,"
Opinion/Commentary I Editorials/ Letters
Statehood
would end D. C.
On October 27, George
Bu h vetoed the budget of
Washington.D.C. because of his '
objection to monies within the
budget for economically disad­
vantage4 women seeking to
yo'd unwanted pregnancies
The President thus was able
to keep his pledge to anti-abor­
tion forces.
eanwhile the District of
Columbia has been thrown into
a fiscal crisis because the Presi­
dent of the United States has
rejected its $3.4 billion budget.
Increased allocations for the
drug war including more
monies for education, counsel­
ing, treatment and additional
police have been nullified by the
President's displeasure with a
particular provision within the
budget. Mean hile the drug
crisis continues to engulf the
. nation's capital.
One is compelled to ask, why
does the President have the
right to veto the budget of the
District of Columbia. The
aosWCl" that the District is vir­
tually colony inside of these
United States.
In fact, not only the budget,
each d every law passed
by the District Council and
signed by the Mayor is subject
to final review and approval by
the Coagress and the President:
The District's elected. repre­
sentatives do not have the final
say or the ultimate authority to
govern the district. The council
and Mayor are reduced, in ef­
feet, to a colonial advisory body
to Congress and the President.
Indeed, the District does not
even have a voting repre­
scntative in Congress, instead it
has a "no -voting Delegate."
Of the 115 nations that have
elected national legislative
bodies, only the United States
deprives the citizens of its Capi­
tal from having voting repre­
sentation in its nationallegisla­
ture. And no other major
westem democracy has a sys­
tem here the President can
veto a budget passed by the duly
elected representatives of the
governing bodies within the
Capital district.
The citizens of Ottawa,
Paris, Londo Rome, etc. have
a full right to participate in the
political affairs of their respec­
tive nations. Only in America
are the citizens of the Capital
treated like colonial SUbjects.
The District of Columbia has
a population of around 650,000
' ... not only the
budget, but each
and every la
passed by the
District Council
and Signed by the
ayor is subject to
final review and
approval by the
Congress and the
President. '
The
import nee Of
early·
childhood
education
./
•... whatever is expected 10 be
the destiny of a people, that des­
tiny is determined by the training
of the children of that people in
those .things which tend to
produce the end desired, and the
earlier tha: training is begun the
more certainly are the desired
I'UUIU obtained. •
r • S.B. Hoi
P
I C:oaaress
beOrgIa (1902)
Experts agree tho � the ��y
years of life playa critical role �
child's development. It IS
during these years th t c�en
learn the basic skills that
provide them with a foundatio
for a uccessful life. And it is
precisely during these forma­
tive years that poor d Black
children' - our children
often fall tragically behind.
Our children fall behind be-
ca too many people think
that child care is simply a
term for "babysitting", and tha
good child care sim�1y means
making sure that children. do
not hurt themselves or get into
trouble. Adult with this at­
ti ude often alIo chil en to
atch TV or play aimlessly all
'J 10 They do not under-
. thout the right kind
of stimulation during their for­
. mative years, our children begin
school with a serious education­
al deficit.
Our children also fall behind
because those who genuinely
love children and recognize
their learning capacity may still
not know how to teach them.
The harsh reality is that eve� the
loving dult may not have
learned to provide children
'th the . they need to read;
write, and do arithmetic. A
child 0 enters school without
ba' had some well-planned
learning experiences begins his
or her elementary chool
education a real disadvantage
- while he or she was ·staying
of trouble", other children
were playing 'th computer ,
working ith puzzles, and
learning to recognize colors,
letters, and number .
Many 0 those who recognize
t e Deed to begin teaching
cbildren aD early age often do
� fiaancial resources
to do so. They cannot afford to
stay home to teach their
children themselves, but their
income does not allow them the
, luxury of c oosing from among
. r of child care arran­
gemeDt . Safe, affordable,
quality child care is hard to
come by, so parents feel that
t ey have to make do with
whatever childcares is available.
On their limited salaries, they
often aassume they can only af­
ford to provide their children
with custodial care, not educa-
tional experiences. • ..
However, more and more
parents are beginning to con­
sider early childhood education
a family priority. They recog­
nize that it is more importnat to
provide their young chUd�en
with a pre-school education
than it is to outfit them in a tren­
dy wardrole. These parents un­
der tand that there are many
ways to help a child prepare for
school that don't require a lot of
money or time. They know that
children can learn a number of
important concepts through in­
volvement in everyday ctivitie
like cooking and grocery shop­
ping, and are careful to h�ve
their children ·play" by fmding
objects that illustrate specific
colors, or begin with a given
phonetic sound. They realize
that time spent quietly watching
TV might be more prot\tably
used to take a small child for
walks through the neighbor-.
hood, or to the local library or
nearest museum.
, As we approach the final
decade of the 20th century,
providing a loving environment
for our children is not e ugh.
We must wor to prepare our
next generation. We have not
tim to waste.
Ionlst sta tus,
. I
Ron
Daniel
VANTAGE f
POINT
citizens, which is larger than the
states of Alaska, Vermont, and
Wyoming.
The District's population is
about the same as the states of
Nevada, North Dakota and
South Dakota.
It contributes in excess of $1
billion to the federal treasury
which is an amount larger than
that contributed by 9 states.
A sizeable portion of the $3.4
billion budget for fiscal Year
1990 is derived from the
Distrtict's taxes and revenues.
And yet the district via its coun­
cil and Mayor cannot spend its
dollars as it deems necessary
and appropriate. The question
is why?
Historically the District of
.Columbia was carved out of the
states of Virginia and Maryland
in order to provide a safe haven
for America's seat of govern­
ment.
It seems that the found' g
fathers had some anxieties
about the citizens of the new
found republic possibly holding
the leaders of the nation
hostage. Because of these fears
of the people, the District of
Columbia was created with no
clear provisions for self-govern­
ment or home rule.
Between 1800-1968 various
forms of governance structures
. were tried in the District. With
the exception of brief period
during Reconstruction, none of
these forms of government per­
mitted the citizens to elect their
own representatives.
"Citizens" from the District
were even denied the right to
vote for President! Over the
years the issue of home rule has
been a hot one in the District.
It has not been lost on many
students of this issue that one of
the problems h been the fact
that the District has always had
a large Blac and working class
population. .
Because of mounting pres­
sures from the people, citizens
of the District won the
"privilege" to elect their own
school board member and th
privilege to vote for the Presi
dent during the sixties.
Congress al 0 best owe
upon the citizens th privileg
of voting for council, the Mayo
and a non-voting delegate t
Congress. These limit d gain
however, fall far hort of
home rule and -g:OVC�rnlrne.1�
for th citizens of
Col bia.
Under the current arrange­
ments .even these limited
privileges can be Wiped out by
the Congress at will. Clearly a
different and more fully
democratic system is required
to end D.C.'s colonial status.
The solution that people like
Councilwoman Hilda Mason,
D.C. Delegate Walter Fauntroy
and most recently Jesse Jackson
have been calling for is
statehood.
If states like Alaska, Ver-
'mont, Wymoning; Nevada,
North Dakota and South
Dakota can have a Governor, 2
Senators and voting repre-
entatives in Congress, then
why not change the status of the
District of Columbia from a
colony to a full state within the
American Union.
Any legitimate jurisdictional
questions related to the main­
tenance and protection of
federal buildings, federal parks
and properties and protection
for the President and other
government officials etc. can
and should be worked out.
If these matters could be
handled in London, Bonn, Paris
and Rome certainly reasonable
people will not be lacking in will
and ingenuity to do likewise
here in the United States.
One suspects that the real
problem may be the complex:
tion of the people who would
come into full self-determina­
tion and self-governance in the
nations capital. Whatever the
ca use for the resist ance,
progre ive and right thinking
people nationwide must join in
the fight for full democracy for
the Di trict of Columbia.
I n America democracy i
supposed a right, not a
privilege. New Columbia must
become America's 51st stale.
Ron Daniels serves as Presi­
dent of the Institute for Com­
munity Organization an d
Development in Youngtown,
Ohio. He may be contacted at
(216) 746-5747.
I