For two weeks at the end of 2020 and beginning of 2021, my good friend Taylor* stayed in the basement of my home in Southeast to seek refuge from their apartment near Capitol Hill. Taylor feared for their safety because their neighbors had rented their apartment on Airbnb to a group of white insurrectionists in town to disrupt the democratic election process.

We all know what ended up happening on January 6th 2021. But it's stories like Taylor's that will go unheard as the nation recalls the violent attempt to overthrow our democracy. While the photos and videos of windows being smashed and white supremacists scaling the scaffolding outside the Capitol will live in our collective national memory, it’s us, the 700,000 residents of the District of Columbia, who are still living with the consequences.

We saw it coming. Our community was the staging ground for Unite the Right II, white supremacists’ 2018 sequel to the violent Charlottesville riot of 2017. The Proud Boys and their ilk returned for the Fourth of July celebration on the National Mall in 2019. And in 2020, the Proud Boys again converged on the District to terrorize residents by burning a Black Lives Matter flag in front of a Black church. After so many violent white supremacist events seared in our memories, many fellow District residents feared the worst and left town before the General Presidential Election in November 2020.

We live in a place where violent white supremacist insurrectionists tried and failed to stop our democracy from recognizing our votes and the votes of the nation. The attack happened within the Capitol building, where we do not, as citizens of the District of Columbia, have full voting representation, unlike other citizens of this country.

Following the insurrection, many felt we were living in an occupied state. Over 25,000 troops patrolled our neighborhoods--more troops than were in Iraq and Afghanistan combined at the time--as we tried to live, work, and take our kids to school. D.C. residents were put in a physically, mentally, and politically perilous situation made possible because we lack statehood.

As a state, D.C. would have voting representation in the House and the Senate who could lead the charge to hold those responsible for January 6 accountable. With statehood, D.C. would have full representation in Congress to advocate for the right investments in the District to shore up our community from attacks while protecting our First Amendment rights. And with statehood, the 700,000 residents of D.C., the majority of whom are Black and brown, would have full voting rights to make our voices heard. Ultimately, the right to vote was at the center of the insurrection. With statehood, we would have the necessary control to fully protect our communities and our democracy.

Attacks on voting rights and on our democracy will happen again and again if we don't firmly address and solve the root issues. Yes, our democracy prevailed, but just barely.

It is up to us to learn from what happened on January 6th—and that does not mean simply putting up fences around the Capitol building. It means that we as a nation recognize that D.C. residents are dealing with the trauma of having white supremacist extremists repeatedly spread fear and try to overthrow the results of a free and fair election. It means confronting the fact that D.C., the heart of this country’s democracy, remains vulnerable to outside attacks without the protections of statehood. It means showing the nation how January 6th has impacted us in big and small ways, like it did for my friend Taylor.

It also means increasing our protection of voting rights. Our democracy works best when all eligible voters can participate and have their voices heard. Passing the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Washington D.C. Admissions Act are important actions that can protect the voting rights of Americans, especially Black and brown Americans. Remind your friends and family across the country to urge their members of Congress to support D.C. statehood because it is essential in the fight for full and equal voting rights for all Americans. If we don't learn from January 6th, we risk our entire democracy again.

*Taylor is a pseudonym used to protect the person’s identity.

The longest night of the year, December 21, is Homeless Persons Memorial Day, when communities nationwide come together to remember those who have died while experiencing homelessness. On that same day, the D.C. Council will vote on whether to pass emergency legislation to suspend encampment evictions and the establishment of “no camping zones” during the winter and instead focus District resources on providing encampment residents with housing and other health and safety supports. This vote is a life-or-death matter for thousands of unhoused people across the District.

The District usually pauses its clearing of homeless encampments during hypothermia season because displacing people and taking away their tents exposes them to dangerously cold weather that could mean losing limbs to frostbite or even dying from hypothermia. In addition, these clearings push people into smaller encampments in hard-to-locate places and make it difficult to connect them with housing, blankets during freezing cold weather, and other support services. However, despite the real risk to people's lives, Mayor Bowser is scheduling and clearing homeless communities late in the year, with the next clearing planned for December 21.

While Mayor Bowser’s Coordinated Assistance and Resources for Encampments (CARE) pilot program says they connect encampment residents to housing and other support services, the government is not doing so before evicting many encampment residents destroying their belongings in the process. The District's resources to clear these encampments would be better going towards services that can address homelessness long term.

There’s also been a heavy police presence during these encampment evictions. Qaadir El-Amin, an organizer for unhoused people for five years, saw 20 police officers sent to clear a small encampment. Using District resources to further displace, intimidate, and harass unhoused residents will only contribute to the criminalization of homelessness while doing nothing to solve the crisis. This type of police response also goes against the common sense recommendations of the D.C. Police Reform Commission to limit police interactions with community members experiencing homelessness and instead focus resources on meeting their housing needs.

The District and Mayor Bowser should examine and reform the system that has left many unhoused people from accessing resources. Currently, people experiencing homelessness face barriers to entering D.C. shelters, such as not being able to enter if they have pets, have more than two bags, or are with opposite-gender partners. In addition, the communal nature of most District shelters has led many to avoid them for fear of contracting COVID-19. And housing is exponentially less attainable. When El-Amin talks to unhoused people, they often share how their mental health suffers from being stuck waiting for housing and navigating the system. Many people in large encampments have received some government support, but those in smaller, less visible encampments have received very little. According to El-Amin, many have jobs but aren’t paid enough to survive. The thought of being evicted once they can’t make rent deters them from seeking permanent housing at all. Leaving the encampment communities means isolation from their family, friends, and support network.

The CARE pilot program also raises constitutional concerns. The Fifth Amendment requires that the government not deprive people of property without due process of law. Yet, by establishing "no camping zones,” the Bowser administration is creating zones of public land subject to “immediate dispossession” with no notice, no right to appeal or challenge the decision, and no proof that the government has any special concerns for their property. This threatens the rights and liberties of unhoused D.C. residents.

We know the long-term solution to homelessness is housing. For that to happen, D.C. must stop clearing encampments and evicting residents and instead focus on connecting unhoused people with the services they need to thrive. The D.C. Council will vote on emergency legislation introduced by Councilmember Brianne Nadeau that will do just that. Reach out to your Council members ahead of the vote to support this legislation.

Note: Qaadir El-Amin is the founder of A Right to Life, and part of the People for Fairness Coalition and Ward 2 & 6 Mutual Aid