NAACP, Planned Parenthood pen letter supporting D.C. statehood By Kate Smith Inside the push for D.C. statehood
The heads of Planned Parenthood, the NAACP and hundreds of prominent women of color are throwing their support behind Washington, D.C. statehood efforts, claiming the issue is one of racial equity and public health.
In an open letter to Congress released Thursday, they call statehood for the district a matter of life and death, citing issues like inequitable vaccine availability, a staggeringly high maternal mortality rate among Black women, and limited tools for local D.C. politicians to combat these problems. Signatories included Alexis McGill Johnson, head of Planned Parenthood Federation of America; Akosua Ali, president of the NAACP Washington, D.C.; Representative Lauren Underwood of Illinois; attorney and television personality Star Jones; and more than 250 other women leaders in fields like medicine, public policy, community activism and ed
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When three millenial women took office in January, they changed the dynamic of the Council.
Christina Henderson (At Large),
Brooke Pinto (Ward 2), and
Janeese Lewis George (Ward 4) turned the 13-member legislative body majority female for the first time in decades. Some also started using social media to communicate policy in ways that have never been done before. George, for example, created a TikTok to engage residents after no one signed up to testify at a DMV hearing.