Since pretty much everyone has the day off except journalists, the downtime has been enormous.  I got lunch (a first in a long time). I paid off a cellphone bill and changed my cellphone plan. I even faxed some healthcare paperwork to a lab that was a week late. And I talked for a good while with an old college buddy. But I also got to thinking about the District’s own recent civil rights victories.

The biggies that come to mind are the D.C. Council’s passing of the gay-marriage bill. And the settlements that have come out of the protester cases. Both the Becker and the Barham cases awarded historic sums and legit reforms concerning police tactics. The Pearl Beale case also was rightfully lauded for its own historic settlement over the death of a D.C. Jail inmate.

What do you think were our biggest civil rights victories in recent years? Cathy Lanier becoming police chief?  Getting rid of the control board? Gay marriage? Pershing Park?

*file photo by Darrow Montgomery.