Washington D.C., capital of the United States of America, has taken a key step towards becoming the country's 51st State.
Democrats in the House of Representatives enthusiastically approved the statehood bill, appropriately called HR 51 (the Washington, D.C. Admission Act), which will confer this status on the District of Columbia. If and when DC becomes a state, it will be renamed "Washington, Douglass Commonwealth."
The new state's name honors African-American abolitionist Frederick Douglass, who spent the last 17 years of his life in the district. The vote Friday is the first time a Washington D.C. statehood bill has passed in either the House or the Senate. The statehood bill is sponsored by Eleanor Holmes Norton, DC's nonvoting delegate at the House.
Under HR 51, the new state will be represented by two senators and one member of Congress. Its territory will include all of the district's current territory, except for monuments and federal buildings such as the White House and Capitol Building. The district currently has a population of 700,000 persons.
Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (an African-American) hailed the passage of HR 51. She said she "was born without representation, but I swear -- I will not die without representation. Together, we will achieve DC statehood, and when we do, we will look back on this day and remember all who stood with us on the right side of history."
The representation Bowser was referring to is the sad reality that Washington D.C. has absolutely no voice in the federal government despite paying federal taxes. This fact led to the creation of the powerful slogan of the Washington D.C. statehood movement, which began 40 years ago: "Taxation without representation," printed on Washington, D.C., license plates.
The vote was 232 to 180 largely along party lines. No House Republican voted in favor of the bill, indicating the pervasive racism within the party consisting mostly of white Americans. On the other hand, one Democrat voted against HR 51.
Half the population of Washington D.C. is African-American. Of DC's total population of 700,000, some 49% are black, 44% white, 4% Hispanic and 3% Asian, according to the U.S. census bureau.
The bill now heads to the Republican-majority Senate, which is expected to kill the statehood bill also opposed by president Donald Trump.
Senate majority leader Sen. Mitch McConnell had previously said any Democratic push for D.C. statehood is "full-bore socialism on the march in the House." He also said as long as he's the majority leader of the Senate, DC statehood is going anywhere.
