Emotional Barry Vows to Seek Way to ‘Heal Body, Mind and Soul’

An emotional District of Columbia Mayor Marion Barry, facing crack cocaine charges and a shattered political future, announced Sunday that he intends to “find a way to begin to heal my body, mind and soul.”

Barry, 53, who originally was scheduled to launch his campaign for a fourth term Sunday, described the days since his arrest by FBI agents Thursday night as “the most difficult of my life, more difficult than fighting my way out of poverty as a black youth born in the segregated Deep South, more difficult than the fear and the hatred I faced as a civil rights leader in the 1960s, more difficult than I could have imagined, because this time I have come to face my deepest human failures.”

Barry, appearing close to tears, made his statement surrounded by members of the clergy in front of St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church, located near his Washington home. At his side was his wife, who at times grasped his hand.

Barry, who in the past has repeatedly denied using drugs, took no questions and did not specifically mention drug abuse in his comments. He did not directly state that he will seek treatment and did not address the question of whether he will remain in office.

“I realize I’m going to have to walk this journey by myself,” he said. “It’s going to take Marion Barry walking this journey. But I say to others who are pained and hurt as I am: ‘Join me brothers and sisters. We can make it. We will make it. It’s going to be a lonely journey, but I stand and God stands with me.’ ”

Barry said he had spent the morning praying and talking with members of the clergy.

“They helped me feel good about the fact that, in the final analysis, it is not the title that a person holds that is important,” he said. “It is not Marion Barry the mayor that counts. It is Marion Barry the person. . . .

“These ministers have helped me to keep the strength that I need to announce today that I’m going to find a way to begin to heal my body, mind and soul.”

When he finished, Effi, his wife of 12 years, said she was grateful to God for giving Barry “the strength to admit to the whole world that, as a mortal human being, he has reached the hour of reckoning where he realizes that it is truly in God’s hands.”

Turning to her husband, she said: “Marion, for you to admit to the world that you have a problem, (that) you need to deal with your problem to make yourself whole again, is truly a burden that has been lifted from our souls. And I know that for our family this is just the beginning. And we--Christopher (their son) and I--will be there with you every step of the way.”

The Rev. Harold Brookins, who led Barry and the other clergy members in prayer before Barry spoke, told reporters after the mayor’s statement that Barry had told him Saturday that he had a substance abuse problem.

“He came to it with humility,” Brookins said. “He broke down and he cried, and he said that ‘I have made the decision. I’m going for help . . . and I’m going right away, as soon as all the logistics can be worked out.’ ”

Lurma Rackley, the mayor’s press secretary, told reporters she believed Barry’s most serious problem is with alcohol.

Barry was arrested Thursday night by FBI agents and charged with a misdemeanor for possession of cocaine. Agents said in an affidavit filed in court that the mayor was videotaped buying and smoking crack cocaine in a downtown hotel where he had gone to meet a longtime woman friend who had decided to cooperate with the FBI.

Jay B. Stephens, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, said blood and urine samples taken from the mayor after his arrest had tested positive for cocaine ingestion. If convicted, he could face a year in prison and a $100,000 fine.

On Friday, his attorney, R. Kenneth Mundy, said Barry would plead innocent to the charges and seek a jury trial. A hearing is scheduled for Feb. 5.