Mark David Richards discusses the political status of American citizens who live in Washington, District of Columbia, compared to Americans who live in the fifty states. This has been a hometown favorite for two centuries.  DC’s indeterminate political status and lack of political equality is and has been “the elephant in the room” that is admired, abhorred, and sometimes ignored altogether.  Equal rights are a DC dream, some would say a delusion, others impossibility, but the historical record shows that it has been a very long-term goal.

The D.C. Council's Special Committee on Statehood and Self-Determination held a public hearing on the history of the District of Columbia and its impact on the attainment of voting rights and statehood on May 13, 2009.