From Invincibility to Reality

Marion Barry, the embattled mayor of the nation’s capital, is no longer running for reelection. As his trial on cocaine and perjury charges gets under way, he has abandoned his bid for a fourth term. With that step, he has acknowledged his responsibilities to his constituents and to the city. It’s about time.

He is innocent unless proven guilty of the charges that he has used illegal drugs, including crack cocaine. But the accusations jeopardize his ability to govern in a city ravaged by drug wars and shamed by the highest homicide rate per capita in the nation.

Those accusations also jeopardized his reelection. Yet, as many as a quarter of the district’s voters remained loyal, according to a poll. His followers remembered the halcyon days of Barry’s first term when he worked to revitalize downtown, improve services, and create jobs and opportunities for minority contractors. Under his leadership, African-Americans became major players in a city that Congress had treated like a plantation.

His current plight prompts an ambivalence for many black Americans who believe their leaders and, closer to home, their parents, friends or even they have been singled out for unfair treatment at the hands of whites--in this case, a Republican prosecutor and the white-owned media.

Race, politics or the lure of convicting a sitting mayor may or may not have boosted the fervor in the zealous prosecution. Barry, however, certainly did himself no favors.

Flamboyant and defiant, he courted trouble. Too often he carried himself with neither the dignity nor authority of his position. He invited scrutiny as did Gary Hart, the former presidential candidate who dared the media to catch him in his folly. As the rumors swelled and the authorities closed in, Barry repeated his denials to The Times. He was, in his own words, “invincible.”

As jury selection continues in his trial, Barry is no longer invincible. He is no longer arrogant, above the law or the public trust. He is repentant and ready to let the healing begin for himself and for Washington, D. C.