19/489667/past-time-grant-d-c-statehood/