Nicole Raz
WMAL
WASHINGTON (WMAL) — Maryland’s summer capital is about to become the battleground for a new group pushing for DC statehood.
Several activists from Disrupt DC will be spending the day in Ocean City Wednesday, encouraging residents thrre to help them make their case to Eastern Shore GOP Congressman Andy Harris.
“Our focus is younger people focusing on younger people,” says 18-year-old Daniel Lewis with Disrupt DC. He told WMAL that he, his sister and a friend formed the group after hearing John Oliver’s DC statehood song on his HBO comedy program, Last Week Tonight.
“I knew that this [lack of congressional representation] was happening and I was part of that same block of, ‘Well, this is kind of an annoyance, but there’s nothing that I can do about it,’” Lewis said.
He took Oliver’s song as a call to action. You can watch the video of that song by clicking HERE. (WARNING: Some might find the language to be objectionable.)
“We knew that from that video and from the publicity that it was getting, we could take the momentum from it and build on that if we move quickly,” he said.
He and his sister connected with local activist Adam Eidinger, who helped mobilize DC residents around legalizing pot, and asked him for help.
“Of course I said yes,” Eidinger told WMAL. “Getting statehood for DC is not going to be easy to do. And I’m the first to admit that we are far away from that goal right now–very far away. But we have to fight, we have to stand up. Every generation that gets demoralized by the status quo needs another generation to come along and snap them out of that.”
With Eidinger’s help the group formed a strategy: To campaign outside the District in congressional districts that affect DC.
“This issue has to be moved from a helpless fight to a workable struggle against a moral issue,” Lewis said.
Eidinger said he’s already thinking about heading next to Alexandria and Arlington to talk to constituents of Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va).
Copyright 2015 by WMAL.com. All Rights Reserved. (PHOTO: HBO/Youtube)
