..:.:: the indie roots weblog ::.:..

H.R. 1905, the updated DC Voting Rights Act, passed the House earlier today. This three days after 4,000 to 6,000 defied inclement weather to support the Voting Rights March on the Capitol.

Ilir at DC Vote says, “Thousands of us turned out this week to demand the vote, and Congress listened. We have had an uphill battle, and DC’s struggle with Congress has often felt like David vs. Goliath. Today we celebrate a hard-fought victory and roll up our sleeves for the Senate. We will have a battle in the Senate, but we have democracy on our side.”

Congressional Quarterly covered the vote today, with all the partisan rhetoric you could dream up (or repeat by rote) from the minority party:

http://www.cqpolitics.com/2007/04/from_cq_today_house_passes_dc.html

No props to Rep. Patrick T. McHenry, R-NC, who championed the partisan flap of the day by saying, “The Democrats are looking for a raw power grab.” But due propers to Congresswoman Norton, who told them, ““If DC were Republican, they would be arguing for voting rights … I yield you no ground.”

Certainly the Voting Rights March on Monday was a good shot in the arm for Congress. The City Paper has some good on-the-scene coverage of the event:

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/display.php?id=1273

While we may have had a cumulative total of 75 paying customers over five nights, we also had hits in the AP, the Washington Post, and the Christian Science Monitor.

The print edition of the Post article featured photos of Rob and The Dance Party, and the online edition featured video of Analog Jetpack. link / video link.

The AP happened to be on hand when Rob interviewed Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, and worked their interview into a broader coverage of the pop movement around the issue. They quote Norton telling us, “Thank you for singing us into freedom!” link.

And Rob composed an editorial for the Christian Science Monitor that ran Monday in time with the Voting Rights March: link.

This exposure does much more than we could ever hope to playing club to club in New England. Now imagine what Indie Roots can do when we take it coast to coast…

Mike writes us, “You might be interested in how our nonpartisan grassroots effort for DC congressional voting rights reached the First Congressional District of Texas, as noted in the Houston Chronicle.”

Indeed we are. We love to see coverage of our adopted Representative, the one who doesn’t support DC voting rights because the DC is “the only city … that every senator and every member of Congress has a vested interest in seeing that it works properly, that water works, sewer works.”

This is activism at its finest. Gohmert’s office is now managing an influx of infrastructure management demands, phoned in by our conscientious citizenry. Thanks of course to the DCist for their coverage, and to Mike for helping mobilize the grassroots.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/politics/4676949.html