Marion Barry. He got his comeuppance in DC yesterday when the council censured him for unethical conduct, but as a DC native, I feel a bit sorry for him today. He tries his best, and he will always love this city.
I remember in 1994 when Barry was re-elected-post that little crack smoking incident. I was depressed that people would fall for this guy, again, and that the whole world was deriding the people of Washington for voting him into office again. I was driving around Ward Circle when I heard Mayor Barry being interviewed on the "DC Politics Hour." He said that "White Ward Three" would just have to get over it, and boy, the straight up honesty of that statement made me laugh out loud, and I felt better about the whole thing.
He was right, and over the years I realized what a smart and surprising man he was. He was a former Eagle Scout. He held a Masters in chemistry, and he had a big problem with substance abuse. His penchant for cronyism stretches as far back as his years of public service. Even as a child I remember my father complaining about him, but Barry himself would be the first to tell you he has done nothing wrong from "the bitch set me up" to the latest girlfriend incident which got him censured."Those are all just distractions, efforts by the government and the media to distract me, to discombobulate me and separate me from the community," he said. In 1992 his campaign slogan was " He may not be perfect, but he's perfect for DC." Ain't that the truth.
His biggest problem is every now and then he gets caught.
Still the bottom line is Marion Barry spent most of his life as a public servant and a civil rights activist. His summer jobs program changed many young lives for the better and fostered opportunities for kids who couldn't get a job otherwise. He will always be a part of our landscape and has even been captured in wax at Madame Tussaud's beating out the likes of Oprah Winfrey and Cal Ripken Jr in a popularity contest.
He's also immortalized in a song by Jake Flack which I'd like to echo here: "Say what you will about him. I'll never judge that man except when I'm back in the alley next to my double wide 2 ply can. It's easy to form an opinion from the outside looking in, but Strosnider's, Hechinger's and Peoples Drug can't hold a candle to him. Marion Barry he's the man- he brought us the Supercan....and I just want to shake his hand and say thank you."
Thank you, Mayor for Life.
Our first elected mayor. When i was little I thought every mayor had the name of the city of which they are mayor, since we had Walter Washington.
ReplyDeleteDC has such a large transient population that large numbers of residents don't know the history, don't know where The Mayor came from and what he brought to our city despite his human failings. Like local politics everywhere, it's a web of victories and contraditions.
I always say that Marion Barry made DC what it is today. When he came to power in the 80s, he figured out how to attract big money real estate developers. DC went from being a one-industry town to a megalopolis. It hasn't been all good (especially the destruction of the downtown core's soul), but it has enriched the city in many ways.
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