Marion Barry, the District of Columbia’s Mayor for Life, has died.
And while it would be so simple to remember the polarizing politician as the caricature he played such a large role in creating, that would be a monumental mistake.
The former city councilman and four-term mayor was nothing short of a living, breathing testament to fortitude.
Sure, the images that immediately come to mind for most are those that made living easy for comedy writers for so long. “Bitch set me up” is a quote that took on a life of its own. The self-proclaimed night owl went to jail for possessing crack cocaine. He seemed to be constantly on the verge of ruination as the result of some personal issue or technical legal matter.
Yet, Barry always bounced back ― such as when he won another term as mayor after serving his prison sentence ― and that confounded his critics. (“Crack Mayor Dead at 78,” really TMZ?)
What they failed to understand was that at his core Barry was a man of the people. He unabashedly stood up for the underrepresented, literally taking a bullet during the course of his service.
A sharecropper’s son, Barry earned a master’s degree in chemistry from Fisk University. He became a civil rights activist, participating in sit-ins and serving as the chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.
