Nearly one month after President Donald J. Trump’s second inauguration, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) refuses to publicly acknowledge what many District residents call the elephant in the room.
For weeks, Bowser has declined to directly answer reporters’ questions about the onslaught of Republican attacks against her hometown, including Trump’s pardoning of two D.C. police officers, and more recently his plans to take over the Kennedy Center and empower prosecutors to tackle violent crime.
Meanwhile, Republicans in both chambers of Congress are shepherding legislation that revokes District home rule. Even so, Bowser, in her most recent exchange with the local press, opted to focus on what she called a more relevant topic of discussion: D.C. statehood.
“That means we’ll be treated like every other American,” Bowser told reporters on Feb. 10 at the culmination of an event marking the launch of a youth development professional certificate program at George Washington University.
As she walks a tightrope in her engagement with Trump, the second and fourth person to occupy the White House during her mayoralty, Bowser continues to emphasize the drawbacks of not having full congressional representation. Her remarks came just hours after tens of thousands of federal employees, heeding Trump’s call to work in the office, made their morning commute to Navy Yard.
Bowser, who said she’s closely monitoring Trump’s action for possible legal violations, said she wants more for D.C. residents seeking to be heard on the federal level.
“When important things are being debated, like cabinet nominees, we have neither a voice nor vote,” Bowser said. “In Congress, our congresswoman [Eleanor Holmes Norton] is a delegate but she doesn’t have a vote. So we’re reminded of what it means to be full citizens of his nation. And we can get that through statehood.”
Trouble for What Was Once Known as Chocolate City
If passed, the Bringing Oversight to Washington and Safety to Every Resident Act, also known as the BOWSER Act, dissolves the local government and places the District back under congressional control, as had been the case between 1874 and 1973.
In 1973, President Richard Nixon signed the District of Columbia Home Rule Act into law, which established a home rule charter that paved the way for an elected mayor and D.C. Council. Even with home rule, the District still experiences a degree of congressional oversight unlike that inflicted on full-fledged states.
For instance, a provision of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act subjects laws approved by the council and signed by the mayor to a period of congressional review.
This latest act of congressional infringement on local affairs, led by Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) and Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), follows Republicans’ 2023 strikedown of the Revised Criminal Code Act, and the slew of House committee hearings focused on public safety in the District. As Ogles explained earlier this month, none of those actions taken up until this point have quelled Republicans’ appetite for accountability.
“The radically progressive regime of D.C. Mayor Bowser has left our nation’s capital in crime-ridden shambles,” Ogles said in a statement referencing public safety issues and the controversy surrounding former D.C. Councilmember Trayon White. “Bowser and her corrupt Washington City Council are incapable of managing the city. As such, it seems appropriate for Congress to reclaim its constitutional authority and restore the nation’s capital.”
Advocates and Residents Respond
Within hours of Ogles and Lee introducing the BOWSER Act, local activists, elected officials, and residents unleashed waves of criticism toward those occupying the U.S. Capitol.
U.S. Rep. Dr. Oye Owolewa (D), the shadow representative for the District, released a statement decrying Republicans’ actions before pledging to counter the legislation.
“D.C. residents serve in the military, pay federal taxes, and contribute to this country just like any other American,” Owolewa said. “Yet, time and time again, we are forced to defend our basic right to self-governance from those who do not represent us and do not understand our community’s needs.”
Meanwhile, Patrice Sulton, executive director of D.C. Justice Lab, called the legislation the latest instance in a “long, racist history” defined by Congress’ denial of District residents’ right to self-determination.
“In 1890, Senator John Morgan openly compared Black D.C. residents to ‘rats’ and called for Congress to ‘burn down the barn’ to get rid of them,” Sulton said. “Senator Tom Cotton opposed D.C. statehood by invoking racist stereotypes, asking, ‘Would you trust Marion Barry [as a governor]?’ Last year, Rep. Gary Palmer called D.C. public schools ‘inmate factories’ during a congressional hearing — revealing exactly how those who oppose D.C. self-governance view our community.”
In wrapping up her statement, Sulton questioned Republicans’ sincerity about the state of affairs in the District.
“This is not about governance,” she said. “It is about maintaining white control over a majority-Black city. We see it for what it is, and we will fight back.”
Keya Chatterjee, executive director of Free DC, a movement dedicated to amplifying calls for full congressional representation, also weighed in, taking aim at Ogles, who she said has severely misplaced priorities.
“Representative Ogles could be using his time right now to go after the billionaire [Donald J. Trump] who has compromised national security at multiple federal agencies… or explaining to his constituents why he was charged with corruption,” Chatterjee said. “It’s incompetent and racist for this man to presume that he knows D.C. better than the people who live here, raise families here, or who are duly elected by the voters here.”
A Home Rule Veteran Offers a Different Take
Absalom Jordan, a longtime Ward 8 resident and Bowser supporter, said he welcomes any revocation of Home Rule, despite what he described as his direct role in helping D.C. secure local control of its government.
This change of heart, he said, came recently.
“I love the mayor, but I don’t believe the mayor loves me or the people in my community,” said Jordan, whose record of service includes a stint as a representative on the D.C. Statehood Commission. “It’s not all on her [because] some things she couldn’t do without the support of the majority of the council members. Government is not working for those of us who are Black and poor.”
Jordan, 83, said he reached the apex of his frustration while serving on the D.C. Commission on Poverty, a D.C. Department of Employment Services (DOES) entity that recommends poverty reduction strategies to the mayor and D.C. Council.
As Jordan recounted, the commission has been lagging behind in its quest to fill ward-level representative seats, to the point that he and Sherry Pate of Ward 5 are still awaiting word about who would be serving as their Wards 1-4, 6, and 7 poverty commission counterparts.
For this proponent of civic engagement, watching city leaders pour their energy into the acquisition and development of Capital One Arena, RFK campus and other buildings adds insult to injury.
“Why should developers’ money count more than my vote?” Jordan told The Informer. “We should be competing with other areas, but when I grew up [in the District], I saw more in terms of services. I saw things happening that I don’t see now.”
In sharing his frustrations, Jordan took aim at what he called D.C.’s elite circle.
“I have a problem when you make a decision to spend millions of dollars to expand the Southeast Tennis and Learning Center — because [Cora Masters Barry] is your friend — rather than addressing poverty.”
I hope Congress do take over, The Mayor don’t care about the crime Kids getting killed everyday, My Grandson was killed he was 19yrs old… Down Sw by the National Stadium so many kids losing their lives down Sw The Mayor not addressing none of the issues… She worry more about RFK STADIUM SO THEY CAN BLDG MILLION DOLLARS HOMES FOR THE RICH WHITE PPL , Not for black ppl. She lying about crime down in city everybody know she lying… I hope they do take control of Dc…. The police all the do is sit in their cars on the phone or hiding behind a building doing nothing. I hope the Feds take over!!! BE MORE POLICE DOWN CAPITAL ONE ARENA THEN ON THE STREETS….She don’t care about Black Ppl
You think the republicans are gonna be better, after all the shit we’ve seen them do? The issue is that people keep reelecting Bowser, not that we have a mayor. You mention your grandson getting killed, and that’s a huge tragedy. But would it be any better if he was killed by police instead?