Send a letter to the editor of your newspaper showing support for D.C. Statehood.

Use the links provided and sample letter below to send a letter to the editor of the following papers:

  1. Indivisible tool for sending letters to local papers: https://act.newmode.net/action/indivisible-project/making-democracy-reform-priority-dc-statehood

  2. Link to send a letter to the editor of the LA Times: https://www.latimes.com/opinion/submit-letter-to-the-editor

  3. Link to send a letter to the editor of the New York Times: https://help.nytimes.com/hc/en-us/articles/115014925288-How-to-submit-a-letter-to-the-editor

  4. Link to submit an op-ed to the Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/submit-an-op-ed/

Here is a template for your letter, but we recommend customizing it for maximum impact:

January 6th, 2021. Who among us will ever forget the shock, surprise and horror of that day? Who among us will forget that the city’s Mayor, Muriel Bowser, was overruled by President Trump in the deployment of D.C.’s own National Guard? Local political control of our nation’s Capitol, the heart of our democractic union, has been lacking since its inception. Perhaps it made sense in the beginning, but it’s clearly obsolete today. To this day, DC has no voting rights in the U.S. House of Represenatives and no rights at all in the Senate. Home to a population of over 700,000 people, DC has less control over its destiny than states like Wyoming and Alaska, each with fewer than 500,000 people. 

Lack of local control is fraught with consequences. Just now, as Congress treated D.C. as a territory rather than a state in its $2 trillion COVID stimulus bill, the District received $750 million less in funding. The District estimates that it loses between $2 - $3 billion annually because Congress will not allow it to tax the hundreds of thousands of non-residents who work there. Not surprisingly, it also cannot tax federal property. Taxation is lopsided. D.C. residents pay more taxes than residents in 22 other states and pay more per capita to the Feds than any state, despite having no votes in Congress. 

Look anywhere and inequities can be found in the balance of power between the District and Congress. These inequities alone cry out for reform. Yet the greatest reason for reform has its roots in our Reconstruction past as blacks began to gain power and whites pushed back. In an effort to disenfranchise blacks, all D.C. citizens lost local control. The ACLU argues that the most compelling argument in favor of statehood is “ending the continued disenfranchisement of a non-minority Black jurisdiction that has left hundreds of thousands of Americans without representation in Congress.” Clearly this is anathema to right-wing, MAGA and many Republican voters. To me, District Statehood rights an historical wrong and finally brings the seat of our democracy into the 21rst century.

When you've written your letter to the editor, click the button below to find other actions you can take to support DC Statehood.