#FreeDC

On Saturday afternoon, I began asking the Mastodon community to support Free DC Project, the organization spearheading the fight for DC’s rights to govern itself and to be free from Trump’s authoritarian martial occupation. As of this writing, we have already raised over $2000. Join the campaign here.

The fight to gain and protect Home Rule in the District of Columbia, and for the District's statehood, has a long history. But the fight for DC’s political autonomy connects to a bigger role the nation's capital has played for centuries in the great American struggle to realize the promise of the Declaration of Independence.

The location and governance of the capital city of the United States has been a bone of contention since the country’s founding. Eight northern cities and towns served as the American capital city before the U.S. Constitution designated a federal district, what eventually became Washington, DC. Eventually, the founders of the country agreed to locate the capital city in the south to appease slaveholding states: “The residence act which placed the capital district in present-day Washington DC was part of the plan by the federal government to appease all the pro-slavery regions. These states feared that a northern capital city would mean that the federal government was sympathetic to the slavery abolitionists.” [source]

Maryland and Virginia, both slaveholding states ceded the land that became the District of Columbia. Right from the city's inception, black people were a major part of the population. “The territory [for DC] was ceded by Maryland, a slave state, and Virginia, the Southern state with the largest slave population, thus contributing to a significant Black presence in Washington.” [source]

From the founding of the United State and throughout the Civil War, the fight to abolish slavery in the District was a microcosm of the fight to end slavery in the country as a whole. DC was wholly under Congressional control until well after the Civil War. Antebellum abolitionists saw the importance of Congress ending slavery in the District, thereby making a statement about the place of slavery in the U.S. national identity.

[T]he DC Compensated Emancipation Act of 1862 [was] passed by the Congress and signed by President Abraham Lincoln. The act ended slavery in Washington, DC, freed 3,100 individuals, reimbursed those who had legally owned them and offered the newly freed women and men money to emigrate. It is this legislation, and the courage and struggle of those who fought to make it a reality that we commemorate every April 16, DC Emancipation Day. [source]

Freed slaves from the District did not emigrate in any significant numbers. Most joined the already free blacks resident in DC, continuing to live and work there. In fact, African-American soldiers played an important role in defending the District from invasion by the Confederate Army during the Civil War.

Bottom line: DC has long been the epicenter of the contest for civil rights and the promises of the Declaration of Independence for ALL who live in the United States of America. The current Republican Fascist Party is well aware of the significance of DC. This is why Republican Fascist Party governors from West Virginia, South Carolina, and Ohio are hurrying to send troops to the District to support Trump’s occupation of it.

We can show we too appreciate the significance of a free DC in the context of our nation-wide fight against fascist authoritarianisms and for pluralistic democracy. We can support Free DC Project, the organization leading the effort to protect and promote the District’s autonomy.

Let’s go!