We’ve all heard the news — yesterday the House passed legislation granting the District a voting seat in the chamber. While the measure will face a tough fight in the Senate and an all-but-assured veto from President Bush, its victory in the House represents a moral victory for a movement that has pushed and prodded in every way to correct a longstanding injustice.

And as it moves to new political ground and a new political fight, we felt it only appropriate to quote D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton. In the midst of yesterday’s relatively subdued debate, she gave word to the District’s second-class status, angrily refusing to yield to a colleague. “I will not yield, sir,” she firmly stated in response to Rep. David Dreier’s (R-Calif.) request. “The District of Columbia has spent 206 years yielding,” she bellowed. “To the people who would deny us the vote, I yield you no ground.”

Though she was reminded to direct her comments to the Speaker of the House, not directly at a fellow member, it was classic Norton. The anger was raw, real and unrehearsed. It represented 16 years of fighting for the cause, seeing it through ups and downs and changes of government that provided both hope and concern. And for what is the first big victory for the voting rights movement in years, it may become a defining expression.