Day 9: The Intersectionality of Masks and Statehood

The issue of Statehood is not to be trifled with.

The District and her 712,000 residents receive less federal funding as a percentage of its budget than several states, despite paying more in federal taxes than 22 states, reports Neighbors United for Statehood. While COVID-19 cases are relatively low in Washington, D.C., the 902 deaths to date may not have occurred had control of D.C.’s budget remained in the hands of those residents.

Under the federal CARES Act, the District received less than half the aid provided to the rest of the nation, and the already disenfranchised and marginalized Black community of D.C. was again disproportionately affected.

While this is not the oppression olympics, it is noteworthy that — to date — D.C. suffered more deaths than many states: Wyoming, Vermont, Maine, Hawaii and Alaska.

Offering a bit of hope, polls show that support for DC Statehood has increased with the double pandemics of racism and COVID with one finding revealing a 9 percent jump driven by Democrats and Independents. Republican support somewhat diminished, according to that data set from January 2019 to September 2020, in a pattern that mirrors their claims of being the ones who are actually marginalized.

This, of course, was before the insurrection.

As of today, U.S. Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) has collected 210 cosponsors for Statehood, and Senator Tom Carper (D-DE) has 38.