Voice & Viewpoint Staff
By now, the nation knows that the Mayor Muriel E. Bowser of Washington, D.C., had blocks of the city’s streets leading to the White House painted “BLACK LIVES MATTER” in large yellow letters. At the same time, Mayor Bowser renamed the street in front of the White House “Black Lives Matter Plaza.” She clearly demonstrated that she, not the President, controls the streets of D.C.
On the same day, Bowser contacted the governors of the states that sent their National Guard Troops to Washington, D.C. and asked for them to be recalled. While these actions might have seemed unusual for a Mayor to take in the face of the President of the United States, one must be reminded of the nature of Washington, D.C., which is not a state and is not located in any of the fifty states. In its truest sense, Washington is a “City State.’’ Its Mayor is both a “Mayor” and a “Governor.”
This observation is important as it relates to Trumps’ decision to place troops in D.C. If Trump had sought to deploy troops within any of the states, he would have had to have contact or permission from the governors of those states who are empowered to handle civil unrest in their own states, in accordance with their state constitutions. Not so with Washington, D.C.
The U.S. Constitution under Article I Section 8 set aside 10 square miles of land to be designated as the Nation’s Capital. The idea was that no one state would be allowed to claim that position and, therefore, each state would be considered equal. But this has meant that the citizens of the District of Columbia have taxation without representation, the very thing that sparked the Boston Tea Party leading to the American Revolution.
“We saw in Washington, D.C. federal forces used in a political stunt to attack peaceful protests in Washington, D.C. We saw the American military moved around our country like toy soldiers to intimidate Americans. In Washington, D.C. the finest military in the world should never be used in that way and Americans across the country should be scared about that,” Mayor Bowser said.
Since property represents the basis of a state’s tax revenue, much of its land is used for federal buildings, monuments, the Congress, Embassies and federal parks. While the Congress is supposed to make a federal payment to the District of Columbia to cover this property tax loss, historically the payments have been late and less than the full value of the land being used. This has often been at the hands of White Southerners in the Congress, who treat the city like a plantation. Historically, D.C. was a predominantly Black population. D.C., like Guam and Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, has been given a non voting delegate to the Congress and no representation in the U.S. Senate.
Washington, D. C. already has more federal law enforcement personnel than any place in America. Consider the following: The D.C. Police Department, The Capitol Police, The Federal Park Police, the Secret Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the FBI, The Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) administration, not to mention CIA personnel who are armed and present throughout the city. Everyone is armed except the citizens who live there. We didn’t mention the D.C. National Guard, which was already called to active duty before the President brought more troops in.
Washington, D.C. has a semblance of home rule. Since 1968, it has been able to elect a Mayor and City Council and an elected Board of Education, all of which carry city functions and State Representation. But the desire for full representation is still missing.
Of her decision to having a “Black Lives Matter” painted in huge block letters across three blocks leading up to the White House, Mayor Bowser said, “People also need to know that 700,000 taxpayers in America’s capital don’t have two senators or a vote in the Congress and that’s why we demand statehood. The Black Lives Matter mural is a representation of an expression of our saying “no,” but also identifying and claiming a part of our city that had been taken over by federal forces. To make it a place for healing, strategizing, and protest, which is the greatest statement we can make as Americans and black Americans who want to be recognized as human beings and have our lives matter.”
