For the 200 years of our city's history we have been denied rights declared by the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and, more recently, by the United Nations and the Organization of American states. Not only has not one bomb been dropped on our behalf, Congress and President Clinton stripped us of our limited self-government on the capricious excuse of a budget deficit worth less than the cost of a few nights' raids on Yugoslavia. Their treatment of the city mocks every statement made by our leaders concerning the tragic events in the Balkans. As Gandhi said we must become the change we seek. For more than a century, national suffrage has been used as a foil to suppress and delay demands for full democracy.
Labor unions urge elected officials.
In first delegate race, the statehood arguments of Julius Hobson are strongly opposed by Walter Fauntroy who will be later become the leader of a lengthy and futile drive for a constitutional amendment granting congressional representation. Walter Fauntroy and John Hechinger, later major players in the voting rights drive, sabotage George McGovern's planned announcement of support for DC statehood. Meanwhile years of potential work for full democracy are dissipated and diluted. Establishment figures and elite bar refuse to help. Four months later, the latter file a suit for congressional representation.