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We should not be observers in this. We should be participants. Democracy has never been moved by its spectators, but by those who got into the political arena and made good things happen. – Lawrence Guyot
The District of Columbia is not a state. At a recent debate, the front-runner for mayor, D.C. Council Chairman Vincent Gray, said that civil disobedience may be needed in order to make the basic right of statehood a reality.
Since D.C. is not a state, it does not have a governor, nor two U.S. Senators. The District has no county executives or county councils. The elected officials who run the District of Columbia consist of just 14 individuals: a mayor and thirteen members of the D.C. Council. At least that is the impression one might get from the mainstream news.
But there is a separate body of elected officials in D.C. While they get little attention, the District’s 286 Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners play a critical role. ANC commissioners – who serve as volunteers – are elected every two years by members of their single-member district (each single member district consists of approximately 2,000 District residents).
Lawrence Guyot’s civic participation predates his years of service as an ANC commissioner. Guyot, who was a civil rights leader, said, “I am very proud to have taken Fannie Lou Hamer to register to vote. I was chairman of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. I was a member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. I now am continuing that work. I said very clearly, I’m a resident of the District of Columbia, but I’m a citizen of the state of Mississippi because the bravest people in American history lived and fought and died for the right to get political power and to change the world. We in SNCC started out to change Mississippi and we changed the world and now it’s your turn.”
Guyot is encouraging District residents to run for their ANC. He said, “Let’s be very clear, there is no substitute for political empowerment. There’s just none. You either have power or you don’t have it… We should not be observers in this. We should be participants. Democracy has never been moved by its spectators, but by those who got into the political arena and made good things happen.”
Guyot explained the significance of the Advisory Neighborhood Commissions: “There is a fundamental difference between how communities – how neighborhoods – who have good, aggressive, accessible ANCs are handled by the city government, and those that suffer the malady of living in dysfunctional ANC commissions. Believe me, I know. I’ve been there.”
Too often, a candidate for ANC commissioner will go unchallenged. Occasionally, an ANC will have not have a single candidate for commissioner, creating a vacancy.
To get on the ballot for the November election as a candidate for ANC commissioner you – yes You! – must pick up your forms from the Board of Elections and Ethics at 441 4th St, NW, Suite 250 North and have them returned by 5:00 PM on Friday, September 3rd. You will need to collect 25 valid signatures from members of your single member district, but, as Guyot said, “You want to at least get 50 or 60 because a lot of people may be registered to vote, but may not be registered to vote [in your single member district].”
For more information call the Board of Elections and Ethics at (202) 727-2525 or visit www.dcboee.org.
LISTEN TO LAWRENCE GUYOT HERE