During a Good Friday interview with Washington Examiner reporter Alan Blinder, D.C. Councilman Marion Barry had the nerve to claim that he is doing “God’s work.” This came right after his divisive, mean-spirited attack on Ward 8 Asian shopkeepers — “We got to do something about these Asians coming in and opening up businesses and dirty shops. They ought to go.” Barry, who has represented the city’s poorest and second-least-diverse ward since 2004, issued a half-apology after his comments, claiming they were “sensationalized” and taken out of context by the press. But lost in the Twitter scrum was the rest of Barry’s election night comments. After stating the Asians “ought to go,” he added, “But we need African-American businesspeople to be able to take their places, too.” In fact, the former mayor’s attitude is one of the reasons there are not more black shopkeepers in Ward 8 today. No one has ever created a single job or fed a single child in Ward 8 by slurring and abusing the entrepreneurs who invest there.
Ward 8 could use some real leadership. Its Census figures suggest a downward spiral into poverty and government dependence. Its median income, the lowest in D.C., has actually declined in real dollars since 1979. Nearly half the children in Ward 8 live in poverty, up from 38 percent in 1990. As of February, unemployment in Ward 8 stood at 24.3 percent, nearly twice its 1990 level. The number of Ward 8 residents on food stamps is almost 50 percent higher than the number who have jobs.
