Marion Barry may be sick in the hospital today, but he and fellow D.C. Council member Harry “Tommy” Thomas, Jr. (D-Ward 5) were taken to task today by the Washington Post’s editorial board for making racist and sexist comments Friday night at a parks and recreation committee hearing on the confirmation of acting Department of Parks and Recreation director Ximena Hartsock.
Hartsock’s appointment by D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty has admittedly been a contentious one, having come right after the rather sudden firing of now-Council candidate Clark Ray. Hartsock also comes from DCPS, not DPR, where she managed afterschool, summer school, and Saturday programs for the school district. So we fully expected there to be some tough questions about Hartsock’s qualifications at this hearing. But, as many of our commenters have already begun discussing this morning, we certainly weren’t prepared to read about just how offensive the questioning actually became. It’s worth excerpting this entire passage:
Most disturbing was the ugly tone of the rhetoric. Speakers called Ms. Hartsock the devil and a liar. The worst culprit was council member Marion Barry (D-Ward 8). He questioned her qualifications because of the need for someone who “understands our culture.” With the exception of Ward 3 and parts of Ward 2, Mr. Barry told the crowd, the park department serves people who are “black and brown . . . that is who we are. We have a culture that is different. We have a subculture that is different.” At another point, Mr. Barry said it wasn’t sexist to say that studies show that women have a different attitude about sports than men, offering as evidence the canard that D.C. School Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee doesn’t care about athletics. Then, too, there were questions about why Ms. Hartsock, born in Chile and a legal permanent resident, isn’t a U.S. citizen. Several council members reported receiving numerous complaints about the hearing, but Mr. Barry was unrepentant, telling us he has gotten only “compliments” about his remarks.
Thomas, who chairs the committee, didn’t get off the hook in the editorial either, as the Post noted that he “gave short shrift to the testimony of supporters while fawning over her critics, mainly park department employees — or their relatives — who either were fired by Ms. Hartsock or disagreed with her policies.”
We’d say this kind of behavior on the part of D.C. Council members comes as a shock – and really, it is stunning – but sadly race baiting and sexism coming from the direction of Marion Barry isn’t anything new.
If you have the stomach (and the spare eight hours), you can watch video of the hearing for yourself here.
