On Jan. 6, the world watched in horror as a treasonous mob of white supremacists stormed the U.S. Capitol. As President Trump goaded his supporters into fighting a purportedly rigged election, District of Columbia residents like myself evacuated our homes, feared for our lives and dialed loved ones in panic, all while facing the painful irony that the “People’s House” is not our house.

For many of us, Jan. 6 inspired a reckoning with our nation’s deeply rooted racial inequities. We juxtaposed images in our mind of Derek Chauvin kneeling on George Floyd’s neck with footage of violent white supremacists waving the Confederate flag while scaling the walls of the Capitol. Yet, even as the House Select Committee investigating the attack convenes, what remains absent from the conversation is the extent to which D.C. — the very region in which the Capitol stands — is symbolic of some of the most acute racial justice issues facing our nation: issues of equity, political representation and access. Affording D.C. due statehood would be a crucial step toward excavating the racial inequities embedded in the Capitol. 

 The Nation’s capital is a historically Black city and to this day, Black residents constitute a plurality in the District, making up 47% of the population. These statistics matter, especially considering that its residents pay more in federal taxes per capita than any state in the nation. As long as D.C. remains without statehood,  residents of the 50 states reap the rewards of the labor of D.C. citizens without giving them a voice in the political process. A nation benefitting from the labor of a majority Black population without providing them the benefits they are due embodies the racial inequities rampant in the States. We cannot fully confront racial inequity in our nation without first admitting what would be the only plurality-Black state into the union. 

The District is home to over 700,000 disenfranchised individuals, a rapidly growing population larger than the predominantly-white states of Vermont and Wyoming. But, while Vermont and Wyoming enjoy two Senators each, the District has no Senator or voting Congressperson. D.C. statehood is an undoubtedly partisan issue for both Democrats and Republicans, but Republican opposition is no more than a thinly veiled attempt at maintaining the fundamental imbalance of the Senate that gives greater voice to white, rural, conservative voters than urban ones.

Without representation, politicians have no reason to care about D.C. residents.  Why should Congress, with each member perpetually angling for reelection, care about a group of unrepresented individuals? We have all heard the tired promises of Congressional hopefuls to “drain the swamp,” blaming Washingtonians who are not even allowed a seat at the political table for the bureaucratic failings of the federal government. Without representation, D.C. residents will forever be relegated to an inferior status of citizen, despite making all the same contributions to the country. If granted statehood, D.C. could furnish its Black plurality with greater voice through their new-found votes and stronger legislative influence in Congress.

The injustices of D.C.’s disenfranchisement stretch far beyond political representation. It is the federal government, not D.C. voters or state legislators, that installs judges to benches in the nation’s capital. It is the U.S. Department of Justice that controls its police forces. Those judges and police officers reinforce racial inequities within the criminal justice system. D.C. also has no say over its National Guard, leaving the city — which January 6 proved to be uniquely vulnerable to domestic terrorism — hamstrung by the very bureaucracy for which it often takes blame. Even amidst a violent insurgency, wherein five Americans died and 140 police officers were injured, calls for military assistance were stymied. If D.C. were a state, the mayor would have had authority to deploy the National Guard, perhaps preventing injuries and deaths.

Furthermore, D.C.’s current status stands in opposition to the intention of the Founders. James Madison set out to enumerate the rights of residents of a federal district in Federalist No. 43 when he wrote that those individuals’ liberties would be determined by a local government “derived from their own suffrages.” Although the D.C. Council is elected by local voters, Congress wields an inordinate amount of power over the municipal government. D.C. was established under a model of Home Rule governance which endows Congress with the ability to grant final approval over legislation and budgets passed by the city council. In 2010, for example, Congress deployed Home Rule to overturn a ban on semiautomatic weapons, usurping local autonomy. The near-categorical denial of political agency to the citizens of D.C. violates the basis of American democracy and exemplifies its capacity to oppress those it is supposed to empower. 

D.C. statehood is long overdue: Admitting what would be the first plurality-Black state to the union is a matter of racial justice. We must stand as a nation inclusive of all, granting to the District’s residents the right to representation, to autonomy and to a just future.