Nigerian American Presses Case for DC Statehood
November 15, 2021 7:58 AM | Carol Guensburg, Betty Ayoub
"Right now, we pay taxes. We pay our fair share as American citizens," said Owolewa, the U.S.-born son of Nigerian immigrants. "We don't get back what everybody else does. … A lot of people outside of D.C. don't understand the inequity, inequalities, of what's going on here in the nation's capital. They don't understand that there are 700,000 Americans who lack voting representation in Congress."
Their main mission is to advance statehood. Success would give the District autonomy over its budget and local laws, currently subject to approval by Congress. Statehood also would give D.C. two seats in the Senate and one in the House.