In a debate during the 2020 campaign, Sen. Susan Collins famously claimed that systemic racism isn’t a problem in Maine. For Mainers who have experienced it, her claim showed that she didn’t understand systemic racism, or how it works.
This year we’ll all see whether she recognizes how systemic racism undermines our democracy on a national level. We’ll know by her votes, and she can start by voting for H.R.51: Statehood for the District of Columbia.
The American citizens who reside in the District of Columbia cannot elect voting members of Congress and do not control their local government, laws, or taxes. Congressional Republicans today, like the Dixiecrats of an earlier period, have racist motives for denying them their rights as citizens. Washington D.C. is one of the most racially-diverse jurisdictions in America, with more Black residents than White. Republican opposition to statehood is partisan (D.C. voters overwhelmingly vote Democratic). It is also racist (Republicans feel they can get away with denying these Americans their rights as citizens because so many of them are Black).
Sen. Collins often speaks against partisanship, and she should support D.C. statehood because the only way to keep this issue from being partisan is to give these Americans the rights of full citizenship, no matter how they choose to vote.