WASHINGTON – D.C. Mayor Vince Gray hopes to harness the energy and emotion surrounding this weekend’s celebration of the March on Washington’s 50th anniversary.

He’s renewing his push for D.C. statehood.

“It is time for it to change,” Gray says. “People will make this happen, because it is time for this kind of indignity to stop.”

The mayor points to taxation without representation, highlighting D.C. veterans who serve their country but have lacked a member of Congress with full voting rights.

He will lead a demonstration for statehood at the D.C. War Memorial Saturday starting at 8:30 a.m.

The rally will eventually merge with the larger March on Washington crowd.

“Residents don’t have equal access to the United States Congress, and that’s gotta change,” claims D.C. Vote Executive Director Kimberly Perry. “Everyone feels outraged.”

Among demonstrators will be lawmakers, local officials, poets and musicians.

“I have lived in the District of Columbia my entire life,” Gray explains.

“I have suffered degradation of second-class citizenship.”

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