The Washington media and
the national press are having a
virtual field day itb tbe
Marion Barry· affair. Tbe
demi e of a powerful BI ck
elected official, particularly
an African American Mayor
of the nation' capital makes
good copy.
The trial and the media
coverage boarder on a soap
opra fiJIed with al1 tbe
dram tic elements of po er, .
x and drugs.
But wbile the media and
some ithin the government
have been celebrati ng Marion
Barry's fal1 from grace, the
ayor has drawn an amazing
amount of support from the
African American
community.
Marion Barry' solid core
of support ithin the D.C.
African American community
and from around the. nation
h left the prosecutors and
critics befuddled and
bewidlered.
The fact of the matter is
th I Marion Barry i a man
bo ro e from very humble
JULY l '. AUGU
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beginning to make a
signifiClDt contribution &0 the
Civil Rigb movement.
Black people remember
tbat record of service. In
Wasbington, D.C. Marion
Barry., Ibe Civil Rights
ctivist, formed Pride Inc., a
program de igned to
rehabilitate poor inner city
.. neigbborhoods wbile
providing jobs lraining and
jo to YOUD people. Black
people remem r tbat record
of service.
ENTE I G THE
electoral political . arena,
Marion Barry served witb
de tinction a member of the
D.C. Board of Education,
President of the Board of
Education and Councilman at
Large on the D.C. City
Council. From the Council
po ilion Barry launched his
campaign for Mayor and won.
As Mayor of Washington.
D.C. Marion Barry is
generally credited with
ueces fully initiating
programs for downtown
revitalization, jo programs
VANTAGE,
. POINT
and ervice for tbe elderly
and youth. Black people
remember Marion Barry'
record of ervice.
Marion Barry is bis 0 I)
man and a uch be bas often
been at odds itb the
Washington Post and other
elements of the Washington
establishment.
There has been
perception ithin the African
American community in D.C.
for year tb t the Washington
Post and the D.C.
establishment wa out to get
Marion Barry.
There is the impression that
Marion B rry ha been
subjected to.extraordinary
scrutiny like many other
Black elected officials from
. around the nation. The
!'What is Obscenity?"
By g rab
In recent month there have
been a series of controversies
concerning effort to censor
politic I and artistic ctivities
which are deemed unpopular,
ubversive or "ob cene."
Tbe mo t recent conflict
concerns the Supreme Court's
decision to penni t the burning
of the American flag as a form
of free speech protected by the
first amendment to the
Con titution.
Lawma er tumbled over
themselve to denounce the
five-to-four deci ion as
antipartiotic. Senate minority
leader Robert Dole threatened
to use the nag burning i ue
again t Democrats who
upported the Supreme
Court' ruling.
, M ny conservative
Republican with libertarian
politics; who opposed any
governmental restrictions on
free expression and speech,
nevertheless embraced the
j ingoistic and dangerours
proposal to halt flagburnings
by pas ing a new
Constitutional amendment.
I POPULAR culture, the
dvoc:ates of censorship have
targeted the Black rap group,
2 Live Crew, for the sexually
explicit lyrics on its album
"A asry as They Wanna
Be". Broward County,
Florida, sheriff arrested a
record store 0 ner for selling
the controversi I album, after
a deferal judge declared it to
be "obscene."
garbage nd sell it as food.
(Similarly), society mu t have
the strength to say to even
popular rap groups such a 2
Live Crew, 'Shut up!'"
Florida Republican
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, J. W.tst � 'AYnt4, t.AM-t I", Mo ",!.
. .
Several members of 2 Live
Crew were nested by
authorities for performing the
album s song in an evening
performance.
Conse rva ti ve cri tics
demanded more tban a
political pound of fle h from
the BI canis . One angry
ne paper col umni t .
declared.. ·You can't package
governor Robert Martinez,
looking to make cheap
political gains, jumped on tbe
censorship bandwagon,
declaring' the record
"pornograpby. If you answer
tbe phone one nig�ll and tbe
voice on the other end begin
to read the lyrics of one of
these song, you'd say you'd
received an obscene phone
Of· z
PM
Wasbington Po t in p rticuJar
seemed to magnify Barry's
every miscue or mi tep.
TO BE SJJRE Marion
Barry' own babit and
behavior' increasingly left him
vulnerable in recent years.
The fact remains, however,
that by ome estimate tbe
federal government spent over
40 million dollars during a 7
year period trying to get.
Marion Barry.
The government as
finally able to entrap Barry in
the now infamous staged
encounter itb Rasheeda
Moore.
Even some media .analysts
have sugge�ted tbat tbe
government ent too far in it
get Marion Barry campaign.
Certainly tbe daily stream of
revelations about Barry'
private life and tbe public
airing of the ra footage of
the Rasbeeda Moore
encounter must be judged to
be exce sive and offensive.
The multi-million dollar
entrapment of Marion Baarry
is all tbe more problematical .
,I The Governmen v . Marion Barry:
multi-million dollar entrapment
. . . . I
cal), "
Even some
African-Americans approved
of the 2 Live Crew arrests.
Author Jewelle Taylor Gibb
noted: "Young people see
(this music) as freedom of
peech, but ... it's socially
unresponsive. "
THE BANNED RECORD
has sold nearly 2 million
copies nationally and ale
increased sharply after' the
group' arrest and legal
harassment.
The flag and 2 Live Crew
con trover ies raise everal
immediate question . Why is
2 Live Crew considered
. obscene and illegal, while
white performers such a
Andrew Dice Clay who make
an affluent Jiving promoting
sexism and vulgarity while
being featured on Saturday
Night Live? Do you suppose
that race could have
something to do with
difference in treatment?
. Why is 2 Live Crew
arre ted for singing rap song,
while another federal judge,
Howard E. Cook, ruled this
M y the Ku Klux Klan is a
"persecuted group" and that a
state ban on the wearing of
mask in public illegally
restict the Klan's "free
peech?" Judge Cook declared
when one considers that even
if B�rry is guilty, he is guilty
not of being a drug producer,
a drug supplier or a drug
dealer but a drug user.
THE MARION BAR Y
story is a sad tale of an
outstanding civil right
advoca te and powerful
I po Ii tical leader succumbing to
tbe deadly disease of drug
abuse.
The government has pent
millions of dollars bounding
and hunting down a sick man
bo needs compa ion, care
and treatment. Tbi is hat
many African Ameic n
natio wide resent.
In our re entment of the
government' conduct of i IS
camp ign again t Marion
Barry and in our. upport for
Marion Barry. however, we
mu t not 10 eight of th fact
that we do have an 0 ligation
and respon ibility to are for
and hold Blac elected
offici Is accountable or their
guardianship of th public
trust. C i d
nt n e 0
that Klan members needed
"anonymity provided by a free
of exercise their fir t
Amendment right." This
interpretation of the law
as ume that the Ku Klux
Klan ha been the victim of
political hara men. and
violence, rather th n the
reverse.
Thi ruling turn upside
down the real hi tory of the
Klan, and in effect cen or
those who are the frequent
victim of Klan violence.
The bsic problem in the
interpretation of free peech i
that both liberals nd
conservative do not
comprehend the real me ning
of tolerance. Liberal tend to
believe tbat tolerance mean
free expres ion of all idea ,
regardles of whether they are
right or wrong.
o RVATIV
general] y repres free
expre io. But the re I
meaning of tolerance mean
supporting idea and value
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