That they, too, can succeed in spite of it all. They, too, can overcome if they believe in themselves, believe in almighty god, whatever you want to call god. And if you have audacity, develop the courage and strong feeling about yourself. And is [inaudible] in here . Come up here a minute. I want to use this as an example of my legacy. I met Jenelle Spencer in 2004 at my Victory Party in ward 8. And after i started talking to her, i found out that she had not had a high school stand there High School Diploma or ged. Had four boys, raising them by herself, and she had refused to go on welfare. She worked two and three jobs, and i got her into Public Housing because she was paying 1,000 which was 60 some percent of her income, and she went to school, got her High School Diploma, got a certificate of nurses aide about four or five months ago. She passed the licensed Practical Nurse exam [applause] and shes going to enter udc school of nursing in august to get her rn with a fouryear bachelors program. [applause] thats what i want to leave people with. Thank you, jenelle. Thank you. Thank you so much. [applause] all right, did you this gentleman up here has a question in the corner here. If you could speak into the mic, please. Weve known each other for a number of years. Let me just thank the people here. I know. I thank you all immensely for coming. Whether you bought a book or not, i thank you. I thank you. [applause] i thank you. You almost started preaching there for a moment, but thats good. Well, youre a preacher, you take care of that. [laughter] but as the president of the National Business league, current president , i look back on what Berkeley Burrell did for me, what ted hagens has done for the city. All this because of marion barry, so i commend you highly for the work that youve done, especially for the Small Business community, because thats something that would not have happened had it not been for you. [applause] you are the only mayor of all the mayors weve had that ive ever made a dime from. Because of you, man, i thank you so much, and i commend you for all youve done. Thank you, ron. Ron evans. Thank you. This lady in the second row . [applause] mayor, if you were the emperor of the United States, you had limitless power, what would you do about poverty in america . You know, i dont answer if questions. I really dont. No personal offense. Im not emperor, and i never will be emperor. Im not being hostel or anything hostile or anything, thats just my style. Stay out of difficulty from time to time is asking and answering what if questions. Id rather asked my opinion about something for the future, but ill answer the poverty question. Poverty so evasive. Im sorry, massive, im sorry. Poverty so massive in this country. You know, what, 42 Million People on food stamps . Both black and white . Appalachia . Youve got poor white people. Some places in West Virginia got poor white people. And poverty will not be eradicated or reduced until everybody in the country, every legislator, every governor, every mayor, every everybody get involved. Now, we going to make a department here because were going a dent here because were going to be working hard and getting people on tanf which is temporary and needy families, get them a job. I appreciate the question, but its, poverty so massive. Somebody quoted somebody the other day, jim graham told me, he said helen keller said those who are well off have a understanding, have a hard time understanding those persons who are not well off. And its a society problem. Thank you very much. All right. We have this gentleman be over here. Hi, major barry. Mayor barry. One of the things that really strikes me about what youve been doing is economic growth. You look at economics, pride inc. , during the Civil Rights Movement it didnt seem that was a major focus. Theres more economic inequality in america. I think theres less black businesses now than in the 1880s. Washington were the difference. Now we have the new silicon valley, we have microsoft, washington, d. C. Is a leader in growth and were a black city despite everybody else taking credit. Why is this not in the forefront in the civil rights or in africanamerican leadership . I mean, this is what, you know, new jobs, wellpaying jobs, private equity jobs, you know, the really good jobs in america are still being denied to those who serve their country, who are educated. And i think this is something that is really the nontold story of washington, d. C. In america. Well, unfortunately when you are oppressed like a number of people were oppressed, your priorities are not [inaudible] survive. I mean, you grew up in a segregated society, your Human Dignity is at stake. And so the march on washington was jobs and voting rights. The basic point of this country, right to vote, is being eroded now. But there are a number of us who have been working on Economic Development situations. It hasnt caught on as much as it needs to be, but the last chapter of my book talks about civil rights. And thats what i think we ought to look at. Incidentally, let me apologize for being a little bit late here. Im usually about five or ten minutes late anyway. [laughter] my biological clock doesnt work right with the time clock. Back when i was in college, i refused to take 8 00 class. I took a 9 00 class. But i really apologize to you all. We just got back from new york. Had a great time in new york, a lot of shows including al sharptops show. They tape it, theyre going to show it sometime later. And the train was late. And so i apologize deeply for that. All right. Weve got a question over there. Yeah. Greetings mr. Mayor for life. How you doing . This is harold momentummer. Hey, harold, how you doing . Im doing great, thank you. I wanted to congratulate you on the book, and i want to headache sure everybody know make sure Everybody Knows you help with the the free d. C. Movement. We have revenue and, definitely, we have a sense of urgency. So what is your opinion about the free d. C. Movement . Well, it was that happened in 1966, 67, 68. Because the board of trade had gone on record as being opposed to home rule. I think our struggles must continue. We need statehood, statehood now, and some of us are going to work on that now, and then were going to call on you and others to assist us in dealing with the statehood. Can you imagine this budget is 11 billion. 7 billion of it come from you all local taxpayers, and the other come from us as a state from the federal government. But yet we go hat in hand we dont go hat in hand, weve got to go to the congress to get permission to spend our own money. We around the country, around the world obama and george bush and everybody else trying to bring democracy to iraq and so and so, you saw whats happening there, afghanistan, to the act stand in terms of violence pakistan in terms of violation. Im in favor of terrorists being rooted out, but you talk about democracy around the world . Come right back here to your home and the white house and the congress, and we dont have statehood here . Something wrong with that picture. Something wrong with that picture. [applause] oh, all right. You and then you. Youll be next. Hey, margaret. I wanted to say my name is evangelist mary clement, and my nonprofit is called [inaudible] i want to thank you so kindly, marion barry, for your excellent leadership skills, vision, courage, tenacity. I want to ask you during the civil rights time were you ever injured at all while marching was i ever what . Were you ever hurt . Injured. Did someone hurt you or any of those things . Well, i was spat upon, i was pushed over a stool at the lunch counter, those kinds of things, but i was blessed not to have been shot like cheney, goodman [inaudible] right. In fact, well celebrate a big anniversary in mississippi this weekend. I cant go because ive got to stay here to work on this book and work in the government. But i was shot in march of 1977. The [inaudible] took over the Wilson Building and islamic center, and im getting off the elevator [inaudible] i got hit right in the chest. And god was there. The bullet probably ricocheted, and i survived. Read more about it in the book. [laughter] joe, this lady back here has been waiting. I probably dont need a mic. [inaudible conversations] hello, margaret. Hi, marion. How you doing . Congratulations on the book. Thank you. Id like to answer his legacy question for him. I have an idea. I think that one of the colleges in this town, howard, udc, georgetown or George Washington or maybe all of them should chair a seat for marion barry, and it should be about teaching kids in this town Political Science and how to run for office, because you are the greatest campaigner. I dont think theres anybody in this room that would deny it. And i cannot imagine that one of these schools should not do this. So im putting it out there. You can put it on the news. I think this is what should happen. [applause] thank you, margaret. [applause] some people are talking about that. Trying to look at that. Hello, mayor barry for life. Im just saying my name is donna wood, im a Second Generation washingtonian, and when i read the information about being here, i was just, like, i had to be here. Its important to me because i want to let you know that you had a great impact on my life. [inaudible] is something i didnt hear about, its about the Career Advancement demonstration project you had for students here in washington, d. C. Because you made them know that kids in d. C. Wanted to go to college. And i was a recipient of that. And for me being a recipient of that, you got paid, you got tuition through one of your programs, and i was, i graduated from howard university. [applause] thank you. Also theres another thing, i came back and worked with the d. C. D. Of recreation, and you had a program, the o say program. Oh, yeah. And you put in hubs in some of the undeveloped, i guess the low income areas to try to help, you know, bring cultural activities, health and awareness and everything. And i just really wanted to stand up and let you know that youre just a great person because i never got to talk to him before. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. [applause] let me say that [inaudible] a lot of those programs i put into place have erodeed into hardly anything now. For instance, when i was mayor, i used to give 2,000 to every valedictorian, 1,000 to every saw lieu to have january and 500 to the most improved student. All thats gone. I used to give 1,000 to every student who was in the top 10 of his or her class. Thats gone too. But were going to bring some of that back. Thank you. All right. Weve got time for one more question, this gentleman. Yeah, hi, mayor barry. One of the reasons you wrote this book was to say this is marion barry, so my question kind of springs from that. What do you think is the biggest misconception that people have about marion barry over the years . The biggest misconception is that most of my life is taken up with junk and scandals. And alleged corruption. Thats most people know me even in d. C. From a 15 second sound bite, and nationally the United States government [inaudible] and we went by that too sent that tape to every ambassador in the world, to every president of every country in the world and sent it to other propaganda arm in the United States, i think it was [inaudible] Something Like that places. It ran on television. Thats peoples memory. Some of these barry haters have contributed to it too. But thats all part of what we have to go through. Im not fazed by [inaudible] washington d. C. As long as that gives them some hope and some help, then they can write what they want to write about me. I dont care. [laughter] [applause] you get that, mike . Be i dont want care. I want to thank you so much for coming here tonight, and i also wanted to give you this is actually a very precious object. I dont know if youve gotten one of these before, its the National Press club coffee mug. Ive got two others. [laughter] well, now youve got triplets. [laughter] so thank you so much for coming, and were going to be outside signing your books. Oh, were going to be, im sorry, right over here signing your books. [inaudible conversations] youre watching booktv, nonfiction authors and books every weekend on cspan2. In this next program on booktv, Charlotte Bonelli talks about a collection of letters written by a young german jew and her family trapped in europe during the rise of the nazis. The letters provide an insight into the worsening condition in the 1930s and the mindset of the jews and the American Government during this period. This is about 50 minutes. Good evening and welcome. Im susie jaffe, a member of the ajc National Board of governors and past president of ajcs new york region. I am truly delighted that so many of you have come to ajc headquarters this evening to help celebrate the launch of exit berlin how one woman saved her family from nazi germany, and to hear directly from Charlotte Bonelli, the groups author and director of ajc archives. I read the book cover to cover in one seating, and i can promise you, youre in for a real treat. Exit berlin is based on more than 300 letters lucy hatch wrote to her parents and other relatives left behind in germany after she came by herself to new york in 1938 about a week after [inaudible] and also letters she wrote to her american cousin arnold in albany who assisted in so many ways in the rescue. The letters offer unique insights into nazi germany, and the holocaust from the perspective of one young germanyou germanjewish woman and how an average family responded to the holocaust to assist relatives who they may or may not have known trapped in europe. Charlotte will provide her presentation, more details about the letters and the impact of the letters. I do want to remind us that in an age of smartphones, twitter and other rapid communication technologies, that back in the 1930s when lucy set out to save her family, detailed correspondence was the main communication tool. Now i would like to welcome a couple of guests in the audience; Stephen Solomon and roger blaine who represented lucy for many years. It was roger who found the letters in lucys forest hills apartment where she had lived alone for 61 years. And it was roger who called charlotte, our author, to tell her about the letters. You see, there was a direct ajc connection. Lucy, for most of her life in new york, worked at ajc in this very building on the gene tells me on the second floor right below where were now sitting. By chance, she landed a job here only four months after her arrival from germany and continued to work at ajc for the next 38 years until 1977. A few members of the staff remember luzie well. David will say a few words, then we will hear directly from charlotte. There will be questions and answers after charlotte speaks. Lastly, i want to point out that cspan is here to film this exit berlin event for its popular booktv program. We will let you know when it is scheduled to air in the coming weeks. Thank you. [applause] good evening and thank you, susie, for introducing the program. I am a lucky perp. I had person. I had the privilege to know luzie, as susie mentioned. I joined ajc staff in 1979 which was two years after luzie retired, but then she never really retired. [laughter] she kept coming back to the building on a regular basis. This was really her family in many ways, and so i met her when i was a young staff member and got to know her for well over the years. Of course, what i didnt know, what i think none of us knew and im looking at those who were there at the same time, people like gene duval, was this treasuretrove of letters and the story that it held and that has now been revealed by my colleague, Charlotte Bonelli, whos done this extraordinary work, and the result is the book that brings us all together today. So for me, luzies story is really a story of several things. Its a story, first of all, of what each of us can do if only we choose to do it. You know, if one wants to think about heroes and hear wynns and want herr wynns and wants to set out to know what they are like, our popular world suggests that they have to be of a certain type, daring and big and strong and brave and who knows what. Luzie, had she been in this room, would not have filled much physical space. Not at all. So at first glance she might not have been the image of the hero of the heroine. So in a sense lu,uzies experiee is not something for us to read and absorb and cry over and occasionally smile over, its also a challenge. I believe its a challenge to each and every one of us to ask ourselves are we capable of such action . Quiet, unheralded, unsung, under very difficult circumstances, susie, as you said a while back when people depended on mail and it was not always the most reliable thing in wartime. Mail across oceans and continents. So the second thing for me about luzie is that when i got to know her, she was very deeply involved in our pioneering german programming. Now, that may at first glance not have been the likeliest place for luzie to spend her life. After all, a few years before she had fled germany. She had spent years trying to get her family out of the clutches of the third reich. And yet here she was a couple of decades later in the forefront, devoting a great deal of her life to trying to build new bridges of understanding and cooperation between germany, the jewish people through the vehicle of ajc. And that, to me, as well as a very is a very powerful story, a powerful story that suggests that as has been said by famous philosopher, it is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness. And i believe that that was, indeed, her outlook. And finally for me, the luzie story is personal not just because i knew and cared about her and not just because i know and care about you, Charlotte Bonelli, and this remarkable effort youve made, but also because on a very personal