Simmering Disputes Over Statehood Are About Politics And Race. They Always Have Been

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Six-year-old Mary «Dodie» Brown holds a copy of the 1959 special Hawaii statehood edition of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin.

George Bacon/Hawaii State Archives

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George Bacon/Hawaii State Archives

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Former Speaker of the House Rep. John Boehner presents the Congressional Gold Medal to Susumu Ito of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, an Army unit comprised of Japanese Americans from Hawaii which became the most decorated unit for its size and service.

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A group of supporters of statehood drive through the street in Waikiki, Honolulu, Hawaii, on March 13, 1959.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

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President Dwight Eisenhower helps unfurl the new 50-star flag on Aug. 21, 1959 after signing a proclamation making Hawaii the 50th state of the union. At right is Daniel K. Inouye, Democratic congressman-elect from Hawaii.

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President Dwight Eisenhower helps unfurl the new 50-star flag on Aug. 21, 1959 after signing a proclamation making Hawaii the 50th state of the union. At right is Daniel K. Inouye, Democratic congressman-elect from Hawaii.

Byron Rollins/AP

In 1959, President Dwight Eisenhower signed legislation making Hawaii America’s 50th state.

It wasn’t until 1993 that the «Apology Resolution» passed in Congress, which «apologizes to Natives Hawaiians … for the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii … and the deprivation of the rights of native Hawaiians to self-determination.»

Not just Hawaii

Before the Civil War, two states were generally admitted to the union at the same time in order to prevent one party, and thereby the divided north and south, from gaining a political advantage.

«You had, up through the 1850s, this idea of balancing: that one state would come in as a free state and one state would come in as a slave state,» says Paul Frymer, professor of politics at Princeton University and author of «Building an American Empire.»

Following the Civil War, the dominant Republican Party looked westward to seize land and break it into states they believed would be Republican.

In what Frymer describes as one of the «biggest hang-ups at the end of the 19th century,» the last two states on the continent – New Mexico and Arizona – vied for statehood.

«Arizona was always settled by more whites than New Mexico was,» Frymer explains. «They both pushed for statehood, but there was more support for Arizona. And here you see both partisan politics, with two parties fighting over what would constitute a state, and then racial politics.»

Much of the statehood debate over New Mexico, which had joined the U.S. as a territory in 1850, hinged on race.

«The conversation in Congress was, ‘Was the state white? Was there a majority white population? Was there a large enough white population that spoke English?’ All of these types of terminology were applied to what was largely an indigenous and formerly Mexican population,» Frymer says.

Republican Sen. Lot Morril of Maine went so far as to call New Mexico’s residents «Indians — the men that we hunt when we have nothing else to do in the summer season.»

Statehood for New Mexico failed to pass until 1912, when Congress felt satisfied the population was «American» enough.

Will there ever be more stars on the flag?

Puerto Rico’s governor’s race in November may bring with it a renewed effort to embrace statehood efforts. Former congressional representative Pedro Pierluisi defeated Gov. Wanda Vázquez in the primary election and is a supporter of statehood.

This summer, the House of Representatives cast a historic vote to grant statehood to D.C, whose residents overwhelmingly support admission as a state.

But strong Republican opposition in Congress and the White House dooms any movement on that legislation.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told TV host Laura Ingraham last year that any Democratic push for D.C. statehood is «full-bore socialism on the march in the House,» a comment that critics felt hearkened back to justifications for keeping Hawaii out of the union.

President Trump has been even more explicit about his reasons for opposing D.C. statehood, telling The New York Post: «Why? So we can have two more Democratic — Democrat senators and five more congressmen? No, thank you. That’ll never happen.»

A day before the House passed the legislation, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas, issued a speech on the Senate floor categorizing statehood efforts as a power grab by Democrats and seemingly dismissing the value of District residents.

«Yes, Wyoming is smaller than Washington by population, but it has three times as many workers in mining, logging and construction, and 10 times as many workers in manufacturing,» Cotton said. «In other words, Wyoming is a well-rounded working-class state.»

His comments prompted outrage on social media, with many pointing out the civil rights implications of the district’s lack of representation. The city has been majority-minority since the 1950s and of its over 705,000 residents, 46% are Black.

But Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., says he views the push for statehood as purely political.

«If your interest is solely to be able to vote for representatives in Congress, you could have retrocession occur,» he says, referencing small efforts in recent years to cede the city’s land back to Maryland, a plan that would not change the number of senators.

«I think the most telling political thing is that when the retrocession bill to Maryland was introduced 10 years ago in Congress, no Democrats co-sponsored it, which belies the fact that the goal is a political goal, because if the goal was just representation then retrocession to Maryland would work,» Harris says.

Harris says even if Democrats win back the Senate and the White House this November, D.C. statehood is far from guaranteed.

«The constitutionality would immediately be argued,» he says. «I think the Supreme Court will ultimately agree that this is an issue of changing the Constitution because the federal capital city is described in the Constitution and the authorities over that capital city.»

It’s the kind of opposition Sen. Hirono expects.

«I think there will be a lot of Republican resistance to having any state that will create more seats that would go Democratic,» she says. «Especially now in this much divided political environment.»

Frymer, of Princeton, says if the tables were turned, and D.C. was a Republican stronghold, it’s unlikely the Democratic party would be rushing to grant statehood.

«No party wants one state to come in that’s going to boost the other party. That’s why historically, both parties have looked for some type of balance,» he says.

«To me, this is one of those issues that historically will be resolved. The pressure is going to continue to build and build over time. The question is, when will the moment occur that the United States finally embraces it?»