Posted on 03/03/2018 10:33:02 PM PST by wmileo
To some in Washington, D.C., he was a living legend who advocated for the citys poor. To others he was a controversial figure remembered for being re-elected mayor despite serving a prison sentence for possession of crack cocaine.
On Saturday, an 8-foot-high bronze statue of former Mayor Marion Barry was unveiled on Pennsylvania Avenue in the nations capital, just blocks from the White House. The statue, designed by artist Steven Weitzman, was ordered by the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Washington's Fox 5 reported. The estimated $250,000 cost was covered by a combination of public and private funds, the Washington Business Journal reported.
The move to honor Barry, who died at age 78 in 2014, may seem mystifying to non-Washingtonians. But among Barry's supporters, the statue is an appropriate tribute to a legitimate D.C. icon a man so popular and influential that he walked out of federal prison and immediately began winning elections again with one of the most improbable comebacks in American political history.
"He was a living legend," said City Councilman Trayon White, during an appearance Thursday on an influential local radio show hosted by Kojo Nnamdi. "Marion Barry was an integral part of getting D.C. where it is today. ... To honor a man like that who touched so many people it's right for the city. Not everyone views Barry so fondly. When the radio show started taking phone calls, the first caller blasted Barry as an "abysmal mayor" who presided over an era of corruption and mismanagement but now benefits from what the caller referred to as "convenient historical amnesia."
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
White bird poop ,.. obviously a hate crime.
I was wondering if they had the Eric Clapton song playing from the base of the statue?
I think this stautue should be treated with same respect the ststues of civil war generals were treated to by leftist vandals.
Now the pigeons can crap on someone who really deserves it “Crook for Life” Marion Barry.
By today’s standards, he would have gone to jail for beating his second wife Effie Barry and breaking bones in her face and her nose (according to a woman friend of Effie who saw her in the hospital in Baltimore).
I think the coverup story was that she had fallen and hit her face very hard on the ground or sidewalk.
No one will ever know how much dirty money and perks Barry got from friends during his reign but he would be in competition with the Clintons at today’s dollar rates.
Won’t even mention a Congressman’s investigation of Barry in 1970 concerning it being reported that he had taken a bunch of inner city kids to a leftist’s farm in northern Virginia for rifle practice.
The investigation was dropped when the congressman lost his re-election campaign to a newcomer leftist liberal.
The only thing that should be made to honor his “dishonor” would be a gigantic pot-hole (not pophead which he was) that keeps getting filled and refilled like it was part of “Groundhog Day”.
Well, a lease some pigeons are going to enjoy his statue. As they say in the Middle East, “Piss be upon you, Marion, and the more the merrier”.
I wonder if there is a proposition betting line on the over/under when someone will spray paint Barry’s immortal line somewhere on the statue or its base.
My thought exactly. When do we schedule a freeper meet up to pull that one down?
In a couple of generations, in a fit of “new correctness” these statues and plaques will be pulled down, much like those of Confederate figures are being pulled down by the current “correctness”.
Think about it. The fashions and passions of the moment are, in the end, quite short-lived.
A work free drug place.
VERY sad that Liberal Blacks have NO DISCERNMENT!!! It’s a mental disorder based only on politics and color.
What the HELL is THAT?
Lowest school performance in the nation. Highest Aids/HIV infection rate nationwide.
Marion Barry came to Washington with his rat buddy Stokely Carmichael and the SNCC crowd. Fanned the flames of the DC riots in 1968. Mismanaged the City so badly that a Control Board was established to run the City.
Oh yes what a great mayor.
Does it include a white powder substance under the nose?
White powder? Seems racist. S/
D.C is being gentrified PDQ once the demographics shift enough this statue will be quietly removed.
One of Obama’s coke sniffing buddies....destroying another city!
American black culture is sick. OJ, Michael Jackson, rappers & athletes, crooked pols, unholy religious leaders, cop-killers, anti-smites... Most of the most beloved black leaders 50 years ago would have been jailed or ostracized. Now they are revered.
A reminder of the complete corruption of black society.
Think Ill head into NYC today and look for the Statue of Mayor Jimmy Walker. What? No statues of criminal Mayors you say? Shucks.
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