In a meeting at Ben's Chili Bowl with Neil, a representative of the Fenty pre-transition team, we reached general consensus on a proposal to recommend that the next Mayor use his high visibility and access to national and international media and forums to promote at least two elements of a plan to bring uncompromised political rights with accompanying dominion over local affairs and participation of the residents of the District of Columbia as equal partners with all other citizens of the United States in the political life of the nation.

These elements with some elaboration include:

Reference to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which declares the rights to self-determination, freedom from discrimination and full and equal participation of all peoples in the political life of their respective countries through the mechanism of representative democracy as internationally recognized fundamental civil and political rights. The United States is a signatory of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.  The Fenty administration should set aside the anniversary of the date on which the United States ratified the Covenant, June 8^th, as a "Day of Demand" on which the entire city demands that the United States honor its pledge to the international community and the people of this country by granting full civil and political participation to the residents of the District of Columbia.  The "Day of Demand" would feature demonstrations, parades, forums, protests at US governmental installations including the halls of Congress and the White House.  International visitors, including representatives of the United Nations would be invited to participate in forums and media events accessible to all residents by various technologies and broadcast to the rest of the nation and the world.

The second element we discussed would initiate a three-step process resulting in statehood, assuming that the movement for freedom of the District of Columbia's residents needs a jolt from its "all or nothing" discourse by providing a sense of achievable process. Step One:  Partition of the District: In this step, Congress would designate the federal enclave as an area distinct from the remaining land mass.  We have a map developed by the DC Statehood Party and approved by the Statehood Convention of 1980 that designates the mall and museums, major federal buildings, the capitol complex and the White House, military bases, etc. as the federal enclave.  In most respects, this enclave corresponds to the National Capital Service Area referenced by Malcolm.  Nevertheless, Congress must declare the enclave/service area as distinct from the remaining land mass.

Step Two: Establish the Territory of New Columbia: Congress will declare the remaining land mass the "Territory of New Columbia."  Upon such designation, and included in the Act of Congress, the DC Home Rule Charter will become the fundamental law of the newly created territory.  The Mayor, retaining the authorities in the Home Rule Charter, as amended, will become the Governor of the Territory of New Columbia and the Council of the District of Columbia will become the Council of the Territory of New Columbia replete with its current powers and jurisdiction.

In the first full session of the territorial legislature, a Special Session with the Governor presiding, the Constitution approved by the electorate in 1982 will be sent to Congress among the statehood petition documents, which documents offer proof that the territory possesses a "republican form of government," (we've been electing Council Members since 1973), is financially viable (no territory admitted to the union as a state has had one-tenth the wealth of the District of Columbia), an adequate population base (60,000) that desires statehood (the constitution of 1980 was ratified at the polls).

Having accomplished the preceding, the Territory of New Columbia will no longer be distinguishable from any other territory that has petitioned the Congress for statehood after the original thirteen colonies became states of the United States upon the ratification of the current US Constitution.

Step Three:  Admission of the Territory of New Columbia to the Union of States:

A majority vote of both houses of Congress is all that is required to admit the Territory of New Columbia as the 51st state.  It must be noted that not one of these steps requires a constitutional amendment.

These elements of course should be refined by a continuing, District-wide discussion, but we have a Tuesday deadline by which to submit proposals to the pre-transition team. I will develop a "budget" for the elements discussed above.

An issue that was also discussed at the Ben's Chili Bowl meeting that will take a lot more struggle is the acknowledgement of the role of race in the refusal of Congress to grant statehood to the District.  I have written on this matter attempting to put it in the context of the only territories to be admitted to the union that had non-white majorities upon petition, Hawaii and New Mexico.  Hawaii had to be "balanced" with white majority Alaska causing 56 years to lapse between application and admission. Even so, Alaska was admitted first.  (There is a continuing resentment by native Hawaiians over the coup d’ Etat that defeated Queen Liliokualani and disenfranchised native Hawaiians in the vote for statehood.)  Coincidence does not account for the similarity of the Hawaii/Alaska “balancing” to the "One for Utah, One for DC" mechanics of the Davis bill, HR 5388.  The non-white majority is the tie that binds.

New Mexico, was described in the April 1, 1876 Harper's Weekly as " .. an ignorant, foreign community, nine tenths Mexicans, Indians, "greasers" and other non-English-speaking people ..." who wouldn't make a good match with real Americans.  Although New Mexico applied in 1850, two years after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed with the promise of statehood, it was not admitted until 1912 after the census of 1910 confirmed the existence of a white majority.  It took 62 years, surpassing only Hawaii as the longest interim between application and admission.  Wonder why?  Well, let's continue to discuss the role of race in the statehood quest in the course of our work in the transition policy matters.

In solidarity,
Samuel Jordan