Emancipation Day may be D.C.’s last

THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Dozens gathered at Franklin Square in Northwest on Thursday to mark the District’s Emancipation Day holiday and protest the city’s lack of congressional representation.

The rally drew about 60 people, who prayed, chanted and marched. Many of them carried signs that called for “statehood now” or simply said “free D.C.”

The Emancipation Day holiday marks when President Lincoln freed 3,100 slaves in the District in 1862 - about nine months before he signed the Emancipation Proclamation. But in recent years, the day has been used to call for voting rights.

Thursday’s holiday, though, may be the last one for which D.C. employees and students get a day off.

Mayor Adrian M. Fenty has proposed eliminating the paid holiday beginning next year. Under his plan, the city would save $1.3 million by no longer giving employees a paid holiday or offering holiday pay to those employees who work.

The proposal has angered community activists and council members, who have threatened to strip the proposal from Mr. Fenty’s fiscal 2010 budget.