what have the people of the district done that they should be excluded from the Privileges of The Ballot [Music] Box home roll meant dignity and participation in the American Experience so it meant a lot we're celebrating because there were a group of people who fought hard to get us home room it gives us the same rights and privileges that other citizens have unfortunately ours is limited so the status quo is not acceptable we need to have control over all aspects of our government to improve our society the community that's Washington DC and we do not have that now I will not heal sir the District of Colombia has spent 206 years yielding until until we become the 51st state we will not have the same equal rights that other residents of the United States of America have our greatest challenge is to retain what we have we are going to be put to the test in the next four years home rule has served us well and it has allowed us to really hear what the people of this community want and think the city has been strong he kept its finances we balanced budgets and we moving forward the population is growing because it's a great town to be in if you look at the history of DC it's been a history of civil rights and it's been a story of the case for self-determination of a people in a city and uh the story is still Untold there is a lot of work to be done I've lived through a revolution and race relations here in this country you can change the world and make it a better place and it's your responsibility to keep changing in to make it a better place we have every reason to be proud but we also have every reason to be determined to have the full participation in the American experience and demand statehood [Music]