Chancellors email on Marion Barry

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:anyone else appalled the chancellor would choose to publicly celebrate a convicted drug user?
seriously undermines any confidence i had in her judgement about appropriate messages to send to our kids

What I noticed was the complete lack of diversity in the accompanying photos. Do Asian, Latino and other children deserve representation in DCPS correspondence?

latino maybe. there are very few asian kids in DCPS. The picture probably WAS representative

I'm outraged that there were no Inuit or Island Pacificers in the pic

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Appalled that you are so disrespectful and judgemental.

+1. Mr. Berry was someone that I deeply admired. His actions that night will never take away what he has done for this city just like Bill Clinton's legacy was not tarnished in my eyes. Crazy we can have presidents and politicians do cocaine, drink and drive, kill, solicit indiscriminate sex in aiport bathrooms, cheat, solicit prostitutes, have slave concubines etc but a mayor tries crack and he's shamed for life. If he did coke like Bush would that have been better for you?

I think the crux of the matter is that MB was a complex and important figure. Racial politicking and divisiveness are part of that complexity. For the Chancellor to send a message in which she praises Barry for helping "all children" and then including photos of only African American students is insensitive. A tribute that is instantly controversial isn't much of a tribute.

I do have a problem with DCPS celebrating someone whose many public failures can only euphemistically be described as "complex." I wonder if how many teachers who are encouraged to speak about Marion Barry to their classes are encouraged as well to note his cocaine and crack usage as DC's chief elected official (at a time when many, including children, were dying directly or indirectly through violence during DC's crack epidemic. How many hear about how he misused his security detail to pick up women off the street or mis-managed the city, such that it couldn't even plow the streets or pick up garbage? How many hear about how dysfunctional DC agencies, especially those that served the poor and vulnerable directly, were taken away from Barry's stewardship by a series of judges and how the federal control board was finally put in to usurp Barry's remaining authority and save DC from financial and operational implosion? How many are told about his repeated tax evasion? Or his racist rants against Asians, whites and others? It's especially ironic that Henderson celebrates him when the indifference of Barry and his political cronies led to DCPS reaching its nadir, really an absolute crisis stage, during his mayoral years.

You clearly have not lived in DC for a long time or any United States urban city during the 1980s, what recent presidents do you want to talk about? What a negative hate filled person you are!!! I feel sorry for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:anyone else appalled the chancellor would choose to publicly celebrate a convicted drug user?
seriously undermines any confidence i had in her judgement about appropriate messages to send to our kids

What I noticed was the complete lack of diversity in the accompanying photos. Do Asian, Latino and other children deserve representation in DCPS correspondence?

I actually have noticed this in photos hanging on school walls and calendars DCPS publishes... photos of only AA 'heroes and heroines'. I find it distressing--not just for kids of other backgrounds but also for AA kids. It's a big wide world--represent and celebrate it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:13:56, you are the one calling names, not me, so please look yourself in the eye and see who has the bad behavior.

I said Barry was a mixed bag; how is that not reality? How is it racist?

I honestly had not given any thought to the issue of state sponsored funeral for politicians actually. I would be happy if we do no spend any Goverment money on a Bush funeral. Or a Clinton one. I can see now that I was naive in thinking the DC government shouldn't spend money on a funeral. But that does not make me racist! I also thought that it was bizarre that federal workers got a day off for Reagan's death. But I was unaware of funeral stuff as I did not live here at the time.

I never could stand Marion Barry. Still, I don't object that he have some official recogniztion in death as a four-term mayor, albeit a disgraced one. It's fine for his casket to lie in the District Building and be carried by police pallbearers. It's worth noting, however, that Nixon, as a disgraced former president, voluntarily elected not to have a state funeral in Washington in favor of a lower key ceremony at his library in California.) I strongly object to the efforts of Mayor Gray (who called Barry a "national icon") and others, including it seems Ms. Henderson, to airbrush away history when it comes to Barry.

[Anonymous]

I immediately deleted it. I felt the same about Barry as he felt about me.

Signed,
White Native Washingtonian

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Appalled that you are so disrespectful and judgemental.

+1. Mr. Berry was someone that I deeply admired. His actions that night will never take away what he has done for this city just like Bill Clinton's legacy was not tarnished in my eyes. Crazy we can have presidents and politicians do cocaine, drink and drive, kill, solicit indiscriminate sex in aiport bathrooms, cheat, solicit prostitutes, have slave concubines etc but a mayor tries crack and he's shamed for life. If he did coke like Bush would that have been better for you?

I think the crux of the matter is that MB was a complex and important figure. Racial politicking and divisiveness are part of that complexity. For the Chancellor to send a message in which she praises Barry for helping "all children" and then including photos of only African American students is insensitive. A tribute that is instantly controversial isn't much of a tribute.

I do have a problem with DCPS celebrating someone whose many public failures can only euphemistically be described as "complex." I wonder if how many teachers who are encouraged to speak about Marion Barry to their classes are encouraged as well to note his cocaine and crack usage as DC's chief elected official (at a time when many, including children, were dying directly or indirectly through violence during DC's crack epidemic. How many hear about how he misused his security detail to pick up women off the street or mis-managed the city, such that it couldn't even plow the streets or pick up garbage? How many hear about how dysfunctional DC agencies, especially those that served the poor and vulnerable directly, were taken away from Barry's stewardship by a series of judges and how the federal control board was finally put in to usurp Barry's remaining authority and save DC from financial and operational implosion? How many are told about his repeated tax evasion? Or his racist rants against Asians, whites and others? It's especially ironic that Henderson celebrates him when the indifference of Barry and his political cronies led to DCPS reaching its nadir, really an absolute crisis stage, during his mayoral years.

You clearly have not lived in DC for a long time or any United States urban city during the 1980s, what recent presidents do you want to talk about? What a negative hate filled person you are!!! I feel sorry for you.

In fact, I have lived in DC since the 1980s so I remember well how distressed and dysfunctional DC was during the Barry era. How is pointing out the truth "hate filled"?

[Anonymous]

I'm a white liberal. I have defended Barry - he was an intelligent human being who had his good sides and bad sides.

I'm also a big DCPS supporter, and a big fan of Henderson.

That said, I wasn't thrilled with the email. And it's not even the drug and prostitute part - it's the fact that DC public schools were in terrible, terrible shape because of Marion Barry and the political choices he made.

It is a conundrum - electing Bary to that term after the felony is why DC was placed into receivership and why we got Anthony Williams and everything that followed, including school reform. And I do believe that Marion Barry loved the city.

But I think the email should have been more measured, not as laudatory as it was.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Appalled that you are so disrespectful and judgemental.

+1. Mr. Berry was someone that I deeply admired. His actions that night will never take away what he has done for this city just like Bill Clinton's legacy was not tarnished in my eyes. Crazy we can have presidents and politicians do cocaine, drink and drive, kill, solicit indiscriminate sex in aiport bathrooms, cheat, solicit prostitutes, have slave concubines etc but a mayor tries crack and he's shamed for life. If he did coke like Bush would that have been better for you?

If you admired him so much, you should be expected to know that his name is spelled "Barry." Of course, if you went to DCPS during his mayor reign, a lack of spelling skills would be understandable.

And that would be mayoral reign, PP. DCPS as well?

Oh please it's called spellcheck. Don't worry I will make sure my tattoo artist doesn't use spell check when I get Barry tattooed on my heart.

NP, I don't believe you. Spellcheck knows how to spell "mayoral". Haha. Funny when people try and check others and fuck up themselves. No need to get a tattoo, but if you do make sure you too get the correct spelling and meaning.

Try to follow along. First PP misspelled Barry by spelling Berry. Next poster person bashed her for misspelling Barry. Yet another poster responded to the basher because she used the phrase mayor reign instead of mayoral. Mayoral was never misspelled. The 4th poster that claimed spellcheck was referring to Barry vs Berry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Appalled that you are so disrespectful and judgemental.

+1. Mr. Berry was someone that I deeply admired. His actions that night will never take away what he has done for this city just like Bill Clinton's legacy was not tarnished in my eyes. Crazy we can have presidents and politicians do cocaine, drink and drive, kill, solicit indiscriminate sex in aiport bathrooms, cheat, solicit prostitutes, have slave concubines etc but a mayor tries crack and he's shamed for life. If he did coke like Bush would that have been better for you?

If you admired him so much, you should be expected to know that his name is spelled "Barry." Of course, if you went to DCPS during his mayor reign, a lack of spelling skills would be understandable.

And that would be mayoral reign, PP. DCPS as well?

Oh please it's called spellcheck. Don't worry I will make sure my tattoo artist doesn't use spell check when I get Barry tattooed on my heart.

NP, I don't believe you. Spellcheck knows how to spell "mayoral". Haha. Funny when people try and check others and fuck up themselves. No need to get a tattoo, but if you do make sure you too get the correct spelling and meaning.

Try to follow along. First PP misspelled Barry by spelling Berry. Next poster person bashed her for misspelling Barry. Yet another poster responded to the basher because she used the phrase mayor reign instead of mayoral. Mayoral was never misspelled. The 4th poster that claimed spellcheck was referring to Barry vs Berry.

The sad fact remains, as a PP pointed out so well, that DCPS became absolutely atrocioius while Barry was mayor and took a very long time to get better, because of the sordid condition in which he and his political allies left the public schools.

[Anonymous]

As part of her laudatory project to commemorate the mayor-for-life, Kayla Henderson could distribute to every DCPS school child a "little red book" of the sayings of Marion Barry.

Marion Barry after he was robbed: “There is a sort of an unwritten code in Washington, among the underworld and the hustlers and these other guys, that I am their friend.”

Other gems:

"The contagious people of Washington have stood firm against diversity during this long period of increment weather."
"I promise you a police car on every sidewalk."

"If you take out the killings, Washington actually has a very very low crime rate."

"First, it was not a strip bar, it was an erotic club. And second, what can I say? I'm a night owl."

"I am clearly more popular than Reagan. I am in my third term. Where's Reagan? Gone after two! Defeated by George Bush and Michael Dukakis no less."

"The laws in this city are clearly racist. All laws are racist. The law of gravity is racist."

"I am making this trip to Africa because Washington is an international city, just like Tokyo, Nigeria or Israel. As mayor, I am an international symbol. Can you deny that to Africa?"

"People have criticized me because my security detail is larger than the president's. But you must ask yourself: are there more people who want to kill me than who want to kill the president? I can assure you there are."

"The brave men who died in Vietnam, more than 100% of which were black, were the ultimate sacrifice."

"I read a funny story about how the Republicans freed the slaves. The Republicans are the ones who created slavery by law in the 1600's. Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves and he was not a Republican."

"What right does Congress have to go around making laws just because they deem it necessary?"

"People blame me because these water mains break, but I ask you, if the water mains didn't break, would it be my responsibility to fix them then? WOULD IT!?!"

"I am a great mayor; I am an upstanding Christian man; I am an intelligent man; I am a deeply educated man; I am a humble man."

and of course, the classic: "Bitch set me up."

http://www.skeptictank.org/barry.htm

[Anonymous]

I'm AA and long-time Barry basher after living through the Crack Wars and his hypocrisy. But as a parent who respects the Chancellor and other locals, I'm trying to withhold judgement on her responses.

The email was seven sentences with three photos of Barry, but more of students, added to the the monthly system-wide email.

By contrast, the DCPS website press release title and text emphasize the celebrations were at Ward 8 schools for the Ward 8 council member. Henderson's comments in the release are not 100% positive, even though she was a close friend. But even if she did issue nothing but hagiography, it doesn't matter. She's not running the Op Ed page of the Post.

A public school system email is not an appropriate place for a full-blown expose of political malfeasance.

That said, it is possible to show sensitivity to the grieving even if we don't fully respect the person they are grieving for.

I'm holding my tongue on Barry. For now.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:
The sad fact remains, as a PP pointed out so well, that DCPS became absolutely atrocioius while Barry was mayor and took a very long time to get better, because of the sordid condition in which he and his political allies left the public schools.

It is probably worth pointing out that when Barry was mayor, DC had an elected school board which selected the superintendent. We didn't have mayoral control of schools. So, I'm not sure why Barry is being blamed for something over which he had no control (actually, I do know, but that's a separate issue).

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The sad fact remains, as a PP pointed out so well, that DCPS became absolutely atrocioius while Barry was mayor and took a very long time to get better, because of the sordid condition in which he and his political allies left the public schools.

It is probably worth pointing out that when Barry was mayor, DC had an elected school board which selected the superintendent. We didn't have mayoral control of schools. So, I'm not sure why Barry is being blamed for something over which he had no control (actually, I do know, but that's a separate issue).

1. Don't forget that Barry served on the school board at the beginning of his elective career.
2. As mayor he packed DCPS with patronage and deadwood hires. (Even though the schools were not under his direct control, his political network extended to the school board and the central office.) Even Michelle Rhee couldn't dislodge all of them with her broom.
3. The mayor and council had control over the schools' capital budget and apportionment of the operating budget. School modernization and maitenance virtually stopped.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The sad fact remains, as a PP pointed out so well, that DCPS became absolutely atrocioius while Barry was mayor and took a very long time to get better, because of the sordid condition in which he and his political allies left the public schools.

It is probably worth pointing out that when Barry was mayor, DC had an elected school board which selected the superintendent. We didn't have mayoral control of schools. So, I'm not sure why Barry is being blamed for something over which he had no control (actually, I do know, but that's a separate issue).

The racists and ignorant are out in full force!!! Most people writing didn't even live in DC prior to Barry or during the years Barry was mayor but can't help join in the bandwagon of hypocrisy. RIP Barry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The sad fact remains, as a PP pointed out so well, that DCPS became absolutely atrocioius while Barry was mayor and took a very long time to get better, because of the sordid condition in which he and his political allies left the public schools.

It is probably worth pointing out that when Barry was mayor, DC had an elected school board which selected the superintendent. We didn't have mayoral control of schools. So, I'm not sure why Barry is being blamed for something over which he had no control (actually, I do know, but that's a separate issue).

The racists and ignorant are out in full force!!! Most people writing didn't even live in DC prior to Barry or during the years Barry was mayor but can't help join in the bandwagon of hypocrisy. RIP Barry.

In point of fact, those of us who lived ihere when Barry was mayor and when DC really was Dysfunctional City, know how much the Barry hagiography of the past couple weeks is not true. I sympathize with Barry's family and friends over his death, but today's funeral and burial is a final turning of the page from the Barry era. Most of Washington has moved on.