Marion Barry dies. March 6, 1936-November 23, 2014.
Numerous obituaries, such as the following from
The Washington Post- and none mention his role in stopping Washington, D.C.'s freeway system!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/marion-barry-dies-4-term-dc-mayor-the-most-powerful-local-politician-of-his-generation/2014/11/23/331ad222-c5da-11df-94e1-c5afa35a9e59_story.htm
D.C. debut
In 1965,
Mr. Barry arrived in Washington to direct activities for the SNCC. This
came at a critical juncture in D.C. race relations.
Nationally,
the civil rights movement was heating up. There had been riots in the
black enclaves of several urban centers, and more were to come. In
Washington, the post-World War II flight of whites to the suburbs had
given the city a population that was majority African American. But the
local government was dominated by whites and subject to the oversight of
white-dominated congressional committees. There was no home rule.
The stage was set for Mr. Barry’s D.C.
political debut. Clad in a dashiki shirt and speaking in inflammatory
rhetoric, he established himself as a visible presence with a forceful
voice that could not easily be ignored.
In
January 1966, he led a one-day bus “mancott” to protest a fare increase
requested by D.C. Transit. He organized a “Free D.C. Movement” to press
for home rule. He called D.C. police “an occupation army.” In 1969, he
tore up a parking ticket, struck the officer who had placed it on his
windshield and was charged with assault. The case ended with a hung
jury.
Rep. John L. McMillan (D-S.C.), the
chairman of the House Committee on the District of Columbia and one of
the most influential men in Washington, was among the targets of his
rhetoric. “The citizens of the District of Columbia,” Mr. Barry
declared, “are tired of living on the McMillan plantation.”
In
the winter of 1967, Mr. Barry resigned as director of SNCC’s Washington
office, declaring, “Now we must concentrate on control — economic and
political power.”
With financial support
from the U.S. Department of Labor, he organized and directed a group
known as Pride Inc., which put more than 1,000 inner-city youths to work
clearing alleys of trash and debris, killing rats — and later running
gas stations and a landscaping business and managing an apartment
building.
None of the obituaries or even his wikipedia bio mention his involvement with the doctrinaire anti-freeway group ECTC.
http://wwwtripwithinthebeltway.blogspot.com/2007/11/ectc-1970.html
ECTC EMERGENCY COMMITTEE ON THE TRANSPORTATION CRISIS
CHAIRMAN: R.H. Booker VICE CHAIRMEN Marion Barry, Jr. - Charles I. Cassell Fed Heutte - Johnie D. Wilson SECRETARIAL COMMITTEE: Mary Alice Brown, Chairman- Ann Heutte - Angela Rooney - LEGAL COUNSEL Simon L. Cain TREASURER: Mrs. Leon Brooks PLANNING CONSULTANTS: 2MJQ Black Advocacy Planners SPEAKERS BUREAU: Louis M. Florenzo, Chairman PUBLICITY DIRECTOR: Sammie Abdullah Abbott
It is as if that movement is not being seen as part of a legitimate protest, but rather a manipulation.
Indeed. The anti freeway protests had some legitimate targeting-
such as the earlier planning as the I-66 new swath displacing 100s of residences along Florida Avenue and U Streets, and the
1964 recommended route for the North Central Freeway that
seriously deviated from the recently assassinated John F. Kennedy's vision for a B&O Route North Central Freeway.
But was we know, the freeway should have been (and can still be built) properly,
such as with the I-66 North Leg; and that the doctrinaire anti freeway stance was effectively a protest on behalf of the wealthiest and most political powerful to get over upon the general public.
http://wwwtripwithinthebeltway.blogspot.com/2014/09/getting-over.html
