Statehood News

Statehood News (209)

ANISE JENKINS AND D.C.’S FIGHT FOR CIVIL RIGHTS

Sen. Lauch Faircloth (R-N.C.) wasn't home. But that didn't stop an estimated 600 demonstrators -- about 400 of whom had journeyed from Washington in a bus caravan -- from picketing outside his house today, protesting Faircloth's role in legislation that stripped D.C. Mayor Marion Barry (D) and other elected D.C. officials of much of their power.

Sunday, 11 June 2023 17:02

Lawrence B. Harris

Written by

Our deepest condolences go out to the family and friends of DC statehood activist Lawrence Benjamin Harris.

Details of the Celebration of Life for Lawrence B. Harris:

Thursday, June 15, 2023, 11:00 am
Epiphany Episcopal Church (inside Canterbury Hall)
3125 Ritchie Road
Forestville, Maryland 20747
Presiding Pastor E. Gregory

Rev. Al Sharpton, Founder and President of the National Action Network (NAN), Monday night lead a screening of Loudmouth

Special to the Black Star News, November 16, 2022

Local activists rally for support of D.C. statehood and budgetary autonomy on Capitol Hill this afternoon. Pictured, David Barrows, in white wig, of the DC Healthcare Coalition, belts out a protest song with various other activists lined up along the sidewalk across First street from the Republican National Committee headquarters.

Friday, 25 March 2022 18:37

D.C. RESIDENTS: LEFT OUT AGAIN!

Written by

I am a Black woman living in the nation’s capital, Washington, D.C., and an historic event is taking place in my hometown this week.

In June 2020, Vice President Joe Biden promised to nominate a Black woman to the Supreme Court of the United States. President Biden has done just that by nominating Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to that judicially supreme seat on the highest court in the land.

This is an historic first! Never in the history of the U.S. Supreme Court has such a nomination occurred!

As a Black woman, I can remember the great pride I experienced in the decisions by, and performance of, Associate Justice Thurgood Marshall while on the court and the exquisite disappointment I felt in the conservative stances taken by his successor, Associate Justice Clarence Thomas.

The nomination of Judge Jackson – a Black woman and a native Washingtonian – is a great break in that proverbial “glass ceiling.” I should be more joyful, but I cannot fully participate in the celebration. I do not feel all the pride I should for Judge Jackson’s nomination because the Constitution requires that the United States Senate’s role in the process is to give advice and consent on the president's nomination. As a D.C. resident, I have no voice. I play no role in the process because I have no VOTING SENATORS to speak for me and cast votes.

I am very aware that we are locked out of this historic consequential vote. Yet again, D.C. residents have no say and play no role in our so-called democracy. And I have heard no mention or discussion of our unique political situation.

I heard the impassioned speech of U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.) on television, but he made no such observation. I was devastated by Senator Booker's omission, as he has been a strong D.C. statehood supporter.

Our lack of citizenship rights affects all aspects of our lives, and our omission from the Union must be properly noted in order to end it once and for all.

We must demand D.C. statehood now, so that we are no longer by-standers of history in the making.


ANISE JENKINS, Executive Director
Stand Up! for Democracy in D.C. (FREE D.C.)
March 21, 2022

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