Opinion | Celebrating emancipation as we fight for representation -

Stasha Rhodes is the campaign manager of 51 for 51, a coalition fighting to make D.C. the 51st state.

I’m the proud granddaughter of two courageous sugarcane farmer workers from south Louisiana. In 1972, Gustave Rhodes and a fellow worker filed a class-action lawsuit against the then-secretary of Agriculture for wages owed by Louisiana’s sugarcane growers to the state’s 12,000 field workers.

At the time, my grandfather and most cane workers were raising families on less than $4,000 a year and living in dilapidated shacks, many of them left over from the days of slavery. In their pursuit of justice and a better life for their children, my grandparents faced the threat of being fired and thrown out of their homes. They also faced pushback from neighbors and fellow workers who justifiably feared for their families. But they felt their integrity and dignity hinged on demanding structural change for Black families still living the vestiges of slavery long after emancipation.

They had everything to lose and, still, they courageously did what was hard: They stood up against injustice. The history of Black America after emancipation is defined by courage and constant struggle against injustice.

There is no more perfect example of that truth than D.C. Emancipation Day. On April 16, we will celebrate the day in 1862 when 3,100 enslaved people in D.C. were freed. And on that day, we will also stand up to demand equal representation for the residents of D.C., the majority of whom are Black or Brown, still living in the shadows of democracy. We will remind our senators that emancipation without representation is not freedom.

The fight to grant D.C. residents equal voting rights is inextricably linked with the fight to mend our deeply broken and unrepresentative Senate. D.C.'s two missing Senators would represent the first-ever state with a plurality of Black residents. We should be angry that in our country’s more than 200-year history, only 11 Black senators have served in one of the most influential institutions in our country. Sen. Raphael G. Warnock (D-Ga.) is the 11th.

Too many have come to accept the lack of congressional representation because they view challenging it as too hard. But make no mistake, the denial of representation and Black political power in the Senate is no accident; it is racism. And the consequences for Black and Brown people in D.C. are dire and often irrevocable.

Every time the Senate legislates gun violence, health care, minimum wage, voting rights, coronavirus relief and more without representing the people of D.C., they are knowingly carrying out the modern-day embodiment of emancipation without representation.

As another D.C. Emancipation Day anniversary comes and goes, the inequity and structural racism of the Senate continues. More than 700,000 D.C. residents continue living within reach of the U.S. Capitol without voting rights in Congress. We continue existing in a democracy that overrepresents its White citizens while failing to represent a city larger than two states. We continue to lack full control over local laws.

Making D.C. a state would also be a critical step toward realizing a more representative Senate. But it will require our sitting senators to show inordinate courage — the kind of courage my grandparents and so many other Black leaders throughout history have shown when boldly standing up.

In 1972, courage prevailed. My grandparents won the class-action lawsuit and helped trigger structural changes to the sugarcane industry in south Louisiana. Wages increased for severely underpaid workers. Circumstances improved for families living in unimaginable conditions. And the sharecroppers were held to account for their inhumanity. Not a day goes by that I don’t think about how courageous my grandparents had to be. When no one thought it was possible, they pressed on. Their bravery inspired my career as an organizer and fuels my advocacy for D.C. statehood, an issue many also once thought impossible. Thanks to my grandparents, I know that fighting for justice often means showing the hardest form of courage — the courage to stand up and challenge your friends.

We have an opportunity to strengthen our democracy for generations to come. Now is the time to be bold and do the hard work to enfranchise D.C. residents. So on D.C. Emancipation Day, I invite our friends in the Senate to show courage and commit to making D.C. the 51st state this session of Congress. I invite them to be audacious and finally end emancipation without representation in America.

Paul Waldman: D.C. statehood can no longer be ignored. Will Democrats step up?

Michael D. Brown: Statehood is not just about D.C. anymore

Jennifer Rubin: D.C. statehood may no longer be a pipe dream

Jamal Holtz: D.C. needs statehood more than ever, and the Capitol riot proves it

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