Why the District of Columbia is A National Tragedy

Annie Lowrey tweets this depressing fact about the nation's capital.

Census data shows D.C. has the highest rate of extreme poverty (10.7%) and the highest median income ($86K).

It is a national tragedy that the District of Columbia has had high rates of poverty and murder. People have argued against D.C. getting statehood or a voting Congressional member? I fail to see how giving D.C. proper representation could be worse than the status quo.

Below is a chart of the murder rate in D.C. from 1986 to 2005.