CITIZEN JOURNALISM: Young suffragists get early start

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

- Preamble to the U.S. Constitution

For a group of D.C. public school parents, it’s never too early to teach their children a lesson in civic responsibility.

Twenty-five young suffragists, the youngest being 3-year-old Cecilia Pirozzi, held a rally last week in Lafayette Park, across from the White House, in support of D.C. voting rights.

“We try to talk to our kids about democracy, how it works here, how it works in other countries, and use the example of the District as one case where when you see a problem, you have to work to solve it,” said Cecilia’s mother, Elaine Pirozzi. “You can’t wait around for the rest of the world to solve all of our problems. In a democracy, it’s our responsibility as citizens to get active, learn about the problem and figure out ways to solve it.”

The June 16 rally wasn’t simply an exercise in civic responsibility. The group hosted this seventh annual event to educate tourists about the city’s lack of full voting representation in Congress. The group hopes its message will reverberate around the world when tourists return home with stories - not of Lincoln or Jefferson or Washington - but what they say is the injustice of denying residents of the nation’s capital full voting rights in Congress.

“They have internalized the idea that they have a chance to say something out loud and protest something they think is not right and experience something that kids usually learn about in school,” said Diane Torresen, the parent of two young suffragists. “This gives them a chance to participate and be a part of it.”

The D.C. children, ranging in age from 3 to 15, rallied the tourists with banners, buttons and placards.

One handmade placard read, “Taxation without Representation is Unfair.”

When one of the tourists asked, “Why aren’t they in school?” another responded, “They are in school. This is a lesson is civic responsibility.”

* Joseph L. Young is a writer and photographer living in Washington.