Name: Dr. Patrick Scallen 

Occupation: Editor of Washington History Magazine; Adjunct Professor at American University and Georgetown University 

Hometown: Detroit, Michigan 

Tell me a little bit about yourself. How long have you lived in DC? 

I have lived in DC for almost 20 years now. I came here in 2003 on a Greyhound bus with a couple of backpacks and a duffle bag. I wanted to do something on U.S.-Latin American relations and was sucked into a Ph.D. at Georgetown in Latin American history, then ended up doing community history, because I had lived and worked in Mt. Pleasant for about ten years at that point. That’s how I came to DC — just to try to find a job in U.S.-Latin American relations after having lived and worked in Central America and then having worked for the Peruvian government doing indigenous affairs in the Andes Mountains. That’s what brought me to DC, and I’ve been here ever since. 

Why did you decide to move to DC? 

I decided to move to DC because the only jobs in U.S.-Latin American relations were in DC. I was in Detroit applying for jobs and realized that I’d be in a much better strategic position if I were in Washington, DC. That’s why I hopped on a bus, packed a couple of backpacks, and landed here. Like a lot of people in their 20s when they come to DC, I didn’t expect to be here [for this long] — who knows? I had no expectations. I’ve grown roots and have settled in. Now I don’t see myself going anywhere any time soon! 

What do you love most about living in DC? 

What I love most about living in DC is that it is a small town that masquerades as a big city. This comes from where I grew up — I grew up in a big city (in Detroit), but in a smaller community inside that, right outside the city, but still very much engaged with the city of Detroit. 

The community, specifically the community I found when I moved into Mt. Pleasant — which is where I still live, and where I’ve lived for the entirety of my time in DC — was something unique and something very special. It was a multicultural community, and I had come from living in Latin America, so I was thrilled with the potential to speak Spanish. I was thrilled with the idea of interacting with folks who came from the countries I had lived in — I’ve lived in Central America and Peru — and there were lots of Peruvians when I first ended up in DC and lots of Central Americans. 

I also found the city to be a very welcoming city. People were friendly, it was easy to get to know people, especially in your 20s. It was not a very regional place — there are people from all over the world; there are people from all over the country. I had never lived in a place so cosmopolitan — I had lived in the Midwest, in diverse areas in the Midwest, and I had lived in New Orleans after that, which is also a diverse city in many respects — but DC had a kind of pulse that neither of those cities had. It was full of lots of young, idealistic, intelligent, driven, ambitious folk who wanted to change the world for the better. That was incredibly fun and gave me a lot of life, and I fit in quite well with those folks. 

As time has progressed, I’ve found different things that I like and have fallen in love with the city all over again, because I’ve been introduced to communities through my work here — communities I never really would have met before — and communities who have been in DC for generations, and so have been able to deepen my appreciation for the city and the multiplicity of ethnic, racial, socioeconomic groups that make up this city. And where they’re coming from, and how they got here, and how they’ve managed to carve out a place for themselves. That’s something that’s been humbling for me as I’ve stayed here longer. 

Could you talk about your own experience being disenfranchised, or in other words, what it has been like to lose the rights you had when you were living in one of the 50 states? 

When I moved here from Michigan, I kept my Michigan driver’s license, because I didn’t have to get a DC one [since] I wasn’t driving in DC. I kept my Michigan residency, I believe, for the first eight years I was here, because I wanted to be able to vote and I wanted to have a say in civic affairs, and I wanted [to have] a senator and representatives. I was a resident of Michigan solely because I wanted to be able to vote for the local judges and vote for the local city council — which I could do in DC as well— but more importantly, vote for my state and U.S. representatives. That was a strategic move on my part — I was very plugged into Michigan politics, my dad was plugged into Michigan politics — and I wanted to be able to have a voice, and I knew that in DC I wouldn’t. Even though I was living here for eight years, I was paying taxes in Michigan so I could still vote. 

I think I’m reminded of this [lack of political rights] every time I talk to folks back home, whether they’re in other states in the Midwest or in Michigan, and they talk about calling their senator or representative. Their senator or representative may or may not respond, but there’s at least the potential to influence the democratic process and have a voice in a way that residents of this city don’t. 

What does achieving statehood mean for you? 

Achieving Statehood would put us on par and make us feel equal with the rest of the citizens of the United States. I also want to recognize folks who live in Puerto Rico, and folks who live in Guam, and folks who live in some of the other territories, who also do not have adequate representation. Statehood would mean, at the very least, having a senator and representative who represent you in Congress and who can advocate for the needs of DC’s 700,000+ people in the city. 

Personally, I think I’d feel more empowered. I think I would feel more of a whole citizen. In DC, some of us feel that we are less than full citizens, because we don’t have that representation. That representation and the autonomy that would come with Statehood — whatever that autonomy would be — would make us feel more a part of the United States and on par with everyone else. 

What do you think needs to be done to get closer to achieving statehood? 

There needs to be a certain political alignment in national politics that hasn’t happened for a while. There needs to be a substantive thrust of grassroots activism on the local level in petitioning for Statehood. There have been pretty consistent voices calling out for Statehood over the past decades, ever since Home Rule and before Home Rule, but that national political alignment — when there has been a potential opportunity — has been shunted to the side by whatever Democratic president or the administrations of Democratic presidents for different reasons over the course of the last few decades. 

Is there anything else you would like to say?

I think that whenever we talk about DC Statehood, we often forget about folks who are also U.S. citizens who do not have representation, other than [in] DC. It’s easy to focus on DC, it’s harder to talk about the folks in Guam, Puerto Rico, and other U.S. territories who are citizens and who also lack that basic representation. I always like to both recognize that and to recognize that in the same way that Puerto Rico was a colony of the United States — at least in the very beginning, after it was a Spanish colony — the lack of political representation in Washington, DC can also be seen as a vestige of colonial enterprises. That has everything to do with the fact that you had a significant African American population here, and that certain white folk in the United States didn’t want to give Black folks the means to represent themselves. Ideas of race, privilege, power, and social class are very much intertwined in this issue. It’s difficult to unpack and I often find that boiling it down to just focusing on Statehood for DC often overlooks the nuances of other folks who are also being left out. But we still have to advocate for our own statehood, so that’s the balance.