D.C. Vote — we heart you. Not only do you spend every working day screaming and crying at anyone who will listen to you about the District’s lack of voting representation, you also find creative ways to do it.
Yesterday we learned from the Examiner that the ambitious activists at D.C. Vote have started their advocacy early — they’ve created an instructional supplement that allows D.C. teachers to teach their students that that whole business of democracy for all isn’t worth much here. Reports the Examiner:
The instructional supplement, designed by voting rights advocate DC Vote in coordination with teachers and former students, includes pop quizzes, teacher talking points and discussion questions, timelines, news articles, visual aids and suggested homework assignments.
“From what we learned, so many teachers come up with their own lessons and some teachers really want to teach D.C. voting rights but don’t know where to begin,” said Katie Reardon, DC Vote communications associate and a leader in the plan’s development.
“We realized that teachers can integrate this into the curriculum. We just wanted to give them the resources.”
And our personal favorite:
A recommended warm-up exercise entails a mock election in which the ballots of one group of students, those sitting in “Location B,” are torn up after the vote.
When that group complains, the lesson plan states, “explain that they should have sat/been assigned outside of Location B if they wanted to participate in the election.”
Ahhhh. It’s both instructive and so deliciously revolutionary. If anyone wants it for their students or friends, it’s even available online. And for you DCist readers who still cling to the notion that D.C. doesn’t deserve voting representation, this is for you.
Little Jimmy just found out he won’t be able to vote come 2017.
Martin Austermuhle