Harry Jaffe
Hope for the nation’s capital
By: Harry Jaffe
Examiner Columnist
January 2, 2009
Looking back over the District of Columbia’s 200-plus years as the federal enclave, we can chart the ups and downs of a relatively young national capital.
In the early 1800s, slaves were sold along with bales of cotton on the Georgetown wharves, to the disgust of visiting diplomats. In the brief Reconstruction after the Civil War, the city became a haven for black men and women who created a muscular middle class in neighborhoods like Shaw — and Georgetown. We had race riots in 1919 and worse ones after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968.
There were two bright and hopeful moments for those who look for positive steps toward peace and prosperity in the District. I believe we are poised for our third of such moments.
The first time of hope came immediately after the Civil War, when Congress allowed the District to establish a territorial government. Alexander “Boss” Shepherd, whose statue overlooks Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the District building, ran a benevolent government that empowered blacks and women. As governor, he embarked on a massive public works campaign to pave the capital’s muddy streets, but corruption doomed his government, and white supremacists in Congress dismantled the short-lived local government.
When Lyndon Johnson created a city council and mayor in 1967, and Richard Nixon signed the Home Rule Act in 1974, the city reached its second chance at self-determination. But from my perspective, the crowning moment of hope came in 1978, when Marion Barry was first elected mayor. Elected by disenfranchised blacks and liberal whites, he promised a biracial coalition and a competent government. After four terms of Boss Barry, we got neither.
Now, as we begin 2009, the District has the chance to become the beacon for blacks and whites; for integration; for rich and for poor; for hope.
For the first time in history, the president taking residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. will be an African-American with urban roots. He understands and cares about urban schools and crime — D.C.’s primary problems. President Barack Obama will have strong times to Mayor Adrian Fenty and Eleanor Holmes Norton, our delegate to Congress — who just might get a vote for the first time.
Fenty, unlike Barry, has committed and focused his government on fixing the public schools. Having taken decades to become one of the nation’s worst systems, it will take more than a year or two to resurrect. Change and reform are painful, but I and other parents have hope for the first time.
Already, kids across the city can play in new athletic fields and study in refurbished schools.
As the country faces depressing economic times, the District is in relatively good shape. Expanded federal government agencies can only mean more work in D.C., to build the offices and regulate the economy.
Doubters and naysayers will no doubt accuse me of being a flaky optimist. I say — bring on 2009, when D.C. will begin to shine.
In the early 1800s, slaves were sold along with bales of cotton on the Georgetown wharves, to the disgust of visiting diplomats. In the brief Reconstruction after the Civil War, the city became a haven for black men and women who created a muscular middle class in neighborhoods like Shaw — and Georgetown. We had race riots in 1919 and worse ones after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968.
There were two bright and hopeful moments for those who look for positive steps toward peace and prosperity in the District. I believe we are poised for our third of such moments.
The first time of hope came immediately after the Civil War, when Congress allowed the District to establish a territorial government. Alexander “Boss” Shepherd, whose statue overlooks Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the District building, ran a benevolent government that empowered blacks and women. As governor, he embarked on a massive public works campaign to pave the capital’s muddy streets, but corruption doomed his government, and white supremacists in Congress dismantled the short-lived local government.
When Lyndon Johnson created a city council and mayor in 1967, and Richard Nixon signed the Home Rule Act in 1974, the city reached its second chance at self-determination. But from my perspective, the crowning moment of hope came in 1978, when Marion Barry was first elected mayor. Elected by disenfranchised blacks and liberal whites, he promised a biracial coalition and a competent government. After four terms of Boss Barry, we got neither.
Now, as we begin 2009, the District has the chance to become the beacon for blacks and whites; for integration; for rich and for poor; for hope.
For the first time in history, the president taking residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. will be an African-American with urban roots. He understands and cares about urban schools and crime — D.C.’s primary problems. President Barack Obama will have strong times to Mayor Adrian Fenty and Eleanor Holmes Norton, our delegate to Congress — who just might get a vote for the first time.
Fenty, unlike Barry, has committed and focused his government on fixing the public schools. Having taken decades to become one of the nation’s worst systems, it will take more than a year or two to resurrect. Change and reform are painful, but I and other parents have hope for the first time.
Already, kids across the city can play in new athletic fields and study in refurbished schools.
As the country faces depressing economic times, the District is in relatively good shape. Expanded federal government agencies can only mean more work in D.C., to build the offices and regulate the economy.
Doubters and naysayers will no doubt accuse me of being a flaky optimist. I say — bring on 2009, when D.C. will begin to shine.
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