1715 4^th St. NW Washington, DC 20001 (202) 232-2500 standupfordemocracy.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Bill Mosley

Friday, July 27, 2007 Tel.: (202) 360-5414 Contact: Anise Jenkins Tel: (202) 361-9739

 

Stand Up! for Democracy in DC Coalition

To Observe 10^th Anniversary of Fighting for Full Democracy

 

Members of the news media are welcome to attend this event and to arrange interviews with Stand Up! members about the organization’s ten years of activism. Call Anise Jenkins (202-361-9739) or Bill Mosley (202-360-5414) to RSVP for the event or to arrange an interview.

 

The Stand Up! for Democracy in DC Coalition will observe its 10^th anniversary as an advocate for full democratic rights for DC residents in an informal gathering for members and supporters on Tuesday, July 31.

 

The event, to be held in the John A. Wilson Building, 1350 Pennsylvania Ave. NW (Federal Triangle Metro; room to be announced; meet us at 6:30 p.m. in the first-floor main lobby, picture ID required) will commemorate the coalition’s founding on July 31, 1997. Tuesday’s event also will begin the countdown to Stand Up!’s gala 10^th-anniversary celebration and fundraiser to be held on Oct. 1, at a location to be determined.

 

Stand Up! was founded in the wake of the so-called “DC Revitalization Act” which stripped the elected DC government of nearly all its authority and gave the congressionally appointed Control Board virtually unchecked power over the District. Stand Up!, whose founding members included Jesse Jackson, Walter Fauntroy and Dorothy Height, dedicated itself to the task of building a broad-based, non-partisan coalition not only to restore home rule, but also to end DC’s colonial status and to help it win the same rights as other Americans enjoy – including full representation in Congress and control over its own budgets, laws and criminal-justice system.

 

"After ten years of struggle, Stand Up! for Democracy in DC continues its dedication to keeping the movement for full democracy, full voting rights and full statehood moving!” said Stand Up! President Anise Jenkins. “While democracy is on everyone's lips from President Bush to all the presidential candidates, the nation's capital remains a plantation, a colony! Let's break these chains of inequality! If we ALL stand up, we can and will Free DC!"

 

“To proclaim itself the world's beacon of freedom while denying equal rights to 600,000 residents, mostly dark and tan, living in its capital city is hypocrisy. It won't play much longer,” said Stand Up! Treasurer Malcolm Wiseman. “Full democracy, equality, statehood, will require an intense, worldwide, Internet-connected pressure. DC will be saved, emancipated, just as we were in 1862, when our cavalry comes again from across the seas.”

 

“If Stand Up!’s first ten years were focused on building the movement to demand full democratic rights for the District, the second ten years must be about completing the struggle,” said Stand Up! member Bill Mosley.

 

The coalition’s first major activity was a bus caravan in August to the Clinton, NC home of Sen. Lauch Faircloth, the “Revitalization Act”s principal author, with some 600 DC activists bringing the District’s concerns directly to Faircloth’s constituents. (The trip no doubt played at least a small part in Faircloth’s defeat for re-election to John Edwards the following year).

 

In the months that followed, Stand Up! held weekly rallies on Capitol Hill, culminating in a major rally in September in which over 1,000 DC residents marched from the Capitol to the Hart Senate Office Building to demand the restoration of home rule. Another rally in December resulted in the arrest of two dozen DC activists in front of the White House.

 

Although the District regained most of its pre-Revitalization Act responsibilities in 1999 and the Control Board disbanded in 2001, Stand Up! continued to pressure Congress for full democratic rights. The coalition took a leading role in the effort to free the District’s budget from the federal appropriations process, holding rallies, publishing newspaper articles and sponsoring lobby days on Capitol Hill. A measure of progress was achieved last June when a House subcommittee voted in favor of DC budget autonomy.

 

Stand Up! also has supported its members and other activists who petitioned at the Capitol for democratic rights, some of whom were arrested and placed on trial. Stand Up! raised funds for their defense, organized pre-trial rallies and helped to pack the courtroom for the trials, all of which resulted in complete acquittal for all defendants.

 

Stand Up’s other major accomplishments include:

 

Sponsorship of a 2003 Memorial Day service, helping call attention both to local veterans who fought for democracy abroad while being denied equal rights at home, as well as to the neglected DC War Memorial where the service was held;

 

Organizing a citywide outreach and petition campaign in 2003, gathering over 1,000 signatures in favor of budget autonomy which were presented to Congress in October of that year;

 

Joining with other local organizations in July 2004 to successfully lobby the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, meeting in DC, to condemn the United States’ denial of voting representation to the District; and

 

Leading opposition to current legislation in Congress to give the District a single vote in the House of Representatives (and none in the Senate) while also giving an additional seat to Utah – pointing out how such “representation” would continue to leave the District in a position of inequality while leading to a dead end for full representation and democratic rights.

 

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