Target: John Thune, U.S. Senate Majority Leader
Goal: Begin process of granting statehood to Washington, DC and giving its residents a voice in democracy.
A city and a police force under federal control: it’s a scenario common at the beginning of authoritarian and totalitarian regimes but once unimaginable in the United States…until now. The nation’s capital – Washington, DC – is filled with soldiers. National Guard troops typically activated to help and assist Americans during turbulent times are being deployed against Americans. Local police forces in the capital answer not to their communities but to the president, who has decried a “crime emergency” in a city that has seen drastic drops in violent crime. And President Trump has pushed this show of force on the capital in order to “take it back.” He has vowed he will not stop at DC.
This test run for widespread martial law would not be possible if not for key deficiencies in the political system that have robbed America’s capital – and its citizens – of their autonomy. Nearly three-quarters of a million people reside in Washington, DC, yet they have no representation in Congress. Despite this lack of representation, Congress still controls the budget and the laws of the district. Residents did get some degree of independence when the Home Rule Act of 1973 went into effect, but ironically it’s this very rule that the president is using as an excuse to put an iron grip on residents.
One move, long sought-after by the people who love and understand DC best, could ease this grip: statehood. Sign the petition below to demand lawmakers give back control of their capital to the people.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Senator Thune,
The 700,000 residents of this nation’s capital have been treated like second-class citizens for too long. Their city’s wallet and its legal framework are controlled by a body of which they have no representation. Now, armed forces and their own police departments are being turned against them. You cannot “take back” the capital because it was never yours. It belongs to the people, and it’s supposed to be a symbol of everything this country represents: freedom and the fight against tyranny.
The United States does need a 51st state: its capital. Stop excising and excluding the very heart of democracy and grant Washington, DC statehood immediately.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: Anna Lowe
