Mr. DYMALLY. Mr. Wilson? Then we'll go on to some questions and answers. STATEMENT OF JOHN WILSON Mr. WILSON. Good morning, Chairman Dymally and members of the committee. My name is John Wilson and I'm chairman of the District of Columbia City Council. I am indeed pleased as usual to come before this body to speak on H.R. 2482, the New Columbia Admissions Act. Before I begin, I would like to thank the distinguished Delegate from the District of Columbia, Eleanor Holmes Norton, for introducing this crucial piece of legislation, Senator Pendleton and Senator Jackson and Congressman Moreland for the important role that they are going to have to play in making this legislation a reality, the legislation that is of paramount importance to me and to residents of the District of Columbia and to my constituency. I can sit here this morning and repeat for you what you already know, that the District of Columbia with a population of over 600,900 has more people than Alaska, Wyoming or Vermont, but I'm not. That the District of Columbia residents pay over $1 billion annually in Federal taxes, more Federal taxes than eight States, but I'm not. That the District of Columbia residents have fought and died in every war since the War of Independence and that during Operation Desert Storm-I don't know how many people were there from California, but there were more soldiers in the Persian Gulf from the District of Columbia than 19 States and more per capita than any State except Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia, West Virginia, but I'm not. Or that in 1980 the majority of the District of Columbia residents expressed their desire for statehood through a referendum, but I'm not. I could continue along this line, but unless you've been under a stone, you've heard it all before. Since becoming chairman in January of this year, I've come before this body on many occasions. I've come before this body to ask for a higher Federal payment, to ask for a formula Federal payment, to defend the budget of the District of Columbia, to request budgetary autonomy, to request legislation which would permit down sizing and to request the repeal of the 30-day legislative layover period. So, I'm sure that your files are busting with data, facts and figures about the District. So, I'm not here today to repeat what has been said before or what will be said and which certainly will be said again. I'm not going to sit before you today and spout facts and insult your intelligence and I hope you don't insult mine in the process because the facts are clear. The residents of the District of Columbia want statehood and can support statehood. I'm not going to spout facts because this is not a factual debate, but one built on misconceptions, misunderstandings and misinformation. Numbers, statistics and logic has never been the overruling factor in this debate. What is at stake is purely parochial. Statehood will most likely result in two Democratic, liberal Senators and yes, those two votes could make a big difference, as we have seen very recently. A few weeks ago, I sat mesmerized with my fellow Americans and watched the Clarence Thomas hearings. Whatever my personal views on the truthfulness of the parties involved, I was denied as a District of Columbia resident of even the smallest vote in deciding whether this man will sit on the highest court in the land for the next 40-plus years, if he's lucky. People die quick these days. However, he will, despite my having had no say in his appointment, Clarence Thomas will decide issues on abortion, the death penalty, civil rights, policing powers which will directly affect me and over 600,000 District of Columbia residents, my wife and my cat. As a fellow elected official, I do feel a certain kinship toward you and I'm here this morning to tell you that I'm tired, bone tired. For the last 11 months, I've had to place much of my legislative agenda on the back burner while we've constantly grappled with the mounting fiscal problems facing the District as are facing California, New York, and since some people wanted those cities in, Philadelphia, Boston and Los Angeles. With the exception of redistricting, my committee has dealt with little else besides balancing budgets, denying pay raises, issuing general obligation bonds, tax anticipation notes, making program cuts and, of course, the infamous down sizing. The problems of the District of Columbia are not just line items in an appropriations act. Some people have said that the only-what we ought to be worried about is solving the problems that exist. Well, all of you come from States and cities. You have enough problems to deal with in those States and cities because they're no different than the problems that we have here. They are problems felt by flesh and blood people. My heart went out to the family who was highlighted in a Washington Post article which stated that 10 or more bullets had hit their home in the last year. It is truly sad when it has become a way of life for children to fall on the floor when they hear gunfire in Baltimore City public schools, as of yesterday. This is not happening in Beirut. I've never been to Beirut and I'm not interested very much in what happens in Beirut. It is happening within the gunshot range of these very hallowed halls, and yet neither I nor the citizens of the District of Columbia have any part in choosing those judicial officers who sit in judgment on those who are terrorizing our community. What other jurisdiction in America cannot select its own judiciary? If Congress-if the Mayor of the District of Columbia and the Council of the District of Columbia are going to be responsible for law and order, then why can't we pick our own judges too in the process? While statehood for the District of Columbia would not create a state of utopia, I don't know any State in the Union that is a state of utopia because I have represented the second district in the District of Columbia for 17 years and most of my constituency and a lot of my constituency are former Congressmen and Senators who never leave the District of Columbia once they come here. So, they definitely didn't come from utopia, unless they would have went back. It would create the State of New Columbia which would have the rights and privileges of other States to determine what happens within its borders and to participate in matters which are of concern to this Nation as a whole. Those of us that come behind me will complete the factual record and make the plea for you to permit, yes permit. We are often told 51-373-92 - 3 that the only thing that we can do in the District of Columbia is be permitted. So, yes, there are the people who are much more distinguished in this area of knowledge as to why we should be permitted. I will yield to them to tell you that. The District to have statehood, but I see my role today as the senior elected official from the District of Columbia. I'm here to state enthusiastically that the residents of the District of Columbia deserve statehood. They deserve a voice in deciding how the Federal tax dollars are spent, whether or not their children will die in wars on foreign soil. Statehood for the District will become a reality and I believe that if the Berlin Wall can come tumbling down, so too can the walls around the closed minds that continue to deny over 600,000 American citizens, good American citizens, their rightful place in this American society. Gentlemen and ladies, there is right and wrong in this country and we're often reminded in our religious teachings that there is right and wrong. This is no gray area that we're dealing with. There is right and wrong. It is wrong to deny the citizens of the District of Columbia the opportunity that every other American has and that is representation in this great body and in the great body of the Senate. It is wrong any way you look at it to equate the District of Columbia to Los Angeles County or to supply statistical metropolitan area of Massachusetts or Boston or Philadelphia. It is wrong. It is not bad. Now, I know we had a President not so long ago that said life is not fair. I don't expect certain people to be fair, but I expect the Congress and the Senate of the United States in a representative democracy to be fair. This is a represented democracy. When I walk through this great city that we live in and view the monuments of Jefferson, Washington, Lincoln, they were great men of stature, great men of vision. If some of you are ever going to have a monument here, you'd better get some vision and stature because the fact of the matter is that it is wrong to deny the people of this city the same opportunity that you have. It is wrong that Ms. Norton can sit on this body and participate in the process but cannot vote on the floor of the Congress. It is wrong. It is not fair to the people of this city no matter who they elect. That is the privilege of every American citizen. If they wish to elect someone of great intellect, that is their privilege. If they wish to elect an absolute fool, that is their privilege. That is the privilege of being in America. I was taught that there is nothing better in this world and I believe this from the bottom of my heart, I believe there is nothing better in this world than being an American. I love being an American. I am a seventh generation American. My great, great, great parents and my slave parents built this country, did every-I almost said that Congressman, I'm sorry. But did every menial, filthy little job in America to make this country what it is today. I did not arrive at Ellis Island and I did not arrive through some other mechanism of freeing me from someplace else. I am an American. You can make me a black American, you can make me an Afro-American, you can make me a colored American, you can make me a Negro American, but I am an American and I want to be treated like any other American. That's what I'm here for and that's why I want to be here this morning, because it is time that you allow me to be an American and to treat me like any other American, at least with my inalienable rights, with my inalienable rights to be what I want to be and an American who has full representation in this body, an American who has a State legislature that I can take my difficulties and problems to. It is wrong and if you can wander around this world today and talk about democracy in the Baltic States, democracy in Central America, democracy in South America, then do not continue to foster fascism in your own home town. It is not fair. It is wrong. So, I leave you to ponder whether you want to keep on being wrong or whether or not when you get to heaven-I'm told there is a heaven and I believe that. This is not a gray area, this is a right and wrong area. There's not any gray area here. I'm told that most people want to go to heaven. When you arrive in heaven and St. Peter tells you that you've been wrong for 200 years and you can't come in, remember I warned you. Thank you. Mr. DYMALLY. Thank you very much, Mr. Wilson. [The prepared statement of John Wilson follows:] |