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State News Release |
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| After 40 Years, Dr. King's Dream Remains Unfulfilled in Washington, D.C. |
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THE D.C. STATEHOOD GREEN PARTY Contact: Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator 202-518-5624, scottmclarty@yahoo.com Statehood Green Party members to participate in the 40th anniversary of the 1963 March On Washington, urge support for D.C. statehood and equal citizenship. WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The D.C. Statehood Green Party will join in the 40th Anniversary March in commemoration of the 1963 March On Washington at which Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his "I have a dream speech" at the Lincoln Memorial. Statehood Greens especially welcome visitors from outside the District of Columbia to the August 23 event, and are encouraging them to see the lack of democracy in the capital of the United States as a civil rights issue and to join the movement for D.C. statehood. "The people of Washington, D.C. are in effect second-class citizens of the U.S.," said party member Michele Tingling-Clemmons, who ran for At-Large Member of D.C. City Council in 2002. "Congress and the White House have veto power over locally passed legislation, and they have the authority to impose policies that we don't want. They nullified Initiative 59 [for medical marijuana, which passed with a 69% majority in 1998], they're forcing school vouchers on us, they control our budget and all our political priorities. We are proof that Dr. King's dream remains unfulfilled in the capital of the free world, in a city that is majority African American." In demanding democracy for the District, Statehood Greens note that only statehood can ensure equal constitutional rights for D.C. residents, legislative autonomy, and voting seats in Congress. Statehood Greens have opposed the proposal of Rep. Tom Davis (D-Va.) to grant D.C. some voting representation in Congress, because it will be quickly be overturned in court (the U.S. Constitution restricts voting rights to states) and because voting rights in Congress is not the same as self-government. Many Statehood Greens have criticized the emphasis by Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton and other D.C. leaders as a distraction from true democracy and equality, which can only be achieved through statehood. The D.C. Statehood Green Party is the product of the 1999 merger of the D.C. Statehood and Green Parties. Many of the original leaders of the Statehood Party when it was founded in 1970 had also been active in the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s, especially Julius Hobson and Josephine Butler. "We believe Dr. King would have stood with us in our call for D.C. statehood, and we urge everyone who attends the Anniversary March to stand with us too," added Michele Tingling-Clemmons. MORE INFORMATION The D.C. Statehood Green Party http://www.dcstatehoodgreen.org Petition to the U.N. for DC democracy 'Twenty D.C. Citizens' lawsuit for D.C. democracy |
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