A 51-star flag for D.C. statehood on Flag Day 2021

Flag Day Susan Rice calls for D.C. statehood on MSNBC and N.Y. Times, a late Flag Day post! As I have the past two years, I'm observing the holiday by blogging about D.C. statehood.

Corky Siemaszko of NBC News reminded me about this cause, which has become a recurring theme for my celebrations of the day, by publishing Flag makers in the spotlight as Congress gets ready to discuss Washington, D.C., statehood.

Statehood, which has long been the dream of many residents in Washington, is once again being debated for the nation’s capital, and another Flag Day is upon us.

If it turns out statehood is in the cards, the new U.S. flag could look like the banner Mayor Muriel Bowser unveiled two years ago, when she planted 140 of them on Pennsylvania Avenue between the White House and the U.S. Capitol ahead of a congressional hearing on statehood.

It has three horizontal rows with nine stars, three horizontal rows with eight stars and the blessing of Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., who has — as she has done every year since she took office in 1991 — introduced a D.C. statehood measure.

“I defy you to find a flag that looks all that different from the flag we had when there were 48 states,” Norton said. “Simply adding a star will not have a cosmic change on the flag.”

What did she think of Bowser’s flag?

“I loved it,” Norton said, laughing. “But it was not because the flag stood out in any way.”

NBC News showed Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton posing with a 51-star flag yesterday, but it wasn't new. It's the preview image from ‘I look forward to having that extra star’ — D.C. delegate shows off American flag with 51 stars, which Roll Call uploaded in advance of last year's vote for D.C. statehood.

“People are going to have to buy new flags,” said D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, describing an alternate version of the American flag that has 51 stars.

The extra star, symbolizing her decades-long quest to make the District of Columbia a U.S. state, is hard to notice.

“If you look at it you won’t see much difference,” the Democrat told CQ Roll Call during an interview back in February. “I think I like that, even as I extol, and look forward to, having that extra star.”

In other words, we'd hardly even notice the new flags.

Follow over the jump for two videos describing the cases for and against D.C. statehood.

Delegate Norton, Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, and the 51-star flag all appear in the Washington Post's D.C. statehood: Why it's gaining support across the U.S.

With President Biden in the White House and Democrats in control of both chambers of Congress, activists say that they are in their strongest position yet to make Washington, D.C., the 51st state.

The Washington Post uploaded this video in March, before the latest vote in the U.S. House of Representatives. It presented a relatively balanced journalistic explanation of the issue. On the other hand, last week's Inside the Fight for D.C. Statehood from Now This News advocates much more for the issue, not that I'm disagreeing or complaining.

‘The denial of statehood is part of the continued oppression of Black people in this country’ — Meet some of the D.C. residents and activists fighting for statehood in the nation’s Capitol.

The 51-star flag is even in the preview image for this video, continuing the theme. As for the cause, I support it, but I wish the people of D.C. good luck; they'll need it.

I'll have more to say about D.C. statehood when it comes to a vote in the U.S. Senate, although whether that happens before or after Piña Colada Day, when I usually blog about Puerto Rico statehood, remains to be seen. Stay tuned.