WASHINGTON (7News) — She’s D.C. born and raised and, in pre-pandemic days, if there was a rally for D.C. statehood anywhere in the city, she was probably there with her distinctive long dreadlocks under a red or black “Free D.C.” cap.

Anise Jenkins was in her home Thursday around noon, watching on her laptop as the statehood vote ended in the House of Representatives. It was a strict party-line vote with no Republicans in favor.

“It’s crazy that the vote is strictly along party lines,” said Jenkins. “They’re saying D.C. is using statehood just to get two more senators. That’s not why we’re doing it. We’re trying to do statehood so that we can be full American citizens,” she said.

Jenkins said she first became an activist for D.C. statehood in the late 1990s, outraged to see the Control Board, appointed by the federal government, take control of D.C.

"When I realized D.C. was the last plantation, I was like 'Oh no, we've got to change this,'" she told Sam Ford Thursday.

Having cleared the hurdle of the House, D.C. statehood next moves to the Senate where its prospects of passage do not look favorable since that would require at least 10 Republican votes.

“My father was a Republican," she said. "My father was a Black Republican who lived in Washington D.C., who didn’t have the rights that he should have had. He fought for this country."

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