Marion Barry: Race, Scandal, and Political Resilience in D.C.

Introduction

Marion Shepilov Barry, Jr. may be one of the most divisive politicians of modern times. This should come as no surprise, as Barry's personal and political histories are studies in contrasts. He is, or has been, a civil rights leader and a person who has made vicious race-based statements about others, an anti-drug crusader and a drug addict, an Eagle Scout and a tax evader, the epitome of a happily married man and a notorious adulterer. Generally, people expect politicians to serve as role models, so that even minor indiscretions in a politician's history can derail an otherwise promising career. Barry's life reveals another side of politics and demonstrates how a politician with whom people can identify can retain public support even after facing tremendous personal battles. The importance of race in Barry's story cannot be minimized. Barry's early success was as a civil rights advocate, and many believe that his eventual downfall was partly due to the fact that he was a successful Black man in a previously white-dominated political arena. The zealousness with which the FBI pursued Barry for what were, essentially, relatively petty crimes was considered by some to be an example of racism, while others found it an appropriate response to allegations that a person in such a powerful position was engaging in regular criminal activity.

In order to understand Barry's fall and eventual rebirth, one must first know a little about the man himself. Barry was born March 6, 1936, in Itta Bena, Mississippi (A&E, 2013). His father was a sharecropper who died when Barry was young. His mother remarried, and Barry grew up in a family of nine children. Throughout his childhood, like many African-American men who came of age in the South at the same time, Barry worked to help support his family. Education was a priority for him. He earned his bachelor's degree in 1958 from Le Moyne College and his master's degree in chemistry from Fisk University in 1960 (A&E, 2013). He initially intended to obtain his PhD but reportedly encountered racism at the university. He became involved with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, becoming its first national chairman and eventually moving to Washington, D.C., to open a chapter there (A&E, 2013).

Barry's interest remained focused on race relations and the disparities he perceived between the treatment of the races. This led to his helping found Pride, Inc., in 1967 (A&E, 2013). The goal of Pride, Inc. was to help unemployed Black men find jobs. In 1972, Barry ventured into politics, gaining a seat on the D.C. School Board (A&E, 2013). He was elected to city council in 1974 (A&E, 2013). While serving on city council, Barry was present when a group of Hanafi Muslims took over the District Building in 1977 and was shot during the incident (A&E, 2013). He ran for mayor in 1978 and was elected. He was re-elected two times and was considered a successful mayor for the city.

However, during Barry's third term, he began to be plagued by rumors of drug abuse. He was targeted by the FBI because of these rumors, and on January 18, 1990, the FBI caught him on tape using crack cocaine (A&E, 2013). He served six months in prison for this crime. Even while incarcerated, Barry did not seem willing to follow traditional norms and conventions. He was transferred from his minimum-security prison to a medium-security prison after being found guilty of allowing a female visitor to perform oral sex on him in a visitation room (Associated Press, 1992).

Barry's time in prison did little to derail his political career. After his release, he ran for a position on the city council in 1992 and won that seat. In 1994, Barry was elected to his fourth term as mayor of D.C. Barry retired in 1998 but attempted to return to politics in 2002 by running for a city council seat. His political career was again troubled by drug allegations; although he was not charged, police found trace amounts of crack and marijuana in his car (A&E, 2013). Barry also continued to face personal legal difficulties, losing a civil case and being ordered to pay the plaintiff $35,000 in damages based on her allegations that he had exposed himself to her in an airport bathroom (A&E, 2013). Nevertheless, in 2004 Barry won election to city council and remained a member despite continuing legal problems including drug offenses, tax evasion, probation violations, traffic offenses, and stalking (A&E, 2013). As recently as 2012, Barry — who initially rose to prominence through civil rights work — drew criticism for making racist remarks about Asian business owners in D.C. Rather than apologizing, Barry maintained that his statement was appropriate (Rogers, 2012).

Framing the Problem

It is impossible to understand Barry's political history without also understanding the racial issues that continue to shape modern American society. While there have been tremendous advancements in race relations, the divergent opinions about Barry help illuminate enduring racial fault lines. "In the aftermath of the arrest, trial, conviction, and jailing of Barry, to the astonishment of most Americans, Barry returned to be reelected first to the city's Council, then as mayor. Opinion differences between blacks and whites in Washington diverged so sharply on this phenomenon that it probably has no precedent in race opinion surveys" (Smith & Seltzer, 2000). Black residents of Washington, D.C. were overwhelmingly supportive of Barry, which helps explain his reelection as mayor and his continuing political career as a city council member despite his repeated legal and personal problems. This leads many to wonder whether Barry's race alone accounts for such support within the African-American community. However, this suggestion seems too simple. The African-American community has withdrawn widespread support from other African-American leaders rocked by scandal. For example, Al Sharpton lost much of his popular support following the Tawana Brawley scandal and has not regained his prior level of standing. By contrast, Barry seems able to shake off the impact of repeated scandals; rather than making him less electable, they appear to have solidified part of his voting base. "A blend of race, cultural pride, and history underlie the admiration and respect most hold for Barry" (Barras, 1998). The central goal of this research is to examine why Barry's various scandals, which seemingly should have ended his political career, have not had the anticipated negative impact.

The nature of Barry's crimes and indiscretions is critical to understanding his continued political success. Barry's misconduct has been concentrated in three distinct areas: drugs, sexual misbehavior, and failure to pay income taxes. Significantly, all three of these areas are closely correlated with problems — or at least perceived problems — in the African-American community. Because these issues do afflict the community as a whole, African-American voters appear willing to extend forgiveness and understanding to Barry, perhaps even because of his involvement in these incidents.

Beginning with the allegations of sexually predatory behavior, it is important to keep in mind the long-standing myth of the sexually dangerous Black male. At least since Shakespearean times, the idea of the Black male as a sexual predator who either threatens white female virginity or challenges white male virility has been a recurrent cultural theme. It played a major role in justifying many of the anti-Black laws and social policies that dominated America for much of its history. As a result, the Black community is wary of allegations of sexual misconduct against African-American males, particularly those who play prominent roles in public life. Moreover, Black men have historically been punished for engaging in consensual sexual contact. Many of the allegations surrounding Barry involved consensual sexual encounters labeled inappropriate by society. For example, while Barry clearly violated prison rules when a visitor performed oral sex on him during a visitation, there is no indication that the act was nonconsensual. Similarly, when he was videotaped smoking crack, he was in the presence of prostitutes. Although it would be reductive to frame the debate over legalizing prostitution along purely racial lines, prostitution has historically served as a means of income for African-Americans — both male and female — who have been otherwise disenfranchised through criminal convictions, drug addiction, or lack of educational opportunity. In poor, urban African-American communities, prostitution carries less stigma than it might elsewhere. It is therefore fair to say that a significant portion of the African-American community does not support the criminal prosecution of prostitutes, which diminishes the stigma attached to Barry's association with them.

Drug crimes represent another area in which African-Americans perceive themselves as disenfranchised relative to white America. Statistics about the number of African-American men in prison are frequently cited to support the claim that Black Americans are inherently more criminal — a framing that ignores the reality that most of those incarcerations stem from drug and drug-related offenses, despite the fact that drug usage rates do not appear to differ significantly between racial groups. Several factors contribute to the far higher drug conviction rates within the African-American community. Federal drug sentencing guidelines have historically imposed far greater penalties for crack cocaine possession than for the same quantity of powdered cocaine, with no rational basis for the distinction in terms of harm to the user. Crack cocaine is substantially more affordable than powdered cocaine and thus more likely to be used by people in poverty — a population disproportionately composed of Black Americans. Furthermore, compared with similarly situated white individuals, Black Americans are more likely to be targeted for drug investigations, to be charged when found with drugs, to be convicted if charged, and to receive longer sentences if convicted. The African-American community — including those strongly opposed to drug use — is acutely aware that drug laws bear down on Black Americans in ways they do not on other groups.

Barry has also faced tax problems. Taxes represent a payment to the federal government, which, from a particular racial perspective, is associated with "the man" — a colloquial concept referring to the white-dominated power structure that has historically served white male interests at the expense of others. Because the government has traditionally reinforced racial and economic hierarchies, it is perceived by many African-Americans as an extension of that structure. Failure to pay income taxes can therefore be read, symbolically, as an act of resistance — "stickin' it to the man" — and carries a different moral charge than it might in communities with a less fraught relationship to state authority.

Furthermore, while "the man" has traditionally been identified as the white male establishment, the growing presence of other ethnic and minority groups in American economic life has complicated and at times exacerbated tensions. Asian-Americans have developed a reputation in some communities for opening small businesses in predominantly African-American neighborhoods. From the perspective of many Black residents, these businesses can engage in predatory pricing, exploiting the limited mobility of community members who lack access to competing retailers. Although Asian-Americans have historically faced significant racial discrimination of their own, they have generally emerged as a comparatively successful minority group in economic terms. For this reason, some African-Americans view Asian-Americans as another iteration of "the man" — a perception that adds context to Barry's 2012 remarks about Asian business owners in D.C.

Study Questions

While Barry has managed to sustain a political career despite his troubles, it would be unrealistic to suggest that his legal and personal problems had no impact on his career at all. This research examines the following questions:

1. What impact did Barry's contemporaries believe his arrest would have upon his career?
2. What impact, if any, have Barry's legal and personal problems had upon his political career?
3. How did Barry remain politically relevant after a criminal conviction?
4. What role, if any, does race play in Barry's continued political viability?
5. What does Barry's continued political viability reveal about the current state of racial relations in the United States, and how will those race relations shape future politics?

Conclusion

Barry's continued political success may not be in spite of his legal and personal troubles, but largely because of them. "Barry is Anansi the Spider, a mythic figure found in African and diasporic folklore. Stories abound of Anansi — including one where he steals the sun and dupes the Tiger into letting him ride on his back. Whatever role he plays, Anansi is always crafty and cunning, surviving by his wits, indeed bamboozling other animals for his own profit. Occasionally, because of overconfidence, he falls into his own traps" (Barras, 1998). Yet he is always able to extricate himself. As a result, Barry appeals to those who find themselves at a systemic disadvantage and who perceive that whatever mistakes they make, however minor, are magnified into major transgressions as a tool of oppression. His story is ultimately less about one flawed politician than about the communities that rallied around him, and about what that rallying reveals concerning the ongoing complexities of race in American public life.