On Saturday, November 18th, I attended a panel discussion on Statehood at the University of the District of Columbia sponsored by Stand Up for Democracy. The panelists were Johnny Barnes of the ACLU, Timothy Cooper of Worldrights, Marilyn Preston-Killingham of Stand Up, and Statehood activists Samuel Jordan and Joyce Robinson-Paul. All the panelists gave convincing arguments on why the HR-5388 Bill written by Virginia Representative Tom Davis(R) and co-sponsored by DC Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton(D) is a raw deal for the District. 

Timothy Cooper, a specialist in international human rights, gave the most compelling statement by linking the Davis-Norton Bill to a time when African Americans were defined as three-fifths of a human. Cooper said, “If we accept one vote in the House and nothing in the Senate, then we’re essentially saying that we accept our place as being only one-third of an American.”

Now why would the Washington Post’s editorial board endorse a bill that continues to relegate the people of the District of Columbia to second-class citizenship status? Is it all about a vote for Del. Norton? Why else would she settle for less than our birth right as Americans? The Davis-Norton bill also gives Utah an additional seat in the House. Why should our continued struggle for democracy be linked to any other state? And why is it that this bill also stipulates that the State of Utah will receive an additional Electoral College vote for President and nothing extra for the District? Knowing that Utah is a GOP stronghold, is Rep. Davis trying to stack the deck for more Republican votes in the 2008 race for the White House? Finally, now that the Democrats have regained control of both houses of Congress, why would Norton support a strategy that does nothing more than strengthen the position on the other side of the aisle? Is this the thanks we get for faithfully voting Delegate Norton back in to office for a 9th term? It makes you wonder whether we’d be better off with a vacancy in that position until we get a true champion for democracy for the citizens of the District of Columbia.