From a DC Statehood Green Party email:
The D.C. Statehood Green Party expressed sadness and condolences for the family of former Mayor and Council member Marion Barry and for all those mourning his death on Sunday.
D.C. Statehood Green Party leaders said that Mayor Barry accomplished something that politicians promise but seldom deliver: he gave D.C. residents jobs. His summer jobs program and expansion of city government services employed thousands and helped give the District a prosperous Black middle class. This remains Mayor Barry’s most enduring positive legacy during his years in office.
Statehood Greens noted Mr. Barry’s leadership in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (he was its first national chairman) and the Free D.C. Movement, his work in registering Black voters during the 1960s and direct action for civil rights, and his unwavering support for D.C. statehood and the rights of residents throughout his career.
Party members said that Marion Barry deserves credit for his passionate defense of TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) recipients facing a cutoff of benefits, during hearings in late 2013 and early 2014.
“The D.C. Statehood Green Party celebrates the life and legacy of a tremendous leader and advocate for statehood. Mayor Barry often found himself in partnership with Julius Hobson, founder of the D.C. Statehood Party and At-Large member of Council, and with Hilda Mason, Hobson’s successor from the Statehood Party as Council Member, on the issues that matter most to the safety, security, and liberty of the residents of Washington, D.C.,” said Darryl! L.C. Moch, Ward 7 resident, D.C. Statehood Green Party member, and national co-chair of the Green Party of the United States. The D.C. Statehood Party became the D.C. Statehood Green Party in 1999.
“When congressional members challenged the rights of the residents to govern themselves and manage their own affairs, Barry was uncompromising in his adamant advocacy for D.C. and its residents. The D.C. Statehood Green Party honors Barry and his legacy on behalf of all of DC and truly intends to hold up the light and continue to carry the torch Barry, Hobson, Mason, and others have carried,” said Mr. Moch.
See also:
Passings: Marion Barry
By Sam Smith, editor of The Progressive Review and founding member of the D.C. Statehood Party, November 23, 2014
http://prorevnews.blogspot.com/2014/11/passings-marion-barry.html
Some things he said and did were good. Obviously not all of them. But he was one of the few politicians to step outside the box of establishment thinking and behavior and survive politically, and showed a remarkable resiliency that few victims of the tabloid scandal mentality in politics ever have.
His views evolved over time. He was surprisingly candid and politically incorrect on some things.
One time after having already been mayor for several times, going to prison, then being mayor again, and some time being retired from politics, he ran for city council. When asked why he was running he said it was because it was an easy job and it pays well. Now that’s the kind of refreshing honesty that’s all too lacking in the vast majority of our craven politicians!
Despite being one of the most corrupt politicians in history, he DID try to decriminalize marijuana…. Of course in 2009 he decided that he was against the legalization of same-sex marriage…
“drugs good, marriage between certain consenting adults bad….”
Lots of taxpayer dollars to his friends… On guns, Barry was of the opinion that nobody should be able to own a gun, but he also opined that the DC gun ban did not take “one gun out of the hands of one criminal”
I found him to be a bit confusing when trying to find something good in his career….
I guess the socialists were cool with all of those issues determining that corruption was OK considering all of the money he gave his politically connected friends while allowing the community to fester……
Personally, I have stopped wondering why things are the way they are, but I am hopeful that I will live to see a day when people will be able to take charge of their own lives, their own money, and will be able to help their children be competitive in tomorrow’s job market…
Sincerely,
Steve Scheetz
But they do.
The risk of arrest and jail serves to winnow out the competition and serves as a price support mechanism. Illegal drugs are much more expensive because of the legal risks of supplying the market, which makes for much bigger profits, hence, living wage. And pimps couldn’t make nearly as much money if prostitutes could buy protection from legal providers thereof. Also, prostitutes might find themselves making less if the risk of going to jail and dealing with violent clients and pimps (in the absence of legal alternatives) weren’t part of the business. With more competition on the supply side it is likely that prices would be lower. On the other hand, they might get to keep more of their money as opposed to paying the high price of protection which is artificially inflated by making the protection market for prostitutes illegal.
So, in a roundabout way, prohibitionist statists do create a living wage for pimps and drug dealers.
Martin–
Good point.
However, those two industries are both illegal in the District of Columbia and the disingenuous Marion Barry administration probably jailed lots of individuals trying to earn a decent living supplying the mayor with hookers and blow.
Where’s the justice? We need the socialists to come out and support a living wage for pimps and dealers.
“He did not give anyone a job. ”
Not true. Many prostitutes and cocaine dealers joined the middle class thanks to the personal help of Marion Berry. A great man who will be greatly missed by his many good friends, including those who sold him goods and services.
Of course Nick!!
Progressives have amusing idols.
>D.C. Statehood Green Party leaders said that Mayor Barry accomplished something that politicians promise but seldom deliver: he gave D.C. residents jobs. His summer jobs program and expansion of city government services employed thousands and helped give the District a prosperous Black middle class. This remains Mayor Barry’s most enduring positive legacy during his years in office.
Hogwash. He did not give anyone a job. He stole money from taxpaying working DC residents and re-distributed some of it, after skimming off a large percentage for City administrators and lackeys like himself, to others.
If he really wanted to help create jobs in DC instead of padding the pockets of his cronies and himself, he would have cut the municipal government workforce and the concomitant tax bite on the District.
Not that smoking crack should be a crime…
“Bitch set me up” ..