Washington DC intensifies its historic struggle to be the 51st state of the United States.

Washington, Mar 22 (EFE) .- The leaders of Washington DC, the capital of the United States, intensified this Monday their historic struggle to become the 51st state of the Union and allow its 712,000 neighbors to have a representative with the right to vote in Congress, a claim that has gained traction after the assault on the Capitol.
A lawsuit that also insists on ending the racial discrimination that comes with the fact that the District of Columbia, with the majority of its traditionally African-American population, does not have a vote in Congress.
The debate on the “statehood” of the District of Columbia centered this Monday a hearing in the House of Representatives, dominated by Democrats and that already voted last summer in favor of the bill called “HR51” to make the capital the state 51.
The writer of this proposal and sole representative of the District of Columbia, the African American Eleanor Holmes Norton, began her intervention in the committee with words of joy: “This has been a historic year for DC’s struggle to become a state!” .
Norton, who has a seat but no vote, acknowledged the fact that with Democrats in power in Congress and the White House, there has never been as close as now to achieving this goal.
Then he explained, step by step, what this law consists of that the Democrats have promised to put to the vote before the summer.
In the first place, the capital would be reduced to about five square kilometers that would include the monuments of the green esplanade of the “National Mall” and the buildings of the federal government, which includes the White House, the Congress and the Supreme Court.
The rest of the territory, that is, all those corners where the residents of the District of Columbia live, would become the 51st state with the name “Washington, Douglass Commonwealth”, in honor of Frederick Douglass, one of the main leaders of the movement abolitionist in the US in the 19th century.
A RACIAL QUESTION
Second, if the law is passed, the inhabitants of the District of Columbia would be represented by two senators and a congressman, all of them with voting rights.
This point is essential for the US to ensure the right to vote for African Americans, who are the majority in the capital and are being treated as “second-class citizens,” said the mayor of the capital, the Democrat and African American Muriel Bowser.
Bowser alluded to America’s racist past and attempts to wrest the vote from the black community.
“It was a way of saying that African Americans could not govern themselves or that they could not vote for what was in their interest and that, therefore, they should be denied political power and the right to vote. Is this House Do you still think this is the case? “asked Bowser.
However, the Republicans on the committee made their rejection evident. Kentucky Rep. James Comer even went so far as to say that the fight to make the District of Columbia the 51st state is “part of the radical left’s agenda to change America.”
The truth is that Republicans are not interested in changing the current status of the District of Columbia, where 76 percent of voters are Democrats.
THE STORM ON THE CAPITOL AS A TURNING POINT
Despite Republican opposition, Bowser and the other neighborhood leaders hope that the Jan.6 assault on the Capitol will serve as a turning point in winning the support of more moderate conservatives and getting the 60 votes that are needed in the Senate to begin to discuss the initiative.
Due to the current status of Washington DC, during the attack on the Capitol, which left five dead, Bowser was unable to mobilize the National Guard reservists and had to wait three hours while the government of Donald Trump deliberated until finally the head of the Pentagon he made up his mind to act.
For the mayor, the lack of independence of the city represents a danger because it deprives her of essential resources to guarantee the safety of her neighbors.
FLAGS, BANNERS AND CAR PLATES
Outside the committee walls, in anticipation of today’s hearing, the street leading to Congress was filled with American flags bearing 51 stars, instead of 50, representing the nation’s states.
In addition, early in the day, hundreds of people demonstrated in front of Congress dressed in red and white, the colors of the District of Columbia flag, and waved banners of the same colors. Meanwhile, some vehicles sounded their horns in support.
And is that the fight for “statehood” is so widespread in the District of Columbia, that the license plates of the vehicles are stamped one of the slogans of the American revolution: “No taxation without representation” (that there are no taxes if there is no representation).
In addition to not having a vote in Congress, the city’s 712,000 residents, a population larger than the states of Vermont and Wyoming, pay more federal taxes per capita than 22 of the 50 U.S. states, something that their leaders believe. commissioned to remember today.
Beatriz Pascual Macías

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