Photo by PoPville flickr user Victoria Pickering
From the Mayor’s Office: “Today is DC Emancipation Day — we commemorate the anniversary of the abolition of slavery in D.C. Unfortunately, 158 years later, DC residents are neither fully free nor equal. So today, we celebrate Emancipation Day by fighting for DC Statehood.” (more…)
Photo by PoPville flickr user Shamila Chaudhary
From Congresswoman Norton’s office:
“Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today sent a letter to the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management urging them to extend paid leave for teleworking federal employees to allow them to care for family members during the coronavirus pandemic. The letter asks for teleworking employees to have up to 15 hours per week to care for family members, such as children whose schools are closed.
“As federal employees care for children who must be kept home from school during this unprecedented pandemic, it is important that these teleworking employees are given time to care for their family members,” Norton said. “Allowing these employees an extra 15 hours of leave per week will help ensure that these federal employees are able to continue their vital work while caring for their families.”
The letter follows: (more…)
Mt. Pleasant and Kilbourne St, NW. Photo by Andrew Bogrand
Thanks to Andrew for sending Saturday night: “Seriously.”
Projection, presumably, by Robin Bell‘s Bell Visuals.
1722 14th Street, NW
Update from The Outrage:
“This is our third incident of vandalism in the last 3 months. We have adequate security measures in place and have promising leads on the suspects as we’re catching them on camera.
For those that don’t know us, The Outrage is a hub for activism — 100% of our retail sales are donated to progressive partner organizations or subsidize our community space. We’ve been an official partner for every major social movement since 2016 (think Women’s March, March For Our Lives, etc). We pride ourselves on holding space for progressive issues that uplift the most marginalized communities. For us, these types of attacks only highlight the need to keep doing the work. You can break our windows every day, but we’ll keep opening our doors.
We’re still open and need our community’s support now more than ever. If you want unapologetically progressive spaces like The Outrage to exist in the world, please stop by or sign up to be a member today. You can find membership applications here.
In community,
Michelle”
Sophie reports: (more…)
30,000 veterans
700,000 residents
219 years without a full voice in our governmentThe people of Washington, DC have been denied a full voice in their own government for far too long. It’s time for #DCStatehood.
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) February 11, 2020
From Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton’s office yesterday:
“Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton’s (D-DC) bill to make the District of Columbia the 51st state was passed today in the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, moving her statehood bill to the House floor for expected final passage. Norton is already working with more than 100 national organizations with records of getting bills passed in the Senate.
“For such a historic achievement for the District of Columbia, the only message I can convey is gratitude,” Norton said. “Thank you, Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), for your extraordinarily skillful and patient leadership, always with fairness to both sides. Thank you, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD), who appeared at an earlier press conference with Chairwoman Maloney and me, for your longtime leadership on statehood, democracy, and legislation for the District. Thank you to our more than 220 cosponsors and Committee Members who stood with the disenfranchised people of the District today. Above all, thank you District residents for turning out in large numbers to once again demand equality in the Congress. We have only one last hill to climb in the House – onward to the House floor!”
Norton’s bill would make most of the present-day District of Columbia into the State of Washington, Douglass Commonwealth, with the remaining territory designated as the nation’s capital. (more…)
“Dear PoPville,
A group of white supremacists from what I believe is the group Patriot Front marched on the Capitol about an hour ago [Saturday]. I got caught up in a group of people following them. We were surrounded by mounted and bike police–and I’ve never seen so many police in one place. They were chanting “Life, Liberty, Victory!” and some other gibberish. They assembled on the lawn for about 10-15 minutes, the leader monologued through a bullhorn (it was hard to understand much of it), they chanted once more, and then turned to march north.
Note that many of these brave patriots marching on the Capitol to demonstrate the truth of their convictions were concealing parts of their faces with bandannas or white turtlenecks.”
Ed. Note: I also received a lot of messages about a huge police presence around the Walmart on H Street, NW – apparently it was a staging/protection area for the marchers.
A reader sends from Tuesday night.
Photo by PoPville flickr user Wayne Vota
“Dear PoPville,
Now that the Senate, which in no way represents 700,000 DC residents, has abdicated its responsibility, why do we continue to pay taxes? Curious to see whether we can have a healthy debate on this.”
Ed. Note: From a press release:
“Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser, D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, and House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairwoman Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY) announced today at a press conference that Norton’s bill to make D.C. the 51st state, the Washington, D.C. Admission Act (H.R. 51), will be voted on in the Committee at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, February 11. This vote will be the first congressional vote on the D.C. statehood bill since Norton got the first-ever House floor vote in 1993. Once passed by the Committee, H.R. 51 will be ready for a vote on the House floor. Passing bills on the House floor requires 218 votes. Norton’s bill has 224 cosponsors.
Norton says she is particularly grateful to Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney for her support, particularly in granting Norton’s request that the Committee vote occur on February 11, the week of the birthdays of both Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. Lincoln freed D.C.’s slaves before issuing the Emancipation Proclamation for all other slaves in the United States. Frederick Douglass was a longtime D.C. resident who fought tirelessly for full and equal rights for D.C. residents.
Norton’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, are below. (more…)
Well that explains the whole lunar parade appearance we marveled about yesterday.
Former Council Member Jack Evans resigned and left the Council on January 17th…
Thanks to all who sent messages about the head scratching development. Tom Sherwood broke the news around 5:30pm Monday:
“Former W2 CoMember Jack Evans files to run for both the special June election to replace him and the June primary for a new term, per filing with DC Elections Board.”
Some Council Members replied right away: (more…)