Look at ward 8. Everybody sellin drugs, they cant get jobs. Yeah, im sayin marion barry helped create the problem because he was on drugs. Thats a bad role model. Barry barry barry were talking about a piece of history, folks, marion barry, Martin Luther king. Wave your hands, blow your horns, wave your hands, blow your horns. I met marion barry i think in 1968. He was taking a lot of chances. People werent taking chances durin that period. For a black guy, durin that period, you really had to have balls to do it. And he had em. When marion came to washington d. C. , he came into a sleepy southern town. White business, white political power, white everything ruled the city. The city was like a plantation. We didnt have elections. No mayor, no city council. We couldnt vote. Congress controlled d. C. Control of washington d. C. Was about one person, thats representative John Mcmillan of south carolina. He was a racist. And so that guided all of his politics. He used the district in ways that were designed to maintain the segregation, keep black folks down. Theyd all been told, we black people will never vote. Politics is white peoples business. We should never agitate white people. If they tell us to get off the street, get the hell off the street barry politically, we were nowhere. We were just backward. People werent used to registering to vote because they couldnt vote for anything. It was awful. And that makes anybody want to get angry. And not only make you angry, make you want to do something about it. It was time for me, i think, to be here. Woman [screaming at police] barry i live in the 3rd district, see, dig it . I work in the 3rd district, dig it . And i deserve the people that live out there deserve the right to be here and they gonna come in here as long as im in here. Police officer this is by invitation only. Man i dont have a card ivanhoe donaldson, deputy mayor in rolls these young people who want to change the world, and among the leadership of that crowd was marion barry. Barry the issue is whether the people outside can come in. Man meeting will come to order barry so what . Man to order barry bang again it is order. We want the people outside inside, thats all. Woman ahhhh get off of me barry and aint nobody gonna put me out either i wish you would touch me by putting me out of here go get all of them Jesse Jackson he was militant. He was a rabblerouser, and a thinker. Adrienne washington marion barry personified james browns theme song say it loud, im black and im proud. He was tall, he was handsome. Barry maybe were happy that the mayor asked us to come here, im not. No big thing for me, ive been on more important committees than this. Donaldson he was arrogant. People do not like arrogant black men. White folks had a hard time dealing with that. A lot of black people had a hard time dealing with that. Barry everybody and his mother knows that the police is the number one problem in america. And if you all dont want to deal with that, thats your problem. Marshall brown, Campaign AdvisorPolice Brutality was big. You got to remember, most of the police department, their recruits came out of places like west virginia, south carolina, pennsylvania, maryland, they didnt even come from d. C. Police officer i tell you, i am actually ashamed that these young people are in my generation. If i were to do some of the stuff these punks are doing out on the street now, my old man would kick my fanny up around my ears. Whoa, oh, oh whoa, oh, oh, ohoh its a cryin shame i dont consider this riffraff and whatnot out here in the streets part of the community. No more than three blacks were ever allowed to congregate. And they said, look, you cant stand on this corner. I dont care if youre holding a conversation with your cousin, move on. Barry im not concerned about what happens to marion barry because when i go out here, more than likely, i can deal with the police, more than likely. But im talkin about what do we do for the 600,000 black people out here who do have problems with the police . Elona evansmcneil, Campaign Staff marion and his cocky, arrogant, usual self, he felt untouchable. Marion would say, hell no, i aint movin on. And the police would remind him that he was not untouchable. They locked him up over and over and over again. Barry my role as a leader is to get something if i can do it, and be beat to death if i can do it. But if im gonna be beat to death i might as well get somethin for it. Whoa, oh, oh whoa, oh, oh, ohoh brown it was people like marion barry who brought about the consciousness here. He sort of was the spark who started all that. We want to control that which is supposed to be for us. Brown a lot of people couldnt articulate it; they couldnt explain how they felt. Marion knew exactly how they felt. Barry i went to the first meeting in the hope that i could get something done for black citizens in terms of the police department. He didnt know because he guessed at it, marion knew it because he lived among the people. Mcneil he was talking about black people are angry and tired of it, and they may, you know, explode at any time. Mid to late 60s, there were eruptions of violence across the country. [sirens wailing] brown the everyday black person, you could see them, they were just angry. Mcneil and even though king was talking peace, the young people didnt see peace working. Masses of our people are in the streets, we better get ourselves some guns and prepare ourselves. Mcneil and they were talking about violence, they werent talking about nonviolence. Marion had a problem with that. Marion had been trained to be nonviolent, and he believed in it. Guyot marion barry comes out of the best, most creative, indigenous Mass Movement america has ever produced; the student nonviolent coordinating committee, who changed the nature and form and function of leadership. Jackson marion was one of us, he was a marching, picketing protesting, freedom riding, risk taking young man who had that fire. Marion formed an Organization Called pride. Marion was out there for the black guy to get a job. And so this organization held out the hope were going to get jobs, were going to put you to work. Youre going to get some money. Barry how does one begin to measure dignity and hope . How does begin to measure increased motivation and selfperception . Brown marion went down and got the bottom of the barrel of the africanamerican men. The guys that everybody else had given up on. Gerald lee, federal judge the hustlers, the drug dealers, exconvicts. The people that nobody wants to deal with. Pride afforded us the opportunity to get a job. Barry these young black guys were in and out of jail, no hope, no help. We knew we had to instill a sense of pride that had been beat out of them, if they ever had it, because society doesnt make you feel proud. We turned a lot of lives around, a lot of lives around. Im an ex convict, you understand, and ive been to many places before i come to pride to try to get a job, this is the only place i could get a job. Mcneil for the first time the community saw these street dudes, these hoodlums, cleaning the street. It was a Beautiful Program reporter theres no doubt that pride is working. Proof of it is that 2,800 dudes now have jobs and are living meaningful lives, all because of a chance they got from pride, when nobody else cared. They come in their uniforms, which they wear with great pride now, down the street, boom, beating on the trash can top because we are somebody george pelecanos, writer the message was, this is an army, and its a black army. And that was scary to a lot of people. Lee they didnt dare arrest us because there was so many of us. We wanted to scare white folks and let them know we were about having power. Brown now heres this guy, this black guy, who organized these guys. He might have a couple thousand of them, you know, and they honestly believed in marion. So, i mean, that was just powerful to have that. Barry how do you categorize the inner feeling of the workers who said they have found respect and pride . We want to make it very clear, we dont think that pride is the answer, completely, to whats happening in america, but its a beginning. Max berry, political advisor now, that distinguished him and it gave him a platform. You think hes not thinking of stepping on that . Of course. And why not. Effi barry washington was his city, and he loved washington. He loved washington i really didnt know who he was. I had just moved here from new york and this man, every time i looked up, there he was. He approached me, and i was looking in my purse, and he said, is there anything in that bag for me . And i said, excuse me, what do you mean . What would you like for me to find in my bag . He said, your phone number. Barry she said, im not giving you my phone number. You wont call me anyway. And i said, just tell me what it is. Effi so i just gave it to him, you know, thinking, well, you know, hell never remember. Barry next day i called her, went out the next couple days and started seeing each other, and that was it. I mean, she was just stunningly beautiful, physically, but she had a great spirit, and we just sort of connected. Effi i thought he was one of the most brilliant men i had ever met. [sirens wailing]. With the gunman inside the building. Where i can see though although we understand there have been gunshot fired. Effi i got paged from my office and the secretary told me that theres been an incident at the district building. Reporter the suspects are heavily armed. We understand that they may be arabs. Black muslim we are the Hanafi Muslim community. Were holding 15 hostages here. We want the people in this country to stop persecuting and torturing muslims. Jim vance, wrc news there was terror, in large part, because nobody knew what the hell was going on. Black muslim if the demands arent met their heads will be chopped off and theyll be thrown out the window. Bruce johnson, wusa news our assignment desk came over, theres been a shooting at the district building. Pulled right in front of the building. There was a shootout up there. [gunshots] eyewitness and i heard this pop in the hall, it sounded like a firecracker. Somebodys fighting out there, i hear a shot, and just as i said that the chamber door opened and marion barry fell in, grasping his stomach, and said, ive been shot johnson there was a session going on inside council chambers. Mcneil marion was on the elevator coming back from lunch, elevator door opened. Boom eyewitness they took his coat off and took his shirt off, and you could see the blood gushing, you know, from between his fingers. Johnson obviously, one of the Big Questions is, how seriously is he wounded . Is he going to live . Berry everyone was, oh my god, hes shot, hes gonna die oh, hes gonna live now he comes out with a bandage. Well, hes a hero, like coming back from the war. Barry i guess the bullet probably ricocheted or something because if it had a direct hit, the doctors say that would have, you know, cuz its right in my heart area, it wouldve gone through my heart and i wouldnt have been talking to you. Berry it was a politicians dream. [laughter] johnson knowing marion, he had to have been thinking, i can use this. Marion barry understands. He knows that the mayor must address himself to all the people. Barry people in the neighborhood have to have a feeling that the government belongs to them, a feeling that they can participate too, and thats the kind of direction that our city ought to be moving. Take a stand. Vote marion barry for mayor. Johnson everybody thought he was crazy, didnt have a chance. I mean, he wasnt in line; he wasnt high enough on the pecking order. There was Walter Washington, there was sterling tucker, and maybe three or four other people before marion barry. Maurice jackson, Georgetown UniversityWalter Washington has the support of the unions and the working Class Population of blacks. Sterling tucker gets the support of the quote unquote gold coast blacks, the Upper Echelon of the africanamerican population. Mcneil and what is this marion doing thinking he can run against Walter Washington, or sterling tucker, whos sophisticated and bourgeois too. Berry as a political advisor, i saw potential problems. Barry hold it, hold it, hold it woman you didnt call nobody else. Barry every meeting that we have called no, every meeting we have called been ordered. Man, this is really up. I want to do it this way. But i sure dont want to spend no more god damn time writing it. Vance marion always had a little edge on him. Berry Marion Barrys a little bit scary, hes intimidating, so hes a radical, right . Vance there was some black people in this town who did not think well of marion. Mcneil marions hair wasnt straight enough. His skin wasnt light enough. He didnt look like them. He didnt talk like them. Brown marion would come in with his country tennessee accent, carryin on, you take a guy in a dashiki. Mcneil marion would walk around with a chicken leg in his hand while he was talking. He might be conducting a meeting and be eatin on a chicken leg or something, you know. Berry marion was a smart, educated man. He already knows hes got to change his image. Mcneil he had to take that dashiki off, he had to cut down that bush. He got these tailor made suits, you know, and he loved those suits. You got to take on that conservative look because you need the conservative vote. Reporter the name is marion barry. Hes an amazing man, hes an able man, with a future that could lead him to, who knows, but it could go pretty far. Barry for a long time, i didnt trust the system. I didnt want to be a part of it. I didnt want to do anything like that because i thought they would coop you, take you suck you in and spit you out into something you dont want to be. But i thought a lot about it and decided that by running for mayor and using the power of that pen i could make drastic changes in washington. I intend to be an aggressive kind of mayor where i could make Public Policy as opposed to influencing Public Policy. Mcneil with marion, of course, in his campaign literature, it gave his background, it said what he did. And marion is never going to let you forget what hes done. Reporter some of our viewers might be interested in hearing something about your background; you were born in mississippi. Guyot people talked about his being from mississippi, being poor. His mother was a teenaged bride. They picked cotton, they worked the land. Thats a hard living. Barry and i grew up dirt, dirt, dirt, dirt poor. Did all kind of odd jobs, you know, hustling pop bottles. Back in the day you could get old rags and sell them too. Guyot people talked about his lifting himself up by his bootstraps and. Reporter you were an eagle scout, you were a member of the National Honor society, you played varsity basketball, you received a masters in chemistry, you were on your way to a doctorate and then you shifted gears. Barry i think that movement was the catalyst and the lightning rod for the country, and im proud to have been a part of it. Guyot his civil rights work resonated with people that a lot of other things wouldnt have resonated with. Johnson he had instant credibility. As well he should have. Effi i dont know if i should say it, but we were living together, i said, well, what are we going to do . I mean, you know, you cant be living in sin and run for mayor at the same time. So we got married. Our first year of marriage was a political campaign. It was one long night. I believed in him, i believed in his mission, i believed in the vision that he had for the city. Washington here you have this sophisticated woman. You know, youre looking at them thinking night and day. But it gave him some legitimacy that he did not have. Mark plotkin, wtop radio barry came off as youthful, as daring. Liberal whites embraced marion barry. And then the Washington Post editorially helped him tremendously by saying, exactly what marion barry is, is what this city needs. Tom sherwood, journalist he had run as an antiestablishment candidate and gotten the endorsement of the Washington Post, which is the establishment in washington. He had done something amazing plotkin things are really going to happen, were on our way. Judge so help me god. Barry so help me god judge youre in [applause cheers] barry as i stand before you today in shadow of the white house, i am convinced more than ever that washington d. C. , the nations capital, is a city whose time has come. Effi it was a new boss in town. Its a new game. Barry the past was too often defined by others for us and without us. Washington marion represented the possibility of all that people thought the Civil Rights Movement would bring them. Barry let us march on to victory as one. Thank you. [applause] i feel like bustin loose bustin loose give me the bridge now effi i kind of felt like alice in wonderland. You know, im the new kid on the block. I absolutely have no idea about politics. Basically, im an introverted person. So i said, well, okay, if this is politics then i guess i have to get active in it i plan to do what i can too to make marion barry the best mayor in the United States. Reporter the very best of luck to both of you. Mcneil there was hope. People had hope for the first time in. I dont know how long. Harry jaffe, author journalist he had the potential to be Martin Luther kings successor, a leading political figure of our era. [applause] effi people were high on the thought that change was coming. It was a new day. Barry Barry Barry BarryBarry Barry BarryBarry Barry Barry barry barry marion barry for ward 8, sir. All right, brother. Were kicking off the campaign. One, two, three, hit it east of the river, we need his help, hes coming back, round two. Barry you know, this ward is a great ward, ive been living here since 92. A lot of folks in ward 8 are down, out of work. Ward 8 has the highest Unemployment Rate in the city. Our Education System is a wreck. Yes, it is. Barry and i said it, you can get up, cant you . You can get up holding your head high. Even if you fall down on your back and you look up, if you look up, you can get up, right . [applause] were back with the Politics Program with mark plotkin here on wtop radio. Marks guest is former d. C. Mayor marion barry, now a candidate for city council in ward 8. Two questions that everybody asks, and ill be just as conventional as everybody else. This first one is marion barry doesnt have any money, hes destitute, hes doing this because he needs the paycheck . Answer that question. Barry people who said it are lying. Ive never run for any office because of the money. Oh no. My history is one of service, one of giving, one of sharing, one of empowering. So those are people who are cynical and just want to start some stuff. Plotkin okay. The second one is, mr. Mayor, youre not up to it healthwise, you dont have the energy, you dont have the physical stamina to serve . Barry well, ill tell you what, why dont you talk to some people whove seen me in the last four or five weeks campaigning. Im more vigorous than ever before. I have diabetes, have blood pressure. You know 40 of all africanamericans have diabetes and high blood pressure, but that doesnt affect your thinking. Ive had it for 18 years, so im fine. Plotkin lets have Sandra Seegars, opponent in the democratic september 14 ward 8 primary. Go ahead, sandra. [on phone] Sandra Seegars hi, good morning barry morning, ss. Seegars how you doing there . Barry winning. [laughter] seegars yeah, so you say. But i do have concerns of some of the stuff that mark was saying. These things that youre talking about doing were things that you should have done when you were the mayor. Barry im not going to discuss that with you, sandra, im talking about ward 8 . Seegars i know, where you been in ward 8 for the last six years . Barry in ward 8. Seegars i saw you in one meeting and. Barry Sandra Seegars, im not going to discuss anything with you about what im doing, you are my opponent. Seegars hey, im a ward 8 resident. Barry yeah, youre also running against me. Seegars and if you win, you would be my Council Member as well. Barry of course im going to win, so lets. Seegars so what are you going to do for me . Barry lets discuss it after the 14. Seegars marion barry, i knew him as mayor only from a distance. To me he was just another man, and people try to treat him like he was a god or something, and i do not do that. He has charisma, but he uses good for evil. Marion barry told me he was running because he needed the money, selfpreservation, those were his exact words. Marion barry doesnt represent anything anymore for me. Nothing. Hes just a lost soul. Oooh, white people. You see those white people back there . Huh white people. On my street i dont believe it [praise music] hallelujah. And praise the lord. [applause] im Sandra Seegars. Many of you know me as s. S. Im running in september, september 14. Last night i heard gunshots, somebodys child was shot. And its happening so much, the police are outnumbered. And thats one of the things that im running on, crime. How you doin . Boy fine. Seegars thats good. I would like to see him grow up to be at least 25. I hope he makes it. We need a change, im the change. You want your area to improve, i can do it. Vote for me, september. And praise the lord. Seegars what do you think of marion barry . You think hes got the juice . Woman nah. No, marion barry done all washed up. Woman 2 he need to show that hes got a clean act, and he never had it when he was in office, you know. I mean, hes done some things for the community, but its got to be more than that. We need somebody we can trust. Seegars i wish he wasnt in the race. He shouldnt run. Healthwise, financialwise, leadershipwise, all is gone. Hes still running on his glory days. Hes a peoples person, and a likable person, so you cant take that from him, and so he plays on peoples sympathy. Barry lights, camera, action [car horn beeps] woman long time no see, since over at logan school. Barry are you registered to vote up here . Woman yes sir. Barry i want you to vote for me. Woman oh, yes, i will. Woman 2 marion barry i always admired you, and i love you. Barry thank you. Woman 2 and you know you got god on your side, so we got the best. Barry cant lose the stuff we use. Woman 2 god bless you man he got me one of my first jobs working for pride. So those are the kind of things that i know that hes gonna bring. Woman 3 i just wanted you to know that i was encouraged to register to vote because i saw you were running. Barry thank you so much. Woman 3 thank you. Reporter mr. Mayor, how do you see this campaign . Barry oh, im winning. I be winning every day. Reporter are you getting that from a poll or . Barry no, just being out there with the people. And shes losing, she knows that. Thats why shes so desperate right now. Shes desperate and shes a liar. Reporter those are pretty strong words on your part. Barry its true reporter also former mayor marion barry is attempting what is probably his last political comeback. Bruce johnson has the latest on the democratic primary. Johnson people that would normally give to marion barry just dont want to see marion barry back in office. Barry well, theres been an effort to freeze me out of the money, but i dont care, i dont need much money. Woman would i vote for him . No. He should just stop. Bow out gracefully. Does he know what that means, bow out gracefully . This is Bruce Johnson reporting from southeast washington for 9 news. Jaffe marion barry had a tremendously positive effect on washington d. C. Barry under my leadership as your mayor, our city has changed for the best. It was a great time, golden era. Barry our downtown has come alive with new shops, theaters, offices and jobs. Berry the city flourished. Physically, cranes everywhere, buildings going up, people working. Barry Operation First class, look at that bill regardie, regardies magazine he was seen as the bright shining light who would lead us to the promise land. Barry keep rolling, keep rolling mcneil the government became open to black people, they were able to get government jobs. Barry im establishing a deputy mayor for financial management. For that position, im happy to announce the appointment of al hill. [applause] Jesse Jackson the idea that blacks could run a real government was a big deal. Barry carol thompson, james buford, dr. Ernest hardaway. Bruce brown, filmmaker it brought the discussion into the black household about politics, because before then there was no reason to get involved because there was nobody that looked like you, that sounded like you. He just wasnt the mayor, he was our friend. Ivanhoe donaldson he loved people. He went out and he talked to them, but he remembered them, he knew their names. He gave them eye contact, he related to them, they were somebody to him and he became somebody to them. Berry marion would smooch it up with everybody. Charisma, magnetism. I think that was his art. I mean, you walk in the room, people say, mr. Mayor, and theyre ready to shake your hand and give you anything you want. Jonetta rosebarras, author it was like that with marion barry, he could get people to follow him. Effi barry wherever we would go there would just be throngs of people, and of course, throngs of women. Tom sherwood it was like a teenager perpetually on a date. She could be 15 yearsold or 90 yearsold, and barry would put on that little charm, the little moves. It was a pretty good talent if youve got it. Effi i had to intercept letters at home, that came to my home, where women had sent pictures of themselves, naked, in bathtubs, to him. And the ego can be huge. Marion is a man and power is a very seductive mistress. Mark feldstein, wusa news Karen Johnson was a young woman, mid30s, who first met marion barry at a nightclub. Reporter do you have any comments to make, miss johnson . Johnson none, dear. Reporter Karen Johnson and mayor barry have been tied together in controversy. Reporter Karen Johnson. Reporter Karen Johnson. Reporter Karen Johnson is telling prosecutors that she supplied d. C. Mayor marion barry with cocaine. Reporter the Washington Monthly called her the mayors lover. Reporter did you talk about the mayor and your relationship with the mayor . Johnson i will not comment on that. Reporter can you tell us, did you invoke the fifth amendment at all . Reporter can you tell us what youre doing today in court . Johnson no comment. Send us a copy of this. Washington it was at that point where you could smell blood in the water. Reporter what about Karen Johnson . Barry you know, washington is such a great place and i enjoy being mayor so much, and were working hard. Reporter mr. Mayor, i know washington is a beautiful place, is the u. S. Attorney out to get you . Barry . And the citizens here are fortunate to have good progressive leadership and faith in their mayor. Reporter mr. Mayor, are you worried about reports of hush money . Barry you know, its really great to be mayor of this city. Reporter have you ever used cocaine . Barry ive answered that question before. Reporter can you answer it again . Barry and i say again, no, no, no reporter mr. Mayor, is any of this true . Barry no. Reporter did you sleep with Karen Johnson . Did you snort cocaine with Karen Johnson . Barry no. Reporter so you do not take drugs . Youve never taken drugs . Barry no. Reporter her friends say that she was bragging about supplying to you. Barry where do you get this from . Reporter do you have any comments to make . Effi it was very difficult for me. Im very private. The concept of having your own space was completely destroyed. Reporter mayor barry and Karen Johnson, what do you think of that . Reporter have you ever seen him take drugs . Has he ever had a drug problem . Does he have a drug problem now . Effi no. He has stated emphatically that he doesnt do drugs. Not being able to defend yourself, not being able to refute any lie or any incorrect story was very, very painful. Harry jaffe it became something that people could not ignore. It became something that marion barry could no longer ignore. And you had the authorities involved, you had prosecution. You had joe digenova, a republican appointee, tough prosecutor. Joe digenova good afternoon. Weve had numerous inquiries today. Jaffe boy, did he love sinking his teeth into that. Digenova the issue is the ultimate accountability through the legal and judicial process of those individuals who have breached the public trust. Michael fauntroy the u. S. Attorneys office is a highly political player in washington, d. C. , and what bigger fish to fry than the mayor of the district of columbia. Barry im appalled and outraged at the conduct of the u. S. Attorneys office. There are forces in this city that dont like what weve been able to do. They dont like the fact that weve been able to give out a significant number of minority contracts and change the economic status of people. Reporter democrat barry claims that the u. S. Attorney, who is white and a republican, is out to get him. Reporter are there whites in washington who want to take washington back . Barry yes. Reporter who are they . Barry i dont know. Theyre out there. There are people who never want us to have participatory democracy, who never wanted us to have participatory relationships and control in proportion to our demographics. Reporter are there whites that dont like the idea that blacks are running this city . Barry of course there are. Mcneil we didnt care whether the things they were uncovering and talking about was true or not. We didnt care. We understand youre attacking him because youre attacking us. [applause] you know, we as catholic priests cannot endorse candidates from our position as pastor. [laughter applause] i said i cannot say from this pulpit. [applause]. Who we should vote for, but i know my vote is going for marion barry [applause] mayor of the greatest city of the world [applause] barry we are living in an imperfect world where people expect us to be perfect. People expect mayors to be perfect. We try to do the right thing. People dont just stab you in the back, they stab you in the front, right straight up. Adrienne washington we can forgive a little womanizing, a little late night cattin in our community cuz who dudnt know somebody who isnt like that. Everybody has a marion barry in their family. Barry we got barracudas, piranhas, alligators and crocodiles, and lions and tigers and sharks and snakes all around you. But Martin Luther king used to say, a man cannot stand on your back unless its bent. And this mayors back is not bent. Thank you. [praise music] Lawrence Guyot marion barry delivered and people said, now that hes in trouble, hes not in trouble with us, were going to deliver for him, and they did. Washington he could literally go down the street on a float buttnaked with a bunch of women falling from him and he could have got reelected. Victory today is mine barry for ward 8. Come on out ward 8. Hes the man with the plan. If he cant do it no one can come on out my name is dennis harvey, im 14, and im the godson of marion barry. Can i ride with you . Barry no, you can sit in the back. Dennis dont play with me. Barry ill knock you out. Dennis no you wont marion barry is an important person. Hes an important person to me. Hes been there for me when ive had hard times, like when i wasnt feeling too good or i was upset. Marion came to just talk to me, to give me some advice. Hes an excellent role model. Mb, you sound completely different on the phone when you just wakin up. Barry i dont want to be bothered. I sound like too and i dont want to be bothered. Dennis if i listen to his advice that he give me, i can succeed at being a politician. To be a good politician you must stay focused, believe in yourself, dont let worries bring you down, dont let lies get you in trouble, and lovin the people, lovin the youth, and doin all you can do to help and fight for the people. Barry oh man, you hit the spot. Uhhh. Dennis hes tired. Well, he deserve some rest, hes a hard workin man. Whats your name . My name is rocky. Dennis okay. Im dennis. Im marions godson. Barry hes 14 yearsold and hes so sharp. Articulate. But, see, those kind of guys, you got to grab them, they can go the wrong way or the right way. Dennis what you want to be in life . Just myself. Dennis you dont wanna have no job . You dont wanna make money legally . I mean, what is it that you like in life . What is it that you like about life . I like my life is football. Dennis okay, you want to do football, nothin wrong with football. But suppose you get a touchdown, somebody tackle you, you get injured, your football career over with. You gotta have somein else to do. Get back up and walk. We gotta bounce. Dennis all right, yall stay safe. You, too. Barry barry barry reporter running for office is public, are you saying to the people in ward 8 youre not abusing any substance; youre not using any Illegal Drugs . Barry my recovery is my recovery. Reporter but dont the people have the right to know to make an informed choice about whether or not you are abusing any substance . Barry my recovery is my recovery. Reporter are you sober today . Barry im not discussing that. Reporter are you sober . Dennis the media always dogs him out instead of being appropriate sayin the good things that he have done. And i thought that is very inappropriate and i dont think its a good thing to do, because he didnt do nothin wrong to anyone in d. C. , nothing. Nothing. [sirens wailing] fauntroy the city began to take a turn for the worse in the late1980s. Mcneil the government wasnt functioning in the same way. He wasnt providing the same leadership. He wasnt providing hope. Rosebarras often was happened was, he ended up putting a person in position who had very little skills for the job. Feldstein by his third term, his administration was out of control, his two top deputy mayors were sent to prison for corruption. The graft trickled on down from the top. Berry cronyism was running wild in washington, our tax dollars were going to people that were not delivering. Marion wasnt the same marion, he was now. Effi all of a sudden the drinking was out of control. When youre going to four or five receptions a night, you just dont drink one drink. People who wanted to impress the mayor, or have a moment with the mayor, were plying him with liquor or whatever. They fed his weaknesses. Barry we all go through the peoplepleasing stage, you know . Insecurity, i was insecure. Friendships are hard to find, true friendships. Its tough. Everybody wants a piece of you, everybody wants this, everybody wants that. Some things legitimate, some not legitimate. Effi i became concerned and i said, you are the mayor, and therefore its important for you to act like the mayor. But marion is stubborn. Hell do what he wants to do. Reporter d. C. Mayor marion barry attended a Christmas Party at this is it, a 14 street nightclub featuring nude dancing. Bruce johnson, wusa news when you first hear the stories its kind of like, did you hear so and so and its a rumor. And youre like, you gottta be kidding me you know, you laugh a little bit about it. Then you start hearing more. Reporter we have also learned that there is at least one more woman prepared to come forward now. Reporter how many women were actually performing sex on the mayor . Man two. They was right in his lap. Reporter so he was snorting cocaine at the same time he was being rubbed . Man mmhuh. Plotkin the mayor was constantly getting in trouble. He was found in places he wasnt supposed to be, doing embarrassing things. Berry a woman kicked him out of her apartment, he was up there screaming from the road let me in embarrassing our mayor this is outrageous effi its like every time i turned on the television, supposedly, he was here, he was there, and pretty soon its very, very difficult to determine what is fact and what is fiction, because its all possible. Reporter mayor marion barry tonight angrily denied that he has been hospitalized after overdosing on cocaine. Reporter mr. Mayor, have you ever overdosed on drugs . Barry thats crazy again, that is an outrageous kind of statement. Like i said, it makes you want to vomit. Reporter to restore confidence, then are you prepared to engage in a series of regular drug tests . Not just one but over a long period of time . Barry well, im not sure thats going to solve the problem. Washington he started to sweat. Barry for the seniors, im going to continue to fight for dignity and respect and help for you. Were going to continue to wage this war on drugs. Were going to continue to lead this city. Washington he started to slur his words. You could see that he was trying to maintain control. Effi he became an embarrassment. An embarrassment to friends, an embarrassment to family, embarrassment to self. Feldstein in a very real way, barrys own decline from drugs mirrored that of the citys decline from drugs. [sirens wailing] this was the middle of the crack cocaine epidemic. Washington was the murder capital of the United States. [woman screaming, baby crying] pelecanos that was really when we needed marion barry to be the barry of 1978, and he was gone, he was wasted. Barry well, i was snorting cocaine and i said to myself im not the typical kind of cocaine user i said, ill just do a little bit of it. But let me tell you, it just doesnt work that way. At the time, you dont know what youre doing, at least, i didnt know what i was doing with that. You know, when youre using cocaine, it takes you up and you cant, you know, you cant relax, at least immediately, and i started taking valiums to sort of bring me down. How many of yall know somebody who you think is selling dope . How many of yall know where a crack house is . Im opposed to drugs, not because theyre illegal, im opposed to them because they mess up your mind. Pcp destroys your brain cells. Cocaine and heroin destroys your body. My mind is too sharp; my body is too precious for me to put some poison in my body. I wasnt even connecting between what i did and what i was saying. Thats the complexity of the disease. It doesnt connect logically to what youre doing. It runs you rather than you run it. Effi to be preparing yourself for bed and you get a phone call at around 9 30 or a quarter of 10 00 and the chief of staff tells you that your husband has been arrested and hes at fbi headquarters. Its like i fell into a black hole. Crowd crack head you all right were with you, marion. Effi again, i felt like alice in wonderland. But it was a different alice. U. S. Attorney last night, shortly before 8 30 pm, marion barry, jr. , mayor of washington d. C. , was arrested of willful possession of crack cocaine at a downtown hotel. The arrest of mr. Barry was the result of an undercover operation conducted by the metropolitan police department, the fbi, and the United StatesAttorneys Office here in the district of columbia. Reporter there are people in this city who believe that marion barry was targeted by you and your office because he is an effective black political leader . U. S. Attorney there is absolutely no basis to that claim. Effi when marion was arrested, it became an international fiasco. Jaffe were a racially charged city anyway, and this just lit a match. Radio theres been a broad split between washingtons white and black communities. People in the black communities tend to rally around the mayor, often accusing the white establishment of being out to get him. Priest there is no justice in america for the black man or the black woman. Let us not deceive ourselves. Rosebarras black people thought he was set up. Plotkin but for white voters, that was it. They thought this was the ultimate act of chutzpah, of gall. I mean, they were done with him. Female listener and if i hear one more black saying that its because hes black im going to throw up cliff kincaid, wntr radio and lets dismiss all this nonsense about entrapment. Nobody forced him to go to that hotel. Marion barry is a pathological liar, hes a crack head. M. Jackson we knew that this would be used to say black people cant run anything, look what they did look, look how they act, they all a bunch of dope fiends. Bill regardie anything to get that son of a bitch out of office. He deserved it. [sirens wailing] plotkin the trial was a spectacle. Jaffe this was a media feeding frenzy of the first regard. Crack head jonathon agronsky, author i dont know how many witnesses there were, but there were scores and scores of them. But, to me, the most dramatic moment in the trial came when the doors opened at the back of the courtroom and in walks the mystery woman that weve all been hearing about, Rasheeda Moore. Feldstein Rasheeda Moore was busted by the fbi and then turned by the fbi against barry. Johnson that was what everybody wanted to see. Yeah, thats his girlfriend, but id never heard of Rasheeda Moore. Who is this woman . What does she look like . What is she going to say . Feldstein Rasheeda Moore was crucial, obviously to catching barry, because finally they had penetrated someone in barrys inner circle and had gotten a camera inside and actually videotaped it. Barry Rasheeda Moore and i had been seeing each other from time to time. She was a very attractive lady, very, you know, appealing. She would call, i wouldnt take the call. But this particular evening, she said to my secretary, its urgent. I gotta talk to him, i gotta talk to him its urgent its a matter of life and death. So i talked to her. She said, im in town for this conference or something and i want to at least talk to you about a thing i got going. I said, well, im not coming up there, ill meet you downstairs. She calls me, she says, ill tell you what, i just had a bowl of soup ordered, why dont you come on upstairs. I said, i dont wanna do that. Just for a little while, ill have my soup and then well come back downstairs. I said, okay. Jaffe you have this fuzzy looking view of this hotel room and its largely quiet, its just two people. Sherwood you see barry trying to turn every conversation into a sex conversation. Effi im just sitting there just in a state of shock because i dont know this man. There were many emotions going through my body. Anger. How could you be so stupid . Cattiness. Hmm, is that rasheeda . She doesnt look that good. But i sat there because that was the thing to do. Barry i was ready to leave, had put my jacket on when she gave me the stem, i didnt know how to use it. I went to the bathroom and thats when she do it, she said, now you take a hit. And. Barry drugs and alcohol mess up your judgment. I mean, your judgment is shot. It can take you from the top to the bottom. Addiction is a very complex situation, there are no easy answers, there are no easy solutions, no easy anything. Every day youre struggling. See, i thought i could do a little bit and stop. Cant do that. Just dont start. Because if you have problems, next day, same problems. Well, thats how it works, you stop, try, stop. You say six months, then six weeks. Then you try again. Theres no logic for most of it. Its craziness. But craziness prevails its a daily affair. Daily affair. One day at a time. Campaign worker weve gotten the morning numbers and marion barry is behind in the neighborhood and we dont want to lose this election. Please remind her to work for marion barry. Its a bad picture. It makes him look old, he has some teeth missing. They did it on purpose to make him look old and feeble, debilitated, not able to make it. Its a psychological thing. You know, that has a lot to do with how some people look at him as a leader. Its a wonder they didnt have him with a crack pipe in his hand