jonetta rose barras: The never-ending insurrection against DC

Surely, I was not alone in popping a bottle of Champagne on Wednesday. I had been counting the hours until the inauguration of Joseph R. Biden Jr., 46th President of the United States, and Kamala Harris, the first woman to become Vice President. My elation also could not be contained when Donald J. Trump Jr. boarded the plane that hauled him, his hatred and his alternative facts to Mar-a-Lago. 

Let’s all shout “Hallelujah.”

Thankfully, the inaugural ceremony was not marred by violence. It took more than 20,000 members of the National Guard, an untold number of representatives from the U.S. Secret Service, and officers with the Capitol Police and DC’s Metropolitan Police Department to ensure it wasn’t interrupted. White supremacists, domestic terrorists and enthralled Trump supporters had promised to return to the nation’s capital. On Jan. 6, 2021 — a day that will live on in political infamy — they seized the U.S. Capitol with an intent to harm elected national leaders and install an authoritarian federal government with Trump as its leader. 

Democracy may be fragile. It may have been damaged by their action. But it is not dead.

“At this hour, democracy has prevailed,” Biden said during his inspirational inauguration speech, calling for unity while promising that he will be president of all the people.

That’s all good. I am as excited as many about the next chapter in the American story, particularly after the last four dark years. 

However, I have never been one to deny truth. In the shadow of the Capitol, we, DC residents, know the limitation of that much-vaulted democracy. Its full benefits have yet to come to us. 

If past is prologue — and, unfortunately, it often is — more delays and political drama in which the District will serve as staging ground for budgetary and public policy wars are ahead.

Who could forget that day in 2011 when President Barack Obama told then-Speaker of the House John Boehner, “I’ll give you DC abortion” in order to seal a budget deal? Local officials were justifiably enraged. They held a protest; Mayor Vincent C. Gray and others were arrested.

How many times has some congressional member, who probably couldn’t find his way to Congress Heights, blocked legislation approved by District leaders — or even District voters via an initiative or referendum? Who could forget that day when President Bill Clinton walked up Georgia Avenue, pledging to improve the economic conditions for small businesses and the lives of the city’s most vulnerable residents? Instead of rescuing low-income, working-class residents, he joined with Republicans to propose and approve federal legislation that changed “welfare as we know it.” 

“It would be naïve to think that on Jan. 20, two centuries of racism and bureaucratic hostilities would go away,” said Terry Lynch, a DC civic leader who has been involved in local and national politics for more than 30 years. “The struggle continues.” 

The most important fight for many local leaders has been the one to make DC the country’s 51st state. Some have argued that given Mayor Muriel Bowser’s performance during the double lockdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic and the Capitol insurrection, DC has earned the right to statehood.

With respect to Sojourner Truth, “Ain’t DC residents American citizens? Do we have to repeatedly prove our worth?”

On Wednesday, in a prepared statement, Bowser talked about being hopeful after Biden’s inauguration — optimistic about getting “a life-saving vaccine to every American who still needs one”; bringing “much-needed assistance to the small businesses that are the backbone of our economy but struggling to make it to the other side of this pandemic”; and fulfilling “the long overdue promise of democracy to generations of Washingtonians by making Washington, DC the 51st state.” 

Bo Shuff, executive director of DC Vote, said that anyone who says “it’s going to get done [this year] is intentionally being optimistic to maintain support and build pressure.”

He asserted, however, that the tide does seem to be turning. “We’re in a significantly different environment than we were in in ’07, ’08 or ’09. We have the best chance we have had in a generation,” Shuff continued, citing the results of an online Fortune.com-Survey Monkey poll in which 49% of the 2,554 adult respondents indicated they support statehood. Looking closer, 73% of Democrats are in favor; however, only 48% of independents and 27% of Republicans said they support statehood for DC.

Last year, the House approved the Washington, D.C. Admission Act without any bipartisan support: 232 Democrats said “yea” while 180 Republicans and one Democrat said “nay.” It didn’t go anywhere in the Senate, then controlled by the GOP.

DC Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton has, once again, introduced legislation in the House. “We know the path forward. It’s a nuanced path, a narrow path, but clearly defined,” said Shuff.

Actually, there is a traffic jam ahead. Its magnitude was made clear when President Biden signed 17 executive orders on the same day he assumed office. He has to deal with multiple challenges and obstacles, including getting his cabinet through a divided Senate, gaining control over the pandemic, forcing a new economic stimulus plan out of Congress, and figuring out how to eliminate the divisions in the country or at the very least locking the factions in their respective boxes. 

Statehood is important, but how important? 

Bowser has said when she asked Biden as president-elect about supporting statehood he replied, “Kid, I’ve always been there for you. I’ve always supported statehood.” Where on the 100-day to-do list is “Make DC the 51st state?”

Responding Thursday afternoon to a question from WUSA9’s Adam Longo about whether the White House will get behind swift action on the statehood bill, Biden’s press secretary said she would have to circle back. “There’s quite a bit going on, and I have not discussed DC statehood with him in the last 36 hours.” 

At least the presidential limousine does wear a license plate with the slogan “Taxation Without Representation.” Biden’s heart seems to be in the right place.

Shuff said statehood is among the top three priorities for Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer. “Vice President Harris is a huge supporter. And don’t forget that Susan Rice is in charge of domestic policy in the White House.”

Rice has identified racial equality and equity as key foci for her. Maybe statehood fits in there. Don’t count on it, even if she is a native Washingtonian. “Nobody is going to carry our water but ourselves,” said Lynch.

Perhaps these lines from Amanda Gorman’s poem “The Hill We Climb” — which the former national youth poet laureate recited as part of Wednesday’s ceremony — can bring some solace: “While democracy can be periodically delayed / it can never be permanently defeated. / In this truth, in this faith, we trust.”

But should we after all these decades?

This post has been updated to clarify Bo Shuff’s comment about the chances of getting statehood this year.

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jonetta rose barras is an author and freelance journalist, covering national and local issues including politics, childhood trauma, public education, economic development and urban public policies. She can be reached at thebarrasreport@gmail.com.