Member-only story
D.C. Statehood Alternative
Talk me off this ledge!
Well, I had an interesting tête-à-tête on BlueSky recently with a person advocating statehood for Washington, D.C. I acknowledged that I believed residents of the District of Columbia deserve full representation in Congress but that I wondered if statehood was really the only solution. I briefly suggested an alternative at which point I was identified as a racist and dressed down to my skivvies.
That left me truly curious as to whether my suggestion is actually as insane and improper as my BlueSky friend thought. My friend’s explanation of my error was not clear enough for me to fully grasp and, encountering entirely unacceptable terms for Americans of African extraction woven into the argument, it became clear that reason was not likely to follow. So, I thought I would explain my alternative here in full and see if someone else could talk me down calmly, using reason.
D.C. in the U.S. Constitution
Having produced an audio version of the U.S. Constitution and listened to countless citizens read it out loud at our Voice the Constitution events, I am well familiar with the clause declaring the establishment of what became known as Washington, D.C.:
[Congress shall have power] to exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over…
