Читать книгу Anglo-American Cultural Studies - Jody Skinner - Страница 19

capitals state and nationalWhenever you’re asked to associate a country with a city, you probably usually think of the capital. Washington isn’t on the list of the ten largest cities (unless you take the metropolitan area into account), which may surprise you. But then many state capitals are, strangely enough, not the most populous or the most famous cities in the state either. To name just a few: AustinAustin, TexasTexas; HarrisburgHarrisburg, PennsylvaniaPennsylvania; LansingLansing, MichiganMichigan; SacramentoSacramento, CaliforniaCalifornia; TallahasseeTallahassee, FloridaFlorida; and TopekaTopeka, KansasKansas. Washington DCWashington DC, of course, isn’t in any state, it’s the capital of the entire United States of AmericaAmerica. While Washington DC had the more or less unofficial status of the most dangerous city in the United States for a number of years, the official status of Washington is that of a district (DC stands for District of ColumbiaDistrict of Columbia) and not a state although Washington could become the 51^st state51st state as we saw a bit earlier. More than two hundred years ago the US ConstitutionConstitution designated land to be set aside for the official capital of the newly-founded nation partly in order to solve conflicts among states that had fought to have the capital located in their states. The capital had been temporarily well-known cities like New YorkNew York and PhiladelphiaPhiladelphia but also smaller places like PrincetonPrinceton in New JerseyNew Jersey and AnnapolisAnnapolis in MarylandMaryland.

contrast rich and poorOriginally Washington DCWashington DC had the shape of a square made up of land taken from the two states of VirginiaVirginia and MarylandMaryland until Virginia took some of the land back. The citizens of DC (who call their hometown “DC” for short) lacked any sort of representation until CongressCongress decided to grant them the chance to elect one member to the House of RepresentativesHouse of Representatives, a member who had no voting rights. At least DC inhabitants gained the right to vote for the presidentpresident when the 23^rd Amendment to the ConstitutionConstitution was ratified in the 60s and can also now vote for their mayor and city council. Reasons for the long lack of representation and powerpower for DC residents include the fact that the daytime population is almost double the number of actual residents, the fact that 20 % of all residents live below the poverty level, and the fact that an astonishing one third of all residents are illiterate. The contrast between rich and poor, between those with power and those with little power, can be seen as starkly in DC as anywhere else in the US. And speaking of anywhere else …