THE BARRY INNER CIRCLE: The Ward 8 Version Of The Corleone Family
To be fair, I know a lot of great people in Ward 8 and in River East who are working hard every single day to make their communities better and not one of them are getting paid to do it. They don't have fancy job titles or profess to be experts of "this or that"; they also don't have any close ties with "The Family". These unsung heroes are just concerned citizens who volunteer their time, energy and at times their own limited duckets to make our community better.
Ward 8 will be so much better when we get rid of all these poverty pimps, hypocrites and scam artists that keep dipping in the "community chest" like it was their own personal piggy bank. Everyone falls on hard times but if you have integrity there are certain things you just won't do - like steal resources from people who really need them and then turn around and pat yourself on the back for all the "good" you are doing - not! People who live here and who are hip to the game already knew about this non-profit scam or at least suspected it. It wasn't even a secret. It was just another scam from which members of the "inner circle" where are able to profit. You rarely ever see any honest people caught up in this tomfoolery because either they know enough to stay away or they were never included in the first place. That is the basis of a lot of the tension you see here when it comes to Ward 8 politics...fear that the gravy train may be coming to an end. Funny thing about thieves, after a while they feel entitled to the loot.
Why has the curroption continued for so long? Because everyone turned a blind eye...the city, the council, and the constituents...even the local media played a big part by only focusing on a narrow part of River East life. There was this huge blind-spot where it was okay to game the system. Who was an honest person supposed to tell? The Mayor? The DC Auditor? The Office of the Inspector General? The DC Council? Yeah right. Residents in ANC 8C have been yelling for years about the scam involving thousands and thousands of goverment tax dollars being wasted or "misappropriated" and no one gives a good goddamn. It is far easier to ignore the curroption than to actually do something about it and its clearly much more lucrative to "play along, to get along". Far too many people were - and are still - depending on the few crumbs from the table - instead of going out and learning how to bake their own damn bread. That is what poverty pimps depend on in order to keep the scams going. Let's get real here. Poverty pimps do not want disadvantaged residents to get jobs, get an education or become financially independent. They damn sure don't want them asking questions like, "Where is the money going?" They need to keep the masses poor, uneducated and afraid - that is how they stay in power. That is what makes this whole mess so ironic, that these "non-profits" were supposedly tasked with the job of actaully helping people. What a joke.
The only upside to all these seemingly unending stories of corruption is that there really is "no honor amongst thieves." Eventually someone will flip and the whole house of cards will finally come tumbling down.
Or so I hope.
If Marion Barry really loved Ward 8 like he claims he does he would put his own selfish needs for fame, self-importance and a paycheck aside and he would resign immediatly. Every day he remains in office he robs the community of it's dignity, sense of purpose and integrity. He is robbing us of our future.
But we all know he will never -can never- leave gracefully (or voluntarily).
MOB for life.
P.S. And for those judgemental "you-know-whats" who like to blame all of Ward 8 for being morons for electing Barry again in the last election I would love to know where were you and your campaign contributions were when we were trying to elect Charles Wilson, a drug-free, felon-free, drama-free lawyer and Ward 8 resident. If you want Barry out we need your help - even if you don't live in Ward 8.
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