This article is from the source 'washpo' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/district-politicians-residents-react-with-sadness-to-news-of-marion-barrys-death/2014/11/23/34bf844e-7326-11e4-a589-1b102c2f81d0_story.html?wprss=rss_homepage
The article has changed 6 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
Version 0 | Version 1 |
---|---|
District politicians, residents react with sadness to news of Marion Barry’s death | District politicians, residents react with sadness to news of Marion Barry’s death |
(about 1 hour later) | |
He had been frail for years, suffering from one health problem after another. Only last winter, friends and colleagues talked about Marion Barry as being on the brink of death after another extended hospital stay. | He had been frail for years, suffering from one health problem after another. Only last winter, friends and colleagues talked about Marion Barry as being on the brink of death after another extended hospital stay. |
Yet, when word seeped out early Sunday that Barry had died, the announcement stunned a city in which he had reigned as its most famous and rollicking political star for a half-century. | Yet, when word seeped out early Sunday that Barry had died, the announcement stunned a city in which he had reigned as its most famous and rollicking political star for a half-century. |
A presiding council member and former four-term mayor, Barry was that rare public official who personified their city, just as William Donald Schaefer once embodied Baltimore and Edward I. Koch came to represent New York City. | |
His many triumphant moments were a source of civic pride in “Chocolate City,” as the District was known when its population was majority-black and Barry celebrated the empowerment of African-Americans. | |
Yet he also caused the city no shortage of international embarrassment when law enforcement videotaped him smoking crack cocaine at a downtown Washington hotel in 1990. | |
If late-night comedians found endless punchlines in his failings, Barry’s consituents celebrated him as a leader to whom they could relate, a complex man whose ups and downs and various quests for redemption often mirrored their own. | |
“If there was such thing as a black Jesus, Marion was that,” said Barbara Morgan, a civic activist who lives east of the Anacostia River and who knew Barry for a half century. “He was all about doing for people who were down-trodden. He knew what it was to be on the low rung of the totem pole.” | “If there was such thing as a black Jesus, Marion was that,” said Barbara Morgan, a civic activist who lives east of the Anacostia River and who knew Barry for a half century. “He was all about doing for people who were down-trodden. He knew what it was to be on the low rung of the totem pole.” |
Morgan recalled running into Barry last month at a neighborhood CVS, and seeing him buying macaroni and cheese and a container of ice cream, and playfully scolding him about his diet. | Morgan recalled running into Barry last month at a neighborhood CVS, and seeing him buying macaroni and cheese and a container of ice cream, and playfully scolding him about his diet. |
“”Barbara Morgan, you fussin’ again?’” she recalled him saying. Friends and supporters have long been protective of Barry, Morgan said, because he inspired that kind of loyalty, creating a summer jobs program when he was mayor that benefitted generations of Washingtonians. | |
“He gave them opportunity to pull themselves up by their bootstraps and do something positive,” she said. “He never harmed anybody. If he did something, he did it to himself.” | “He gave them opportunity to pull themselves up by their bootstraps and do something positive,” she said. “He never harmed anybody. If he did something, he did it to himself.” |
From the White House to city hall, Washington’s political establishment mourned Barry’s passing in statements that sometimes touched on the varying trajectories of the former mayor’s life. | From the White House to city hall, Washington’s political establishment mourned Barry’s passing in statements that sometimes touched on the varying trajectories of the former mayor’s life. |
President Obama described Barry as a “sharecropper’s son” who “came of age during the Civil Rights movement” and who “put in place historic programs to lift working people out of poverty, expand opportunity and begin to make real the promise of home rule.” | President Obama described Barry as a “sharecropper’s son” who “came of age during the Civil Rights movement” and who “put in place historic programs to lift working people out of poverty, expand opportunity and begin to make real the promise of home rule.” |
“Through a storied, at times tumultuous life and career,” Obama said, “he earned the love and respect of countless Washingtonians.” | “Through a storied, at times tumultuous life and career,” Obama said, “he earned the love and respect of countless Washingtonians.” |
Barry died at the United Medical Center in Southeast Washington at 1:46 a.m., according to a hospital spokeswoman, Natalie Williams. Hours before, he had visited Howard University Hospital, from where he was been released. | Barry died at the United Medical Center in Southeast Washington at 1:46 a.m., according to a hospital spokeswoman, Natalie Williams. Hours before, he had visited Howard University Hospital, from where he was been released. |
An autopsy was performed on Barry Sunday morning, a city official said. Results were pending. | |
From city hall, Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D) issued a statement saying that Barry “loved the District of Columbia and so many Washingtonians loved him.” Gray added that he was working with Barry’s family and the D.C. Council to plan services. | From city hall, Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D) issued a statement saying that Barry “loved the District of Columbia and so many Washingtonians loved him.” Gray added that he was working with Barry’s family and the D.C. Council to plan services. |
Mayor-elect Muriel E. Bowser (D), whose father worked on Barry’s mayoral campaigns, described herself as shocked by his death. She praised him as an advocate for the city’s poorest residents, saying he gave “voice to those who need it the most.” | Mayor-elect Muriel E. Bowser (D), whose father worked on Barry’s mayoral campaigns, described herself as shocked by his death. She praised him as an advocate for the city’s poorest residents, saying he gave “voice to those who need it the most.” |
“He lived his life in service to others,” Bowser said, describing him as having been “a part of my family’s life for decades.” | “He lived his life in service to others,” Bowser said, describing him as having been “a part of my family’s life for decades.” |
As the District came to life Sunday, residents learned of Barry’s death as they ate breakfast, went shopping for groceries and attended church services. | As the District came to life Sunday, residents learned of Barry’s death as they ate breakfast, went shopping for groceries and attended church services. |
At Union Temple Church in Southeast, the Rev. Willie Wilson, a longtime Barry ally, recalled that he had been at Barry’s bedside with friends and family members until 5 a.m. Despite the former mayor’s failing health, Wilson equated Barry’s death to a giant tree falling in the forest. | |
“You can feel the tremors all around,” Wilson said. “He was always able to rise. People were so surprised that he was gone because so many times he was down and he got back up.” | |
The Rev. Anthony Motley, a friend of Barry’s for 33 years, was also at the former mayor’s bedside, telling him he loved him and, even in death, rubbing his feet as he often did to help with his circulation. | |
“It’s like losing a family member,” Motely said, “someone you could relate to, someone you could talk to, someone who was concerned about you. It's like an uncle or cousin or brother.” | |
His death, the pastor said, is especially difficult for the city’s neediest neighborhoods, where residents could count on the former mayor to champion their issues. “Whose going to advocate for the poor?” Motley said, adding that Barry never anointed a successor. | |
“He had some standards in that area,” he said. “He was way above the crowd when it came to loving the people.” | |
D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D), who has known Barry since their days as civil rights activists, said he had written “his signature boldly on his own life” and “on the life of the nation’s capital.” | D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D), who has known Barry since their days as civil rights activists, said he had written “his signature boldly on his own life” and “on the life of the nation’s capital.” |
“Many took his struggle to personify in some way their own,” she said, “endearing him and making him a larger-than-life figure as he became a creator of post-home-rule D.C.” | “Many took his struggle to personify in some way their own,” she said, “endearing him and making him a larger-than-life figure as he became a creator of post-home-rule D.C.” |
D.C. Council member Anita Bonds (D-At Large), a longtime Barry ally and colleague, described Barry as a “political genius” who was “expert” at maintaining loyalty and close connections to his constituents, many of whom got their first jobs through the former mayor’s summer employment programs. | D.C. Council member Anita Bonds (D-At Large), a longtime Barry ally and colleague, described Barry as a “political genius” who was “expert” at maintaining loyalty and close connections to his constituents, many of whom got their first jobs through the former mayor’s summer employment programs. |
In her praise, Bonds also appeared to acknowledge the many controversies that defined Barry’s career and his struggles with alcohol and drug abuse. | In her praise, Bonds also appeared to acknowledge the many controversies that defined Barry’s career and his struggles with alcohol and drug abuse. |
“I’ll remember him for his capacity to turn the cheek, forgive and move forward no matter the adversity,” she said. | “I’ll remember him for his capacity to turn the cheek, forgive and move forward no matter the adversity,” she said. |
Prince George’s County Executive Rushern L. Baker (D) said he owed Barry a favor or two because his “first real job” came through the former mayor’s summer jobs program. Baker, then a recent-Howard University graduate, found his way into the international law firm Covington & Burling in Washington. | |
Baker also got his first job in government when Barry was mayor, joining the District’s Department of Housing and Community Development. | |
“The second job was most important because my wife was six months pregnant and we didn’t have health insurance,” Baker said. | |
Baker was with his own son when he last saw Barry, on Election Day at a Ward 8 polling place. | |
“I gave your dad his first job,” Barry told Baker’s son. | |
Victoria St. Martin, Arelis Hernandez, Miles Parks, Aaron Davis and Hamil Harris contributed to this report. |