This is a recording of Luke’s recent Jacobin article, “DC Deserves Statehood.” Donald Trump’s takeover of Washington’s police force this week is adding insult to the injury of the United States’ long denial of equal political standing to the capital’s residents. But the demand for equal rights in DC needs to be part of a larger voting rights struggle that goes beyond our nation’s capital. It means a movement for a democratic constitution — one that abolishes the Senate, establishes equal suffrage and proportional representation, reins in the executive and judiciary, and grants full political rights to all US territories, from Puerto Rico to American Samoa.
