ABC: Before Barack: Washington's original black leader

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Excerpt:

In the predominantly white, affluent neighbourhoods of Washington DC the colloquial term for him is 'Mayor Barely'. In the depressed, mostly black neighbourhoods around Benning Road in Ward 7 or Anacostia in Ward 8, he's simply referred to as 'the man' or often 'Mayor for life'. After 40 years as a political activist, elected official and one of the most controversial political figures in America, Marion Barry is still dividing opinions.



In the 1960s and '70s the firebrand son of a share cropper made a name for himself as a leader in the civil rights movement. In the '80s and '90s, more than 20 years before Barack Obama came to town, he was the embodiment of black political power in this city and he carried with him the hopes, aspirations, frailties and failures of his own community.

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