The District of Columbia deserves to become the state of New Columbia, the 51st state in the American Union now! Period.
First: there is no Constitutional obstacle to making 95 percent of what is now within the boundaries of D.C. a state, with a star in the flag, with two senators and a representative in the House of Representatives. There is none.
If a majority in the House and a majority in the Senate vote for it, and the president of the United States signs it, a law could be passed overnight making the bus shelter in front of your house a state, and it would be just that: the state of Bus Shelter (or whatever it was called). That's what the Constitution has to say about it. Trust me.
There's absolutely no reason why more than 600,000 residents of the U.S. capital city should not have the same rights and privileges when it comes to representation in Congress, that all other residents of the continental United States have already, which the residents of all other so-called "democracies" in the world accord to the citizens of their capitals. There is none.
There is a compelling political reason why the District of Columbia will likely never attain that status. Then non-voting Congressional Delegate Walter Fauntroy said the reason D.C. will never be treated equally by Congress is because of its "Three Toos." No.1. The District is "Too Black." No. 2. The District is "Too Democratic." No. 3. The District is "Too Liberal." Did I mention that D.C. is "Too Black?"
It's as simple as that, and no other arguments will trump the "too Black" argument, even when there is a White majority population here. Instead of any sense of gratitude to the descendants of the millions of slaves who worked for free from "can't see in the morning until can't see at night," for 310 years, instead of any sense of gratitude to the slaves who enriched both the North and the South with their free labor; who fought and died in every war to make this country the sole Superpower in the world; instead of appreciation for the contribution of Black people to the well being of this society, Blacks are viewed as "the enemy within;" as a Fifth Column, as a brooding, restive, soon to be a marauding mob of criminals which must be contained by each and every White household which must have an assault weapon to protect American "freedoms" when the federal, state, and local military and law enforcement establishments are unwilling or unable to do the job. That's what it means for D.C. to be seen as being "too Black."
All the other fancy arguments can be reduced to one: "D.C. is too Black, and Black people don't deserve to live in a state that might elect one or two Black senators and a Black member of the House." The residents of Maryland and Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania don't want D.C. to become a state because as many as 100,000 of them who work in the District would be subjected to reciprocal state withholding taxes, which they do not now have to pay. That's after they reconcile the image in their minds of D.C. being "too Black," of course.
The District of Columbia was formed as a federal zone under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Congress in 1791 from land ceded by the states of Maryland and Virginia. In 1846, Virginia took its land back. In 1783, unpaid soldiers besieged Independence Hall and Congress Hall in Philadelphia where the federal government met, demanding overdue benefits, but the state government was slow to defend the Congress because state officials sympathized with the soldiers. The Congress fled to New York, Princeton, N.J., and to Annapolis, Md., deciding that a permanent federally controlled district was needed to ensure the government's protection. That's why there is a federal district in the first place.
The population of that 100-square-mile enclave in 1800 was only around 8,000. Today, more than 630,000 people reside in the District, making D.C. – if it were a state – the 25th largest state in the Union. District residents are treated the same in terms of congressional representation as Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, and American Samoa. The only thing is residents of those places don't pay federal taxes like D.C. residents pay.
So, don't believe the hype. The District of Columbia deserves to become the state of New Columbia, the 51st state in the American Union now! Period.
D.C. will probably never become a state because of its "Three Toos": Too Black. Too Democratic and Too Liberal. Did I mention that D.C. is "too Black?"
