Our nation’s capital, the District of Columbia, opened the new year of 2015 with the swearing in of a new mayor.
On Friday, January 2, 2015, Washington, D.C.’s new mayor, Muriel Bowser, was sworn in.
Not even two entire months prior, on November 23, 2014, many residents since the 1980s and 1990s lost their beloved human rights activist/philanthropist/”Mayor-for-Life”, Marion Barry. Thousands mourned his death and celebrated his life at a 4 ½ hour funeral at which tales of unabashed humanitarianism were recounted by renowned relatives and friends. Barry is most fondly remembered for his successful summer job program for the city’s adolescents, his support of minority-owned businesses, the development and sustainment affordable housing and the facilitation of the Minister Louis Farrakhan’s Million Man March on the National Mall.
Accepting the mayoral seat while such an indelible imprint of success is on the minds of so many voters is a daunting task but Bowser seems up to the challenge. During her electoral campaign, Bowser pledged to address the city’s ails including disparaging inequality in the real estate market, rampant family homelessness, educational achievement gaps in the public schools, lack of control over the city budget and the need for voting Congressional representation. On Monday, January 5, 2015, Bowser’s first day on the job, she hit the ground running with an assertive address to press leaders of the Republican-governed House of Representatives. Mayor Bowser stood on the side of D.C.’s non-voting representative, Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, as she explained why 660,000 residents deserve a voting representative during federal legislation. In 2011, House Republicans revoked Norton’s voting right.
Clearly, voters who put Mayor Bowser in office will see campaign promises kept as she approaches her responsibilities with fervor and aggression.
Doprah No Filtah is a resident of Washington, D.C. Underground hip hop is her only escape from the constant influx of political meanderings. Follow her on Twitter @SNSNightlifeMag.
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