WASHINGTON — Some local teens are going to Ocean City on a mission and with a message: promoting D.C. statehood.
“It should be seen as a moral injustice,” said Daniel Lewis, 18, a D.C. resident and a recent graduate of Georgetown Day School.
On Wednesday, Lewis and 20 other young people planned to hop in a van with a huge box of fliers and two massive D.C. flags to evangelize the cause. The idea, Lewis said, was to approach random people on the boardwalk and put “friendly faces out there with some good information.”
“Once you show someone the basic facts, they’re almost 90 percent of the time on board,” Lewis said. “It’s just getting those basic facts to them, and that’s what we’re planning on doing in Ocean City.”
Weeks ago, Lewis founded the grassroots group DisruptDC to inspire teens and college students to take up the cause. The Ocean City trip is DisruptDC’s inaugural event. So far, the group has 40 members.
Lewis said the group formed in response to the national buzz stirred up by John Oliver — when he sang a song for D.C. statehood on his HBO show “Last Week Tonight.” They’re hoping the attention will give the issue greater momentum on Capitol Hill, pushing lawmakers into action.
(Note: there’s coarse language in this video)
“The biggest problem of getting this issue to move in Congress is that not enough people know, and because not enough people know, no one cares,” Lewis said.
Lewis, who lives in D.C., said the injustice of 600,000 Americans being subjected to taxation without representation really hit home to him when he voted for the first time.
“People are not angry enough about something they should be furious over,” Lewis said. “We’re trying to get people, at least D.C. residents, to that point.”
