The District of Columbia, a dynamic city home to the capitol of the United States of America. It was once known as \”Chocolate City,\” 200 years after President Lincoln signed the five day delayed Declaration of Independence Proclamation, setting the slaves free. Despite the ongoing battle for \”Statehood,\” the District has made some strides towards providing a sustainable lifestyle for its residents however, many improvements can be added to the list of measurements for lifestyle benefits.
DC provides a space which cultivates opportunity that is tangible, however as of late many feel left out of the opportunities which hold value and impact their communities as a whole. Recently, the Washingtonian Magazine wanted to generate a buzz about the city using their social media Instagram account for the campaign push. Unfortunately, the social media campaign push got caught on the wrong hashtag line of #ImNotATouristIliveHere.
Taking into consideration that the Washingtonian has been DC\’s trusted local lifestyle resource for more than 50 years, and with this factored in, the Washingtonian has seen the drastic shift in lifestyles of District residents over the last 50 years. Most certainty their data reveals readership median income has increased to an estimated $230,000, and the average reader is 45 years of age. Many of the Washingtonian readers utilize the \”Welcome Guide\” as a first introduction into Washington, DC.
Perhaps many should adjust to this \”new DC lifestyle.\” But what about those who have built the foundations for the city to transform at the current rate it is today to even consider a social media campaign? New is always good because it brings forth a feeling of change, but when an entire segment of the demographic of the city\’s population is not mention, does this distort the \”Welcome Guide\” into the city? Since the social media campaign didn\’t generate the commercial attraction, and displayed more of a divide among demographic data, the Washingtonian President and CEO, Catherine Merrill Williams has since issued a statement:
\”This was the very beginning of a campaign in which all intentions are to include the many communities that make up our city. We solicited pictures from a diverse group of people and put the pictures up in the order they came in. People who saw the initial gallery of pictures had no way of knowing that it was not, in fact, the entirety of the marketing campaign. We took down the initial post because it created an impression that was inconsistent with our values and standards. We\’re confident that when the campaign is complete it will reflect the diversity of the readership that we serve.\”
Author, activist and social media influencer Tony Lewis, Jr along with Angel Anderson added to the #ImNotATouristILiveHere social media campaign by organizing a #DCNative photo shoot. Surely from Sunday\’s turn out, it proved to be the missing demographic data of the population in the District. The #DCNative photo shoot took place at Union Market on May 20th. This particular location was meaningful and sent a message the event organizer thought. Union Market and surrounding areas in the Ward 5 area has been the fastest and most developed region in the District.
The #DCNative movement comes at a monumental time since the Primary Elections are next month, June 19th.
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