May 20, 2012
None of Us Are Free
By Dr. E. Faye Williams
(TriceEdneyWire.com) – The late Solomon Burke had a song called “None of Us Are Free Til’ All of Us Are Free”.Those of us who live in the capital city-- not only to our nation, but of the world-- can tell you we are not free. It may be difficult for those who do not live in Washington, DC to understand why we who live here make that claim. Briefly, we have been denied representation in the U.S. Senate. We have no voting representative in the House. We have no local control or authority over basic things like our budget. It’s a well known fact that to whom we give our money, we give our power. We pay our taxes, but we don’t even get a chance to vote against bills that are detrimental to us or for the ones that benefit us.
We’re American citizens and along with citizenship, there are both benefits and burdens. We bear all the burdens and responsibilities, but we don’t have all the benefits. We pay our federal taxes. Our young people fight in wars around the world. We have ideas we’d like to have expressed and on which we could have a vote when Congress votes. We don’t have a representative in Congress who can help to decide things like going to war, who our Supreme Court judges will be, what kind of health care we will have or whether the U.S. budget will include funds for infrastructure. While most of us are opposed to the Patriot Act, we had no one in Congress who could vote against it on our behalf.
On the other hand, 70 percent of the people who come to our city are not taxed by our government because they live outside the city. They use our streets and many facilities for which we the local residents bear the cost. If everyone who works in our city paid taxes, our local tax rate would be lower than it is.
Just a few days ago, we were dealt the ultimate insult by an action of Rep. Trent Frank (R-Ariz.) leading the Republican controlled House subcommittee that controls our destiny—even on social issues. While our non-voting Delegate, Eleanor Holmes Norton, sat in the audience, having been denied even a simple opportunity to speak before the subcommittee voting on what we could or could not do with our very own tax dollars, a group of men discussed and made decisions to which we are unalterably opposed. The vote was concerning our freedom to spend ourmoney in D.C.
Rep. Jerrold Nadler, ranking Democrat on the subcommittee, called the measure being voted on another attack on women’s rights (preventing the city from spending money on Roe v.Wade rights granted women by law). Actually, it was an insult to all DC residents—not just women. Mr. Nadler criticized the Republicans in response to this injustice of silencing Ms. Holmes Norton by saying, “Never in my 20 years as a member of Congress have I seen a colleague treated so contemptuously.” Having worked in Congress and observed many meetings, allowing a colleague to speak on any subject was a common courtesy. Minority Leader, Nancy Pelosi, said, “I can’t even imagine a situation where someone else would be denied that opportunity, and I think it’s wrong.”
I was in the DC studio of Radio Station 1480 the other day and read their motto on the wall that said simply, “WE ACT”. We need the help of the rest of the country to ACT with us to make our nation free. Tell your Representatives, “A nation can no more be partly free than a woman can be partly pregnant.” Tell them to support DC statehood now.
(Dr. E. Faye Williams, Esq. is National Chair of the National Congress of Black Women. www.nationalcongressbw.org. 202/678-6788.)