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Thursday, April 19, 2007

A Groundswell of Activism - washingtonpost.com

A Groundswell of Activism - washingtonpost.com: " Groundswell of Activism D.C. Vote Gaining Champions Nationwide, but Will It Help? By Mary Beth Sheridan Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, April 14, 2007; Page B01 The District's campaign for representation in Congress is reviving with the biggest flowering of activism in more than a decade, as people locally and across the nation try to build support for a voting rights bill that could pass the House of Representatives next week. 'People have sensed the opportunity of a generation to do something,' said Ilir Zherka, executive director of D.C. Vote, an advocacy group." The D.C. government, churches, the city teachers union and taxi drivers are mobilizing residents for a march Monday on Congress, to be led by Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D). Activists have championed the cause by holding voting rights happy hours and handing out T-shirts at colleges. Nationally, hundreds or even thousands of activists -- many identified with the Democratic Party -- are writing and calling their lawmakers. Voting rights supporters are holding talks on the D.C. issue this month in Pennsylvania, Florida and Hawaii and throwing a mock tea party in Seattle. Four Washington area rock bands are doing an East Coast tour billed as an effort to "turn a 200-year-old issue into the flavor of the year." The question is: Will the burst of activity bring the city any closer to success in its decades-long effort? Liberal activists won't easily change minds in the Republican House leadership and the White House, which strongly oppose the D.C. vote legislation. And, in organizing Monday's march, activists face another challenge: the apathy of many city residents who've heard it all before and doubt that change is likely. Still, a confluence of factors has prompted the renewed energy: the D.C. vote bill's success so far in the House, the Democratic takeover in Congress and the new mayor's gung-ho attitude. The Internet has allowed activists to enlist allies nationwide via e-mails and blogs. "We are now building the momentum from years of work," said Lloyd Leonard, head of the League of Women Voters lobbying office. The city has seen other surges of enthusiasm about voting rights, notably when Congress passed a constitutional amendment in 1978 to give the District representatives in the House and Senate. But when the measure failed to win ratification from enough states, interest in the issue "went through the floor," Leonard recalled. As recently as a few years ago, Zherka called a meeting of local groups to discuss strategy. "Two people showed up," he said. What changed? In 2003, Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.) proposed a political compromise that would add two seats to the House of Representatives -- one for the heavily Democratic District, another for the next state in line to pick up a seat, Republican-leaning Utah. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D), the city's non-voting House delegate, signed on to the bill last year, bringing her party onboard. This year, the new Democratic House leadership pledged to move the bill quickly. With that, national grass-roots groups swung into action. Organizations such as MoveOn.org and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights sent e-mail alerts in recent weeks as the bill faced votes in House committees. That prompted thousands of people across the country to contact their legislators, the groups' leaders say.

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