Friends, washingtonians, and citizens listen up. I come here today not to bury marion but to praise him. When marion was born to the theme park we call life, he open the gate. He looked and left and saw the highest space marilyn. Space mountain. Helooked to the right and saw the highest of the fine roller coaster in the world. And he saw a big fares will in front of him. Around and he said, im going to ride every ride in the park. And he did. Twice. , it was sixarion months after the riots. I was in a threepiece suit wearing five foot eight jewish boy from baltimore who are just purchased his first nightclub in the district. Black baptist from mississippi running a milliondollar corporation on u street. Two years later, marion was wearing a three piece suit and i was wearing at the she a dashiki. We became friends. My friend was never a racist. My friend was against racism. Thoseend gave a voice to people who had no voice. Gave opportunity to qualify people that had nowhere to show the
He was among Freedom Fighters of became mayors. And change the culture of those towns. Marion was a Freedom Fighter and a longdistance runner. You can cross the finish line with a resume, and add campaign, and some money and be on official but marion came not as a show horse but a workhorse. He came across the line with people in it. Lifting up the seniors and the poor and those was a backs were against the wall. He was a hero. He has got scars from his scars. He got his scars from his scars. Stars from his scars. Some will have only uniforms because they did not volunteer for the team. Cowards. Local changes a contact sport. Some make the team but never the field. Those on the field have grass stains and blood on the uniforms. No one ever hit a homerun or scored a touchdown from the bench or from the stands. If you play baseball, you get hit with a fastball sometimes. If you play football, you get tackled over and over again. Marion got bloodied, but never bowed. He died in office ser
We also know how much he contributed to the growth and to the development of his beloved District Of Columbia. There are so many marion barry stories, so many instances in which the mayor for life changed someones life or opened the door of opportunity for a person or community. Like many other washingtonians i choose to remember marion barry by remembering his lifelong commitment to building up our city and working to free it from congressionally imposed shackles the servitude to which we were relegated in the District Of Columbia. Marions own story is replete with witnessing injustices here and around the country. He knew well the daunting heights of the barriers of advancement and success faced by African Americans in this nation. And he was especially gifted at getting young people involved in creating a new future for themselves and all of us. When marion barry came to washington in 1965 to work with snic, he saw a city that in many ways was every bit as segregated as the mississi
Transportation. My seatmate on the Greyhound Bus from washington d. C. , you must understand and 1961, black people in white people couldnt be seated together. Not a Single Person engaged in violence against us. That was my first arrest. And that day when i was arrested, i felt so free, i felt liberated. I felt like i had crossed over. Because growing up in rural alabama, i asked my mother and my father, my grandparents and my great grand parents about segregation and Racial Discrimination, about those signs, white men, colored men, white women, colored women, and i said, why. Thats the way it is. Dont get in the way. Dont get in trouble. But dr. King and rosa parks inspired me to get in trouble. So by sitting in, we were arrested, and we went to jail. 89 of us were arrested on that day. Host did you pay a fine . Were you in jail for a while . Guest we were in jail for a few hours. Matter of fact, the local School Officials came down and bailed us out. That was my first arrest. That wa