Anyone been here since the 80s / early 90s? How did smart locals react to Marion Barry

[Anonymous]

winning office after crack smoking, prison, and all the corruption? Was it shocking, a hopeless feeling? Wasn't the District is a total spiral during his reign, yet he kept winning elections? I can't even process it as I read it. Just, wow.

[Anonymous]

IMO the DC comeback actually started during Barry IV.

[Anonymous]

What's a "smart local"?

[Anonymous]

Lifelong D.C. And D.C.metro area resident: white, male, 45, born in PG,lived in Ivy City, Petworth and Columbia Heights in the early through late 90's. Then moved to MoCo, then back to Palisades, now live in Anne Arundel.

I liked Barry.

That's an unpopular opinion among the newly arrived arrogant class around here, but I don't care. I'm DCAF.

I liked him because he was spoke for people who had no real voice before. Because his summer jobs program gave lots of D.C. kids their first chance to earn a dollar. Because he handed out turkeys to people who would otherwise be eating Popeyes or ramen for Thanksgiving. Because he was a flawed man and showed flawed young people that they could still do something. Because he was an Eagle Scout, like me. Because he was smart enough to get a Masters in Chemistry (getting a D in O-chem was my proudest achievement in college. It was the hardest grade I ever worked for). I liked Barry because he never forgot where he came from, always had real-person problems plaguing him, and despite the opportunities, he never grew rich from his being Mayor for Life. He died broke as fuck.

I liked Barry. And IDGAF what any of you think.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What's a "smart local"?

Someone who sells you the house you bought in Logan for $1,730,000 that they paid $190,000 for in 1988.

That's me. A smart local.

Care to guess what we call you?

[Anonymous]

Local here. Opinions of him varied dramatically depending on the group. First off, when Barry rose to power, the middle class whites had fled the District, so the demographics were middle and low class blacks in the formerly-white areas and wealthy white liberals in upper NW. At first, all groups seemed to love him; he represented black empowerment and engagement in government, and he was extremely charismatic. He represented liberal ideals, and while the the summer jobs program and handing out turkeys had a minor impact in the grand scheme of things, they instilled the belief in the poor that Marion had their backs.

As the years went on, his support wavered. First, middle class blacks fled to PG County because of the schools and crime, much like their white counterparts had done 15-20 years earlier. That left the District with a constituency of poor blacks who were increasingly dependent on DC's bloated and inefficient bureaucracy and social programs, and wealthy white liberals who were loathe to admit that this man, a supposed model of black leadership just after the civil rights movement, could possibly be a failure. As Barry's indiscretions became national news, poor blacks were generally the most forgiving, as his flaws made him very relatable to many people.

Eventually the mismanagement and national embarrassment he brought to the District made enough people fed up that a Republican, Carol Schwartz, came shockingly close to unseating him as mayor in a city where Republican is a four letter word. I know many people whose vote for Schwartz was their single Republican vote in their life.

[Anonymous]

white upper middle class families did not live in DC or want to so the "smart locals" where happily cocooned in the burbs and what happened in DC made little to no difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:white upper middle class families did not live in DC or want to so the "smart locals" where happily cocooned in the burbs and what happened in DC made little to no difference.

We were a white upper middle class family living in DC in the 80s. Marion Bart was not very popular in house, lol.
But black community very much liked him and rallied behind him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:white upper middle class families did not live in DC or want to so the "smart locals" where happily cocooned in the burbs and what happened in DC made little to no difference.

Plenty of white upper middle class families in the NW. Even during those dark days when Baltimore was considered a success compared to DC.

[Anonymous]

My mom loved him for the reasons 22:58 stated. She told me he was one of the most charismatic people she’d ever met. I thought she was smart as hell, but I’m the first generation in our family to go to college so I guess maybe you wouldn’t consider her a “smart local”.

[Anonymous]

It wasn't a black or white thing when Barry was first elected mayor in the late '70s. It was a liberal thing, and in a city of liberals, his message played well in just about every ward. The guy was winning elections with massive citywide margins.

But as the years went by it became clear that his policies were bankrupting the city. He borrowed heavily from the U.S. Treasury to pay for massive government spending, mostly on his plan to give a city job to just about anyone who applied for one, no matter how incompetent or unqualified they were. This led to the non-working city bureaucracy that still lingers today. He tried to stem the growing crack cocaine epidemic by going on an MPD hiring spree, again bringing in people who had no business wearing a badge. And he saw himself as above it all, as evidenced by his infamous Super Bowl trip to California in January 1987 while the city was getting pounded by a snowstorm.

https://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/news/city-desk/blog/13062944/today-in-d-c-history-marion-barry-the-super-bowl-and-the-blizzard-of-indifference

And then there were his personal issues, which everyone knows about. By the end, his personal patronage policies kept getting him votes, but he was mostly regarded as a sad joke by everyone else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Local here. Opinions of him varied dramatically depending on the group. First off, when Barry rose to power, the middle class whites had fled the District, so the demographics were middle and low class blacks in the formerly-white areas and wealthy white liberals in upper NW. At first, all groups seemed to love him; he represented black empowerment and engagement in government, and he was extremely charismatic. He represented liberal ideals, and while the the summer jobs program and handing out turkeys had a minor impact in the grand scheme of things, they instilled the belief in the poor that Marion had their backs.

As the years went on, his support wavered. First, middle class blacks fled to PG County because of the schools and crime, much like their white counterparts had done 15-20 years earlier. That left the District with a constituency of poor blacks who were increasingly dependent on DC's bloated and inefficient bureaucracy and social programs, and wealthy white liberals who were loathe to admit that this man, a supposed model of black leadership just after the civil rights movement, could possibly be a failure. As Barry's indiscretions became national news, poor blacks were generally the most forgiving, as his flaws made him very relatable to many people.

Eventually the mismanagement and national embarrassment he brought to the District made enough people fed up that a Republican, Carol Schwartz, came shockingly close to unseating him as mayor in a city where Republican is a four letter word. I know many people whose vote for Schwartz was their single Republican vote in their life.

This, PLUS what the lifetime Barry admirer said upthread. Both are correct and the full picture requires acknowledgement of both.

--30 year white District resident here. Moved to D.C. when it had the highest murder-per-capita rate in the United States

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:white upper middle class families did not live in DC or want to so the "smart locals" where happily cocooned in the burbs and what happened in DC made little to no difference.

Utter bullshit. See, e.g., the entirety of Ward 3 and Georgetown

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:white upper middle class families did not live in DC or want to so the "smart locals" where happily cocooned in the burbs and what happened in DC made little to no difference.

We were a white upper middle class family living in DC in the 80s. Marion Bart was not very popular in house, lol.
But black community very much liked him and rallied behind him.

Yes, that's it.

Also a DC native, white, and at the time a Democrat (along with my friends). We thought he was an embarrassment to the city, and he was. Whenever I traveled outside the region and was asked where I was from, the response was alway...."you have that mayor" (or some version). Blacks apparently thought he was great, though, and even his jail time (which had another salacious incident) couldn't hurt his political career.

[Anonymous]

I’m black, moved to DC recently, and also wonder about this. I recall him being seen as a joke in national news growing up. Also don’t understand his appeal among DC natives, and their willingness to excuse his major indiscretions.