(Submitted to "themail", DCWatch.com's widely read e-mail discussion forum, this afternoon. "themail" is published every Sunday and Wednesday evening. It's archived at http://www.dcwatch.com/themail/ -- Scott McLarty, Green Party Media Coordinator)
The DC Statehood Rally and the history of the statehood movement
By Scott McLarty, scottmclarty@hotmail.com
Despite repeated requests, the organizers of the DC Statehood Rally denied the DC Statehood Green Party a slot in its line-up of speakers at the DC War Memorial on Saturday morning before the 50th Anniversary of the March On Washington. As a result, there was no mention (or, at least, I heard no mention) of Julius Hobson, Hilda Mason, Jo Butler, or any other leaders in the movement for DC democracy who went on to found and lead the DC Statehood Party in 1970.
The Statehood Party is now the DC Statehood Green Party, part of the Green Party of the United States, the only party that calls for DC statehood in its national platform. Don't look for an endorsement of DC statehood in the Democratic platform -- it was removed in 2004 at the request of Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton and remains missing. When Democrats controlled the White House and Congress during recent decades (most recently 2009-2010), they did nothing to bring democracy to DC. Meanwhile, Del. Norton, other Dem leaders, and DC Vote pretended that "DC Voting Rights" (a single voting seat in the US House) was an acceptable substitute for self-determination, self-government, and full representation in Congress. Even the DC Voting Rights bill fizzled.
None of this was mentioned by the line-up of speakers on Saturday morning, nearly all of them Dems. Such is politics in a one-party town, where most residents keep voting like clockwork to maintain a Democratic machine that has a stake in preserving the status quo. For a good chronicle of the history of the local movement for statehood and democracy, see Sam Smith's "The Statehood Papers" (http://prorev.com/dcsthdintro.htm).
The DC Statehood Rally and the history of the statehood movement
By Scott McLarty, scottmclarty@hotmail.com
Despite repeated requests, the organizers of the DC Statehood Rally denied the DC Statehood Green Party a slot in its line-up of speakers at the DC War Memorial on Saturday morning before the 50th Anniversary of the March On Washington. As a result, there was no mention (or, at least, I heard no mention) of Julius Hobson, Hilda Mason, Jo Butler, or any other leaders in the movement for DC democracy who went on to found and lead the DC Statehood Party in 1970.
The Statehood Party is now the DC Statehood Green Party, part of the Green Party of the United States, the only party that calls for DC statehood in its national platform. Don't look for an endorsement of DC statehood in the Democratic platform -- it was removed in 2004 at the request of Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton and remains missing. When Democrats controlled the White House and Congress during recent decades (most recently 2009-2010), they did nothing to bring democracy to DC. Meanwhile, Del. Norton, other Dem leaders, and DC Vote pretended that "DC Voting Rights" (a single voting seat in the US House) was an acceptable substitute for self-determination, self-government, and full representation in Congress. Even the DC Voting Rights bill fizzled.
None of this was mentioned by the line-up of speakers on Saturday morning, nearly all of them Dems. Such is politics in a one-party town, where most residents keep voting like clockwork to maintain a Democratic machine that has a stake in preserving the status quo. For a good chronicle of the history of the local movement for statehood and democracy, see Sam Smith's "The Statehood Papers" (http://prorev.com/dcsthdintro.htm).
