January 12, 2006
Standing Up for Marion
Many of us snickered upon hearing the news -- Marion Barry, the District's mayor-for-life and most infamous crack addict, had been caught again, victim of his own inability to stay away from illegal drugs. Just the same, some of Barry's defenders started coming out of the woodwork, celebrating a man who while imperfect was still a reason for hope for many of the city's residents.
In today's edition of DC Watch's widely read online newsletter, various Barry proponents had their say. One entry, titled "Barry the Human Hero," said the following of the former mayor and current Ward 8 council-member:
[Some] seemingly forever dwell on the foibles of this man’s character rather than his many achievements. That’s why some of us who do see our warrior’s battered breast beneath his tar and feathers will be supporting him...We understand how and why a person living here in Washington in the deep shadow and crack of America’s democracy could back-burner and neglect to pay taxes to a government which does the same to us and our rights.Another writer argued that the city's newcomers cannot understand the contributions Barry made to the city, noting:
The newcomers will never understand the perspective from which those who love our “Mayor for Life” are coming. They weren’t here. They didn’t know the man. And, since they never had to fight for basic human rights, I suppose they can’t even fathom the battering he’s suffered nor the immense dedication required to move even one step forward.There is little doubt that Barry's legacy still carries significant weight with many of the city's residents, especially those east of the Anacostia River. Barry is still remembered as a politician who, as imperfect as his personal life may have been, consistently fought for the interests and residents of the city, though his later years were marred by corruption, graft, and bureaucratic inefficiency. His shadow is so long that few members of the D.C. Council spoke to his recent troubles, and those that did carefully tiptoed around making any pronouncements concerning his future in city politics.
The question remains: will this instance of alleged drug use finally knock Barry off of his pedestal? Or will his base of support remain aligned behind the man they remember as a fighter, a hero for the District of Columbia?
Image courtesy of NBC 4.
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I came to DC long after the Marion Barry era... Could someone please tell me what exactly his contributions were to the city and its downtrodden before the drugs/corruption/inefficiency became what we (relative) newcomers commonly associate with this man? I'm just curious 'cause I've been told I will never understand "what Mr. Barry's done for so many people", but I've never heard any concrete examples.
Correct me if I am wrong but I believe that sometime back in 2003, the Washington Post did a story about the percentage of people in DC classified as white collar, professionals who are addicted to alcohol, illegal drugs and/or prescription drugs and cannot function on the job unless they are high.
I am not wrong about this story but not sure of the date.
My point is, I think way too many of us in DC are no less guilty than our mayor for life and maybe we should cut the poor batards some slack here and stop using the issue as something to pass the day by with.
The bitch set me up! ....again!
I can't believe people will still defend this dude. In my short 26 years I've managed to not abuse drugs and pay my taxes on time. It's not hard and I expect anyone who 'represents' me to do the same.
Why do Barry supporters always bring up, "well, everyone does it so it should be ok for Barry" argument? I don't get it. Don't we expect more from our public officials? I know in every profession drug use is not ok and many actually drug test when necessary. So what makes D.C. public officials off limits?
Also, someone answer the first post, please! What did Barry do to help D.C. and why was it such a craphole after he left?
I am going to scream if one more person puts up a post that claims "most of us" are as guilty as Barry regarding personal drug use.
I don't think so!!!
Most of the general public does NOT use illegal drugs. Most of our elected officials don't either. And if your perception of reality has been so clouded that you truly believe otherwise, then I suggest you seek treatment ASAP!
Yet another set of articles that claim he made these huge achievements that are being somehow ignored and repressed.
What did he do? What did he achieve? Why will no one talk specifics?
I'm ready to accept that story, but only if anyone will stand up and say what is he did.
Until then, I look at his well-documented and extensive history of corruption, philandering, lying, incompetence and drug abuse. And the fact that he publicly holds himself up as a freind to criminals. How can I look at that think anything other than "What does it say about the people who say they want this man for a leader? Do they reject responsibility in their own lives?"
I would like to say that my previous statement was not intended to imply that all D.C. public officials use drugs or the general public. With that said, we all KNOW Barry did use drugs so what makes him a "great mayor"? I hope not that.
I don't really care about the past. I'm concerned about the present, and there is no place on city council for a man addicted to drugs. He should be in a rehab facility, and allow somebody more able to do the job into his seat on DCCC.
"since they [newcomers] never had to fight for basic human rights, I suppose they can’t even fathom the battering he’s suffered nor the immense dedication required to move even one step forward."
are all newcomers to dc privileged? aren't there surely immigrants who have moved to dc from uganda, liberia and elsewhere who know a thing or two about fighting for basic human rights?
personally, i'm getting a bit tired of hearing how all of us "newcomers" should just shut the hell up about everything because we're all allegedly a bunch of privileged, port-snorting yacht-clubbers.
like many others, i'm willling to accept that barry's done good for dc. just tell us why. then we'll stop opining and get back to our cheese and brandy.
"since they [newcomers] never had to fight for basic human rights, I suppose they can’t even fathom the battering he’s suffered nor the immense dedication required to move even one step forward."
are all newcomers to dc privileged? aren't there surely immigrants who have moved to dc from uganda, liberia and elsewhere who know a thing or two about fighting for basic human rights?
personally, i'm getting a bit tired of hearing how all of us "newcomers" should just shut the hell up about everything because we're all allegedly a bunch of privileged, port-snorting yacht-clubbers.
like many others, i'm willling to accept that barry's done good for dc. just tell us why. then we'll stop opining and get back to our cheese and brandy.
Only in DC do public figures who neglect to file taxes have the excuse that they were somehow protesting taxation without representation. The problem is that if it's a protest you should be publicizing it before you're caught.
I find it somewhat myopic that Ms. Claudette Perry claims the following in TheMail:
The thing is: Marion Barry is not unique. DC is not the only area in the country where citizens have had to "fight for basic human rights." Myriad other politicians have had to to the same, and continue to do the same. They had ups and downs, were both revered and despised at the same time. They made the occasional wrong turn, gaffe or blunder. But they had the right goal in mind.
The major difference: they didn't have other demons to battle, were actually successful in moving their cities and towns forward. They left a positive legacy not only to their own constituency, but to the outside world. And this can't be said of Marion Barry.
As Chuck Thies notes in the same issue of TheMail, DC has an image problem that makes us look fairly foolish to the outside world. Indeed, before I moved to town, I had a very jaded view of DC and its politics. In some respects, I still do, and I hope that the Council and mayor recognize the fact that the kind of rights they seek - full voting representation and real home rule - won't come without earning the respect of the nation-at-large.
There's still a long way to go, and Marion Barry's continued personal battles with addictions - to both cocaine and the spotlight - do nothing to improve DC's image. It's a bitter pill to swallow, but DC needs to move on and show that it can learn from its missteps.
I have never understood what "message" folks who vote for Marion Barry are trying to "send."
Perhaps the message is that they would rather let people break the law than act like responsible adults? Or perhaps they believe that the city will run better when has leaders who act like third world sleaze bags?
Ward 8 is getting what it voted for when it elected Barry -- a polarizing and ultimately ineffective waste of space at the council table.
I have never understood what "message" folks who vote for Marion Barry are trying to "send."
Perhaps the message is that they would rather let people break the law than act like responsible adults? Or perhaps they believe that the city will run better when it has leaders who act like third world sleaze bags?
Ward 8 is getting what it voted for when it elected Barry -- a polarizing and ultimately ineffective waste of space at the council table.
Let me just tell you now why no one cares (other than comments posters): Everyone knows he's smoked crack. They're over it. He's done it again? We're already over it. What's new about this?
Look, he's 69 and on the decline. It's not like you can claim he's a role model or had rehabilitated his image or something. So you think he's an embarrassment---did you not before? It's not terrible shocking, is this? Ward 8 elected him to be their representative; so be it. It's their votes. That's the whole point about voting, isn't it? And when it comes right down to it, Ward 8 got who Ward 8 wants in a fair election where everything is out in public and transparent. I don't know how anyone can be upset (other than thinking people are stupid, which is a separate issue altogether).
Sure, if there are penalties for failing a drug test (which, whether you like it or not, is different from getting caught with drugs), then he should have to deal with those penalties. But the whole thing isn't very newsworthy outside of a "Look what the Bozos in charge have done again! Those Bozos!"
And to the people wanting to know what Barry has done (and who are too lazy to do a quick google search). He was a peripheral player (but still important) in the 1960s Civil Rights movement, and was involved with SNCC primarily. Like it or not, he had a lot of influential friends from that day (MLK was his boy and all), and was able to stabilize a city that was decimated by the race riots of the 60s (he was mayor in 1979, and the city was still pretty messed up and floundering). Like many others, he was corrupted by power, and fell into a well-documented decline. Could others have done what he did? Probably. Could others have done it better? Probably. Did he give a voice to the disadvantaged and marginalized members of the city? Yes. Was he extremely popular with them? Yes. Are they, and their opinion, worth less than you? I hope the answer is no.
I can't believe I just defended Marion Barry, but, really, who is surprised by this at all?
dclounger,
Did he TRULY give a voice to disadvantaged and marginalized people in the city??? If so, did he do anything for them?
On the contrary, Barry has long manipulated disadvantaged and marginalized people in the city by playing upon their feelings of isolation for the sake of satisfying his personal power trip.
He hasn't done anything for poor people! But he sure fooled them into thinking he did.
I read and hear about city political machines like Barry in D.C., Frank Hague of Jeresey City, Ed Kelly (Daly's as well) of Chicago, Tom Pendergast of Kansas City, Ed Flynn of the Bronx, and so on and so on. What I don't understand is why people want me to believe they were helping the poor when they were screwing them out of public tax dollars?
Do we really want a D.C. version of Tammany Hall? Let corruption and gaft be common place!
I'm hardly a Barry apologist, but I gotta add my $.02 here. What did Marion do for the city? Well, mainly things that people north and west of the River (myself included) really never noticed except for seeing the effects here and there. The summer jobs program. Bolstering boys+girls club programs. Civil rights for black and GLBT citizens.
Barry's charisma (and his ex wife, Cora Masters' cunning-boardering-on-ruthless-megalomania) allowed him to parley his (not as minor as above suggested) roles in the '60s black civil rights movement, and his uneven performance as a public servant, into a near-religious following.
It isn't so evident today, but to hear the man speak back then...wow.
Thank you DClounger and Michael, for giving some of the specifics that people have been asking for- as apparently they are internet savvy enough to post to DCist, but not enough to use Google. No, not everyone who just got here is part of the teeming masses of the privileged, but it’s probably true that you have to have some long-standing connection to the city to understand what a sea-change his election brought about, and why b/c of that he will always be beloved by a large portion of the populace. He opened up opportunities for minorities and women that didn’t exist in the old D.C. Don’t forget that he was one of the first proponents of home rule. He founded the Free D.C movement when the town was still ostensibly ruled by a three-man-commission. So give the man his propers. Yes, he suffers from addiction, yes that means he can’t do the best possible job for his constituents now. I’m not saying he’s doing stellar work. I don’t want a crack-addicted representative who allows crony-ism any more than I want a speed freak dental surgeon. People are flawed, but yes he actually did do concrete things for people. Again, I suggest a quick nexis search or the aforementioned Google.
So don’t throw the Barry out with the bathwater. And don’t forget also that he was shot and wounded in the 1977 siege of City Hall by Hanaff Muslims. And they couldn’t kill him! People love stuff like that. It worked wonders for the Pope and Ronnie- and lord knows they were the pits.
Thanks for posting this DCIST. It appears that certain DCIST readers were "shame-on-you'ing" Barry on the other thread.
What some of those people (not all, some) fail to realize is that Barry represents certain DC residents (and many others outside the Beltway) in a way that no other Hizzoner, council person, or politician in DC can. And when I say represent, I mean represent in words and action.
Those people that just deride him might not understand that. To each his own.
"...the District's mayor-for-life and most infamous crack addict, had been caught again, victim of his own inability to stay away from illegal drugs."
This passage alone is so telling, especially the phrase "victim of his own inability."
Marion Barry is not a victim of anything, especially not "inability."
He's a flawed human being, as we all are. And every flawed human being deserves second...and third...chances. Every human being deserves leniency, the benefit of the doubt, and respect. BUT...
He has had chances, respect, help, etc. And he's squandared public good faith time and again.
Marion Barry is not a victim. He is a disgrace, to himself and this city.
I hate to agree with Michael, but he has a point. Read the history of homerule in DC and you find that there was/is a ton of bs that the mayors in this town have to deal with. He was able to fight through some of that red tape and get things down. Barry has a special gift of connecting with people (something our current mayor severely lacks) and people love him. There is no doubt that he is a populist in the biggest sense but that isn't always a bad thing.
So, blast on him all you want but he is a one of a kind politician. And as Michael pointed out, those were three pretty big accomplishments for Barry. Talk to someone who was a teenager in DC in the 80's and they will have vivid memories of their first summer job...that is a direct result of his work. It may sound stupid to someone who had financial support from their parents but to a kid with no money it means a whole lot.
Leave it to Marion Barry's supporters to play the race card to forgive his inability to pay taxes or stay off drugs. It's not his fault - it's white people's fault! Of course, they may be right - Marion Barry's being repeatedly elected should have resulted in Congress repealing the home rule act ages ago, because it's clear that too many of DC's voters are too stupid to be allowed to vote in the first place. Perhaps Congress really does want the city to fail, and that's why they keep letting that collection of morons in Ward 8 to keep mucking up the works by electing Marion.
And to all the people who love Marion Barry for his Boys and Girls club and summer job programs - has it ever occured to you that maybe if he had just fixed the crappy public schools the city wouldn't have had a 25+ percent illiteracy rate, which might have encouraged business to bring GOOD jobs to the city's working parents?
As someone said earlier, I'm all kinds of embarassed to shout out my DC pride now (I live in SF at the moment). What gets me the most is that Barry just feeds the DC stereotype. The only things my co-workers know about DC is that there's lots of old white guys downtown and that crack runs rampant everywhere else. It's like Baltimore's mayor coming down with an STD...
Yes, dupontjames, DC citizens obviously don't deserve to govern themselves. After all, no other city or state in the United States has ever elected an official that was a criminal or otherwise an embarrassment. And wasn't the slogan of the Revolution "No taxation without representation -- unless you elect someone we don't like."
By your logic, the whole country should have lost its voting rights after electing Richard Nixon.
Barry is bad for D.C. for the simple fact that people outside of D.C. associate Barry with crime, drugs, racial divisions, and bad city government. I would go so far as to say most D.C. citizens associate all these things with Barry as well.
I certainly would not have voted for Barry if I was in Ward 8, but saying people are too stupid to be allowed to vote because they did vote for Barry is appalling. You may not understand why they did, but the majority of Ward 8 voters do like him. And I don't see anyone playing the 'race card' in these comments.
One you can say about Barry, is that he was not enriching himself personally when he was Mayor – his friends did well, and countless residents had jobs (unfortunately, many of them were unqualified), but he did not himself get rich. He did start out strong, but did fall, and brought the City down with him.
For a along-time D.C. observer, see
CITY DESK: MARION BARRY AND ME
I stated a handful of Barry's accomplishments in comments on yesterday's Barry story. After working in the civil rights movement (which is what most people probably love him for) they were mostly around Home Rule for DC, and things like balancing the budget, spurring development downtown, etc. It was mostly in his first term, and mostly undone after that. In the second term the corruption came out (enriching his friends which people are claiming helped him in no way, shape or form), and it went downhill, and up his nose, from there.
I would like to again point out, with a smile, that perhaps his most important contribution was hiring Anthony Williams to the city's CFO position. We are still greatly benefiting from that.
You can read a short Barry bio on DCWatch:
http://www.dcwatch.com/mayor/980521.htm
Don't even tell me summer jobs programs and Boys and Girls clubs made Marion Barry a great mayor! They are just more examples of the scraps Barry threw out to people to make them THINK he loved them...or that he 'felt' their pain. Meanwhile, schools tanked, city services failed, and the city was driven into bankruptcy.
He failed, people! Just because the man gave good speeches 30 years ago doesn't make him worthy of praise today.
Oh, yeah, right Google, should have used that to find...what exactly? Because I still don't see a single damn concrete achievement in either post, or in any of the searching I did, in fact, do, thanks so much for the snark.
That he was a peripheral player in a significant movement led by others, and subsequently severely discredited himself and anything he was associated with, is all you can point to?
"Did he give a voice to the disadvantaged and marginalized members of the city? Yes. "
Ah, yes, thank God they got the opportunity to be represented by a lying drug addict. And how would having a competent, effective representative been worse?
"Does their opinion count for less than yours?"
Nope. Good thing neither I nor anyone else here ever said anything like that - but nice try.
Well, I go get heated saying that no one's posted anything so unreasonable as to say Ward 8's opinions count less than mine, and then dupontjames moots me by saying they shouldn't be allowed to vote. Sigh.
I am going to sue all of you for defamation of character. Now I have to first establish I have character as required under law to be able to file such a suit. I will get back with all of you later on this.
Marion Barry, Jr.
Mayor for Life
Bush,deLay,Ennron,all had their faults,yet nobody was crucified!!!
don't throw stones at Barry
he has done a lot for the city
Even Bill Clinton is admired inspite of Monica
Jesse Jackson has a child out of the marriage.
yet Barry is small potatoe just like Martha Stewart,so let us stick it to him!
shame on the powers to be
Bush,deLay,Ennron,all had their faults,yet nobody was crucified!!!
don't throw stones at Barry
he has done a lot for the city
Even Bill Clinton is admired inspite of Monica
Jesse Jackson has a child out of the marriage.
yet Barry is small potatoe just like Martha Stewart,so let us stick it to him!
shame on the powers to be
Bush is called Hilter by some and has intense opposition.
Clinton was impeached and also had intense opposition.
Delay had is majority leader status taken away and is facing a trial and possible jail time.
Various Enron executives are either in jail or still being investigated.
Only if they're Monty Python fans.
A lot has been said about Barry and crack, but I think his evasion of taxes is much more troubling. By not paying his fair share of taxes, he has stolen from all of us who do pay taxes. Anything he says about taxation without representation is moot because it doesn’t apply to him anyway.
As for what he has done for the city: By neglecting and mismanaging the city and the schools for so many years, he facilitated the flight of the middle class from the city and thus ushered in a wave of gentrification. Anyone who has owned a house or a condo purchased before or during the Barry days at rock bottom prices really has Barry (and the control board) to thank for some of the home equity they now have.
The wave of gentrification and the tax dollars that it generated through income taxes and property taxes is now being used mainly to help the poor. We would not be spending 2 billion dollars on schools today with the tax base DC had 15 years ago.
All in all Barry has been good for the wealthiest and the poorest residents of DC, whether it was his intention or not. As for the middle class, most have left and the rest are struggling and that is the greatest injustice in Barry’s legacy.
WOV- you're welcome for the snark and I'd be happy to offer you some information literacy and search strategy advice as well (but somehow I sense we wouldn't form that Mr. Miaygi/Daniel like bond that's so important for the learning process.) A very cursory search would lead you to discover that he was not actually the peripheral player that he was branded here. He was a founding member of the SNCC. I think that qualifies as a "damn concrete" example. You'd also discover that the Free D.C. movement he founded and the boycotts he organized led to the end of direct congressional rule here. Also a pretty major achievement. He also helped the city's overlooked citizenry assert their basic humanity (see his responses to a “no-knock” crime bill among others.)
The question, I believe, is why some people regard him as a hero, not why was he a great mayor. He wasn’t a great mayor. No argument there. He started out strong, accomplished a lot (if Google’s not working for you, try getting info about stuff from the library. It works!), and then it all went pear-shaped and his legacy is tarnished and the city has suffered. But rightly or wrongly a certain segment of this town loves him. They have their reasons, and the above are just some of them. Oh and by the way, he was actually an Eagle Scout. Boo-YA!
The SNCC and Free D.C. movement are great things but still before he was mayor. I still would like to what what he has done, not what he opposed ("no-knock" crime bill). I have read the biography mentioned ealier, but still don't see a great or good mayor from it. I am not opposing the view that he isn't a huge figure in d.c. history. I simply see more harm he has done to d.c. than good.
The point is, we really should be calling him Mayor McCrunk.