Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick: “our country, our Declaration of Independence, and our Constitution are all based on a promise. The promise in the…”

“our country, our Declaration of Independence, and our Constitution are all based on a promise. The promise in the Declaration of Independence is that taxation without representation was, and is, wrong. The promise in our Constitution is that all citizens of this country have ``certain inalienable rights'' and it is the job of Congress to secure those inalienable rights. H.R. 1905, the District of Columbia House Voting Rights Act, would secure those rights for the hard working, tax paying citizens who, merely because they live in the Nation's Capital, do not have a voting representative in the U.S. Congress. We enjoy many rights as Americans. The right to vote and the right to equal representation is perhaps the most sovereign right that we as Americans have. In my own personal history as an activist, I was an active and aggressive participant to secure these rights for all Americans. Indeed, some of our colleagues in Congress today were jailed and beaten to protect these civil freedoms. Unfortunately, too many died for this cause.”