It’s perhaps one of the biggest ironies in American politics: residents of the nation’s capital have no say in Congress. Politicians and activists there have tried for years to gain statehood for D.C., but the majority-black city’s efforts have been regularly rebuffed. That’s not stopping some, like Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, from pushing, according to Raw Story.
“I’m like any other Representative in the House, or I should say a delegate. The only difference is, I don’t have the right to vote on the issues,†says the feminist and advocate for issues concerning African-Americans.
Eleanor Holmes Norton pounds her fist in frustration over her role as a non-voting member of the US Congress. She has endured this second-class status for 20 years.
“I’m like any other Representative in the House, or I should say a delegate. The only difference is, I don’t have the right to vote on the issues,†says the feminist and advocate for issues concerning African-Americans.
After serving 11 straight terms in the House of Representatives, and despite what she considers the absurdness of her position, Norton is running again on November 6.
Her goal is to win the right to vote and thus truly represent her constituents.
In the meantime, Washington DC’s 610,000 residents only have the right to a “delegate†in the lower chamber of the US legislature because the city, formally called the District of Columbia, is not a state.
The city does get three electoral votes, giving it some say – albeit a small one – in the presidential election.
Read the whole story at Raw Story.