🔰Rep. Ocasio-Cortez Question Line at Hearing on DC Statehood.

Thank you, Chairwoman, and I'd like to join in the chorus applauding you on this historic day and this historic day for the people of the District of Columbia. This has been a long fight. I believe that we will achieve our goal. I come from a people who are also disenfranchised in the United States. My family is from Puerto Rico. I have family that have been born without the right to a federal vote, and I have family that, even in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, have died without the right to vote, and I wish that upon no citizen of the United States of America. Where the disenfranchisement of Puerto Ricans is rooted in the colonial and imperialist history that we've had in policies of the United States, the issue of D.C. statehood is rooted in a different evil in our history, which is the history of slavery in the United States, and when we talk about dealing with that history today, and there are so many people that say, why do we need to talk about this? This was, quote, unquote, so long ago, which it is not so long ago. It's because our policies today uphold the injustices that were enacted during slavery, and I believe that this is one of them. On April 16, 1862, through the Compensation Emancipation Act, it was the District of Columbia that was the first to free enslaved people in the United States of America, right here on this hallowed land, the first. Meanwhile, surrounding areas remained unfree, and D.C. here, this ground, blazed a trail, a vision for equality and justice in the United States, and many people sought refuge from the tyranny of slavery right here in the District of Columbia, and it is a profound injustice and an irony, a thick irony of our history that the people who fled here to the District of Columbia to flee slavery because of the enlightenment of this community are now disenfranchised because of that very act, and so the descendants, many people who are the descendants of those who were freed under the tyranny of slavery are now disenfranchised today in American history. We cannot stand for that, and to uphold and to deny, to deny the statehood of the District of Columbia is to deny the impact of slavery in America. It is a form of denial of our history, and in order for us to achieve the full bore justice and democracy that we promise, we need to give people in the District of Columbia the right to vote. We have to do that through the recognition of statehood, through equal citizenship, and the elimination of institutions of second-class citizenship in the United States of America if we wish to live up to the ideals of democracy, freedom, and a true republic that we have today, but with that being said, we need to, I think, also highlight the very real impacts of that disenfranchisement. Mrs. Bowser, how does D.C.'s current status affect children, elementary school students in the District of Columbia? Well, thank you, Congresswoman. We sometimes see efforts from the Congress to move legislation in the District that doesn't exist in their own states, and we have seen that around issues of public education. And in what ways have we seen disparate impacts? We have, I think you recognize that we have a three-sector system in our city. We have, over many years of local investment and transformation, changed opportunities for public education, but we have traditional schools, we have public charter schools, and the Congress has also invested in vouchers. Thank you, Mrs. Bowser. And I also want to clarify that throughout this hearing, we have heard and we have seen people say that there are constitutional oppositions to this, and there's an argument over that. But earlier this year, when the House considered H.R. 1, the For the People Act, there was a Republican amendment that was filed that expressed the sense of Congress that D.C. statehood, in any case, including consideration of a constitutional amendment, in any case, should, quote, never become a state. Now, we have to ask ourselves why that unilateral opposition and partisan opposition exists to the statehood and enfranchisement of the people of Columbia. And overwhelmingly, we have to see that when each of these grounds continue to be eroded, and we still oppose enfranchisement of the District of Columbia, we're upholding institutions of injustice. And I want to thank all of our witnesses here today. I again want to congratulate our chairwoman on a historic hearing and everyone here that's fighting for what's right. Thank you very much.