In 1995, Eydie Whittington took an oath of office to fill the D.C. Council vacancy spawned by Marion S. Barry’s last ascent to mayoralty. She would go on to serve the next two years as Ward 8’s fourth-ever duly elected council member.
For Whittington, that chapter in public service, which came during a precarious time for what was then Chocolate City, followed stints as an advisory neighborhood commissioner and a member of Barry’s campaign team.
“I never thought I would be part of history,” Whittington said about her tenure on the council. “All I ever wanted to do was help people.”
As she and other local elected officials of the past and present celebrated the 50th anniversary of Home Rule with a commemorative photo shoot at the John A. Wilson building on Nov. 19, Whittington said she questions how District residents will fare under another Trump presidency and two GOP-controlled chambers of Congress.
“The new president affects not just Ward 8, but the entire city in terms of our autonomy and representation,” Whittington said as she lamented what she called intense segregation of D.C. residents by class and neighborhood.
“It feels like we’re separated for some reason,” Whittington said. “In the mid-1990s, there was more unity and excitement. People cared a lot more but it doesn’t feel that way anymore.”
A Once-in-a-Decade Photo Shoot, and Unanswered Questions
In total, 69 District residents have served or currently serve in a locally elected office created by the D.C. Home Rule Act of 1973.
Out of that group, 18 have since passed away.
The remaining 51 members of this exclusive club represent various generations, levels of civil rights and statehood movement involvement, and hometown affinity. On the evening of Nov. 19, most of them converged on the Wilson Building in Northwest for a once-in-a-decade photo shoot that commemorates D.C.’s attainment of partial political autonomy.
The official photo — which includes former and current District mayors, council members, congressional delegates, and attorney generals — is scheduled to be released at a later time.
Before entering council chambers, local officials ate hors d’oeuvres, spoke among one another, and later watched the unveiling of a new art installation — a Wilson Building Lego set created by Richard Paules, also known as the D.C. Lego Man.
While there was cause for celebration, some people, like D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D), couldn’t help but to acknowledge the tough road ahead.
“The GOP-controlled House and Senate give me a lot of concern,” she told The Informer. “I’m going to need a lot of strategy. I have tools, so I’m going to have to work.”
Norton, the second-ever D.C. delegate in the Home Rule era, succeeded Walter Fauntroy in 1991 after defeating then-Councilmember Betty Ann Kane in the 1990 Democratic primary, and later clinching more than half the vote in the general election. She has since been consecutively re-elected to two-years terms, making her the District’s longest-serving congressional delegate.
However, without D.C. statehood, Norton is unable to join her colleagues on votes coming before the House. Despite GOP pushback, Norton said that attaining statehood — which comes with full congressional representation — remains a possibility, as seen in 2020 when legislation to make D.C. the 51st state made it through the House.
Home Rule, she told The Informer, laid the foundation for that victory by giving residents some sense of what was possible for self governance.
“We’re here to enjoy this historic moment and we want the whole world to know about it,” Norton said on Nov. 19.
Looking at the Fight Ahead
For the last 50 years, statehood and preservation of Home Rule stood as one of the foremost racial justice issues for a mostly Black-ran city that was under the thumb of Congress.
Although the D.C. Home Rule Act in 1973 granted the District more control over its local affairs, District laws must be approved by Congress before they are enacted. To this day, the D.C. government is also prohibited from, among other things, imposing a commuter tax, changing the composition of the local courts, and controlling its national guard.
Such a position often places D.C. residents in Congress’ crosshairs, much like what many fear will happen with a Republican majority in both chambers, and Trump back in the White House.
In the 1990s, Congress blocked laws funding a clean needle exchange program and allowing same-sex couples to register as domestic partners for hospital visitation and inclusion on healthcare plans. In the decades following, D.C. residents continued to weather other congressional storms, including an attempt to block marijuana reform and, more recently, strike down the Revised Criminal Code Act.
Earlier this year, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) gave some hint of what more to expect when he introduced the BOWSER Act, legislation that repeals the D.C. Home Rule Act. For D.C. Councilmember Kevin Chavous, such developments are reminiscent of the 1990s, when Congress took over the District’s finances with the Financial Control Board.
“We can’t be complacent. Our hybrid status is unacceptable,” said Chavous, a former Statehood Commission appointee and Ward 7 council representative who served between 1993 and 2005. “Now is a good time to make sure we continue to fight for what’s right for our neighbors and citizens. We need to be more aggressive in ensuring that our friends on the Hill know what’s going on, particularly with the new administration.”
Others who returned to the Wilson Building on Nov. 19 included former D.C. mayors Sharon Pratt and Anthony Williams, along with former D.C. Council members Arrington Dixon, Kathleen Patterson, Sekou Biddle, Vincent Orange, Kwame Brown, Michael Brown, LaRuby May, and Yvette Alexander.
Frank Smith, civil rights activist and former Ward 1 council member, also counted among those who participated in the Home Rule commemorations. Between conversations with council colleagues, he gave a message centered on resistance against forces that want to disenfranchise District residents.
“D.C. is most vulnerable with the things that Donald Trump can do here,” said Smith, who served on the council between 1983 and 1999. “We’re low-hanging fruit so we have to set an example for the rest of the nation.”
In 1968, Smith joined the Free D.C. Movement with Barry, then D.C. Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee chair, along with Fauntroy, future D.C. council member John A. Wilson, and Calvin Rolark, founding publisher of The Informer.
Smith said he did so upon realizing that District residents didn’t get to elect their local representatives, much like the rights he and other youth of the Civil Rights movement worked to secure.
Decades later, as founding executive director and board member of the African American Civil War Memorial Freedom Foundation and Museum, Smith said that the work is still not done to make D.C. a state and place it on equal footing with other jurisdictions that have a vote in Congress.
“The right to vote is what makes us equal to everyone else,” Smith told The Informer. “The right to vote is how you treat yourself. We have to look at it like that. We have no say, but we pay the price. There’s wrong being inflicted.”
A Current Council Member Basks in the Moment
The last commemorative Home Rule photo, taken in 2014 included Barry, affectionately known as D.C.’s mayor for life, and the District’s first council chairman Sterling Tucker, both of whom have since passed away.
New faces have since emerged, including that of: D.C. Council members Robert White (D-At large) and Trayon White (D-Ward 8), Christina Henderson (I-At large), Janeese Lewis George (D-Ward 4), and Brooke Pinto (D-Ward 2).
At-large Councilmember White, a former Delegate Norton staffer, recounted being in the room a decade ago as the former and current council members of that time partook in the commemorative photo shoot.
Now that he’s engaged in similar activity, White said he’s even more cognizant and appreciative of his role in facilitating, maintaining and helping to build upon D.C.’s piecemeal sovereignty.
“I felt a real sense of honor to be among the legislators in my hometown in its first 50 years, which is still…infancy,” said White. “I learned all the intricacies of D.C. home rule, budget autonomy and many legislative efforts in this city working as legislative counsel to Delegate Norton. Now I get to be on a different frontline of that fight as a council member.”
