DC Votes Yes

<p>Saturday marks Juneteenth, when the last enslaved people in Galveston, Texas finally got word of their freedom in 1865. This came two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, which despite popular opinion did not automatically free every enslaved person. Washington D.C. was among the first cities to end slavery, doing so in April of 1862, months before President Abraham Lincoln’s historic speech. But many D.C. residents argue full democracy and freedom is still out of reach.  </p><p>Saturday marks <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/senate-unanimously-passes-bill-make-juneteenth-federal-holiday-n1270967" target="_blank">Juneteenth</a>, when the last enslaved people in Galveston, Texas finally got word of their freedom in 1865. This came two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. Juneteenth is now a <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/biden-signs-law-bill-establishing-juneteenth-federal-holiday-n1271213" target="_blank">federal holiday</a>, signed into law this week by President Joe Biden. </p><p>In Washington D.C., slaveryactually came to an end before federal emancipation. But today, many D.C. residents argue full democracy and freedom is still out of reach. </p><p>The city is nowhome to 700,000 people, nearly half of whom are Black. But despite living within arms’ reach of the halls of power, residents of the so-called Chocolate City do not have a voting representative in the House or the Senate. That’s because D.C. is not a state.</p><p>For years, activists have been<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/capitol-riots-renew-calls-d-c-become-51st-state-n1253614" target="_blank">pushing for statehood</a>; some hope to name it the Douglass Commonwealth, after abolitionist Frederick Douglass. In April, the House of Representatives <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/d-c-statehood-approved-house-senate-fight-looms-n1264946" target="_blank">approved HR-51</a>, which if approved by the Senate, would make D.C. the 51st state. With the Senate Hom