Welcome to Washington
… the place we call home
Washington DC is like your hometown in many ways… BUT the people who live here are denied rights that you and your neighbors can take for granted.
A multi-generation DC family
Our 700,000 residents (more than the population of Wyoming and Vermont) live outside the Federal City with the White House, Capitol, Supreme Court, and National Mall. In our vibrant neighborhoods, we work, play, and raise our families.
Some Washingtonians work for the federal government, but over 75 percent of us work in our stores, restaurants, schools, hospitals and businesses large and small.
Our residents include people who have recently come from all over the world as well as 5th and 6th generation Washingtonians. Over half of us have lived here more than 20 years.
School geography team planning its next move
Photo: Daaga Hill Bowman
Little League
We are enthusiastic about our professional teams—one for almost every sport. No athletes, however command greater loyalty than the players on our school and Little League teams.
DC is the only city in the United States where local laws and budgets can and have been overturned by Congress—a Congress where we are denied voting representation.
A bill to repeal Home Rule in DC has been introduced by members of the 119th Congress. This legislation would abolish our locally elected government and turn the nation’s capital into a colony.
Congressional interference has been harmful to people in DC. For ten years, Congress kept the District of Columbia from spending local tax dollars on an HIV/ AIDS prevention program. As a result of this interference, DC became America’s AIDS capital, with the highest HIV infection rate in the country.
Washingtonians have fought and died in every war since the Revolution of 1776, yet no one representing people in the District of Columbia has participated in the decision to send our sons and daughters to war.
It’s time to end Congressional interference and give us a voice in our national government.
District of Columbia
State of Washington, Douglass Commonwealth
When the residential and commercial areas of DC become the State of Washington, Douglass Commonwealth, the federal District of Columbia will shrink in size, but will still include the U.S. Capitol, White House, Supreme Court, National Mall, and key national parks and monuments.
The constitution sets only a maximum size for the federal government that is the ‘seat of the government of the United States.”
Congress can redefine the District of Columbia’s borders and shrink its size, as it did in 1846, when the portion west of the Potomac River was returned to Virginia.
86% of DC voters recently approved a statehood referendum and a new state constitution.
I am Elena, a 17-year-old DC resident. My classmates and I understand local and national issues as well as other American high-school seniors. We realize that voting helps build trust in government, and we want to look forward to being voters. But DC residents have never been able to elect members of Congress. And our right to vote for local officials is being threatened. Please let your Senators and Representatives know that you want me and the other 700,000 residents of DC to have full voting rights.”
Other photo credits: Rick Reinhard, MBandman on Flickr, Mike Licht on Flickr, Ted Eytan on Flickr, Elvert Barnes on Flickr, Miki Jourdan on Flickr, MDGovpics on Flickr, Malidate Van on Pexels, Alan Kotok on Flickr