Transcripts For CSPAN2 Book Discussion On Mayor For Life 201

Until noon of january 20, 2017. And jay john szob . Jeh johnson . Our book is on the Justice Department. Yeah. I cant really answer questions about him. [inaudible] i dont believe so. So those folks, i could tell you from experience with them and people we talked to, they dont make the transition to be government lawyers. When you leave private practice and you go to work for the Justice Department you have to transition into being a government lawyers whose job is to represent it public as a whole. I can tell you the people that come from those organizations, they just now think they are working for those organizations but they have the governments power and resources to do what they want. But Christian Adams and i, a couple years ago, we did a foyer request for the resumes of all the career people that have been hired in the Civil Rights Department since the start of the department and hundred percent of the people hired were clearly hired on the bases of their politics and their ideas. And the Inspector Generals report if you look at it, there is a whole paragraph how it talks about in the hiring process, the Civil Rights Division overlooked and didnt hire lawyers with stellar creditentials from disfavored organizations and firms. One of things you talk about in the book hans, or both of you, had to do with the department of justice behavior during the Bush Administration regarding detainees and the role that eric holder and the office of responsibility played respect to the investigations of them. Can you talk about that . This shows how politics drive the attorney joan general, not the law. There was a great deal of controversy by the cia and others in try to get information from the terrorist in guantanamo bay. But you know, at the end of the Bush Administration, the Justice Department setup a team of prosecutors, career prosecutors not legal appointees to take a look at the action the interrogators had taken skwp they did it by legal memos by the Justice Department but they took a look to see if any violated criminal laws and should be prosecuted. And with the exception of one contractor, not an employers, they concluded that in fact there was no prosecutions to be had and they followed the low. When eric holder came in what does he do . He reopens that entire investigation to relook at the cia operatives to see if they had violated the law and he admitted in testimony before congress that he did it without reading the extensive memos that the career lawyers put into the files on this. I could tell you, john could tell you because we worked there, they wrote extensive memos on the individuals we looked at saying here are the facts, here is the law, here is our recommendation on what to do about it. Yet he reopens the investigation without reading the legal memos preparred by the former prosecutors so the cia employees had to hire lawyers again and were put through the ringer of an investigation and at the end of all of that they decided, well, gosh, looks like the first people that looked at this were right. After putting these cia folks who were working hard as they could to protect us through what was an unneeded nightmare all ever again. There was a famous poem about prosecution abuse written in the 1960s by a fellow grant called the incredible bread machine. Bill gates was so fascinated with the scandal in the 1990s he printed a hundred copies to give to his employers. In the final line, the entrepreneur is being dragged before the court for sentencing and he is asked about making a final statement and he says i have one question when i are you doing . And he said we prefer the rule of men it is vastly more sufficient. The rule of law, the cornerstones of freedom, liberties and constitutional system, is being eroded for the sake of political convenience ask personal agendas. It is very sad because i can assure you it is difficult to build the rule of law. It is very easy for it to become the rule of men and once it is the rule of men it is difficult to walk it back. It is possible. We have seen the Justice Department restored but it requires an awful lot of effort and this is something we have to all Pay Attention to because there is lots of reclamation work in the future years. I am joel and involved in representing johnson versus the offic office of personal administration. First, new administration in 2017, suppose it is one of us, what opportunity is there for a new attorney general to clean house under the Current Civil Service laws and get rid of all of these racialist and other people that were hired improperly . Does this require new legislation . Can the attorney general just announce we are firing 150200 people that have misused career attorneys who misused their authority. And second, what if anything was done to discipline the attorneys responsible for those trying to frame senator fred stevens and withheld information that probably would have led to his acquittal. I will tell you, it will be difficult. Once you get into a career slot, even if you have been put into it in a way you should not be, it is difficult to get rid of folks. And one of the things we talk about and this is once again out of the Inspector General report, right at the end of the clinton administration, there were all of these positions open in the civil right division, career slots. And when the United States Supreme Court issued their ruling in bush versus gore and the clinton folks new al gore wasnt coming in as president , they said quwe have to fill the positions before the Inauguration Day of january 20th. And basically in a federal government that normally talks, if you are fast six months to advertise and fill a position but it can take up to a year. They got every slot but one filled in three weeks. And the career personal folks had never seen anything like this. This administration has taken that and gone further. So they have filled every single career slot with someone with who is ideaologically and politically an ally with them and they will be there when the new administration comes in and if is a Republican Administration theyll have an ex extremely difficult times. We dont cover the ted stevens issues. We ran out of room. [laughter] we sent the manuscript off to the publisher and every day something came up that the Justice Department was doing wrong or screwing up but we had to call an end to it. Ted stevens happened on bushs watch also. This maybe just volume one. Other questions . Any closing thoughts from our panelist . Just that the medias responsibility in letting this happen cant go unnoticed. This is the media that gave aroundtheclock coverage to the dismissal of a few u. S. Attorneys in the second bush term for not carrying about the president s priorities which is something the president has a right to expect. Some United States attorneys didnt carry the president s wishes and served out their first time and were let go during the second and replaces. Bill clinton fired every u. S. Attorney in the United States, all 93, the day he took office. Regardless of what cases were pending, regardless of the record they had, regardless of their success rate. He fired every single one of them. Bush tried to replace a few and it becomes the scandal of the century. For the news media to so extensively cover that, frankly a mountain of a mole hill, and allow the record to go as it has with precious little comment i will give you an example. The irs leak story broke on friday. It is a friday document. It was only late yesterday afternoon the New York Times ran the first word on this. Took 72 hours for the newspapers to mention the irs email scandal. Where can you go from here . Abc and nbc have yet to mention it as far as i know. I think that the fact there is an alternative media out there and internet outlets and cable outlets where some of the stories can be reviewed indepth is one of our salvations. It is important for all us of to take responsibility and tell friends, relatives and neighbors that their liberties are in jeopardy. When an administration can go in court, and i didnt mention when they said a book can be censored, but for them to say we want the power to put a gps on your car, this is frightening stuff. All of us have a personal responsibility to tell friends, neighbors and relatives that are Civil Liberties are in jeopardy and we have to Pay Attention. That is one thing i would say. I dont care if you are liberal, conservative, or moderate you should be concerned about this. If for example you are a liberal and like the policy outcomes you are seeing, you should understand those policy outcomes are being driven by an attorney general who is basically not following the law passed by congress and signed by a prior president. If eric holder can do that and get the policy outcomes you as a liberal want, that means when a republican president comes in and appoints a Republican Attorney general, perhaps he will take that as a lesson and not enforce laws you now like or take actions which you dont like the Public Policy outcomes. That is what happens when you have a Justice Department that is not anchored in the law. You know, it is the job of congress to change the law in a way that you like and others like. They are the ones having that Public Policy debate along with the president. It isnt the attorney generals job. He doesnt have the authority to v veto of laws passed by congress by the poplarly elected representatives of the American People and signed into law by the president. It is extremely dangerous and it is a threat to our liberty. I worked at the Justice Department. I can tell you it is very easy to abuse your authority and abuse your power and get away it. And you do not want people like that working the justest department and you dont want to know attorney general who appro approves of that thing regardless of party. I want to thank you for coming and join me in thanking the panel. [ applause ] we would like to hear from you. Tweet us your feedback. Twitter. Com booktv. And now marion barry discusses this career, the scandals that almost ruined him, his time in prison n for cocaine possession and his rebuilding of his political career. This is just under an hour. Good evening, everybody. Welcome to the National Press club for this special event. I am a member of the clubs book and author committee. We are glad you have come to this event and hope you inenjoy it. The club has about 15 wraps on a variety of books so if you are not on our email list and would like to learn of future events, see me after the event and we will put you on the list. We dont oversight and investigations overload you with emails. It is about one a month. I want to tell you of the future events in july all of which start at 6 30 p. M. On tuesday july 8th todd per will discuss his new book the time has come on wednesday july 9th brad thor discusses act of war and tom young will present sand and fire on the 15th of july and on tuesday july 22nd at 6 00 p. M. Innovative state how new technology is changing government this is a good time to silence your cellphone; please. I am going to introduce our guest, have a conversation with hem, and after that you can ask questions. Just raise your hand. And when we run out of time for questions he will be signing your books. I have been told by the management once you are done with that we are having jazz night in the bar upstairs with a live broadband. Marion berry was born in 1936 in a tiny town in mississippi and picked cotton as a child. When marion was eight his mother left his father, who he never saw again, and moved to memphis. He was inducted into the National Honor society in high school and received a degree in chemistry and his masters in chemistry in 1960. He completed all courses required for a doctor degree where he studies organic compounds. He was cofounder of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee which was active in the deep south when it is very dangerous. In 1964 the organization sent him to washington, d. C. Where he won a seat on the school board in 1971 and became a Council Member in 1974. He served as the mayor of washington, d. C. Twice for the area and he has been a member of the washington, d. C. Council representing ward eight since 2005. Despite a life of many accomplishments, and we just heard of a few of them, he is known for a few minutes on a video tape in the vista hotel in 1990 and we will get to that later but i would like to use the time to explore the other aspects of your life that i didnt know about until i read the book. One thing that really surprised me was you were one of the first black eagle scouts in memphis. As the mother of two eagle scouts, i bet you have never gotten this question, what was your favorite merit badge and what did you learn from scouting . Good evening i think it was lifesaving in swimming and camping and bird watching. Was that girl watching . Bird watching. They didnt have a merit badge in girl watching. I think they do now and my son got it. Did you feel you learned things from the boy scouts that helped propel you through university . I Learned Leadership skills, tenacity and resilience and courage and of of those things and getting along with other people from different backgrounds. I went to new mexico and all of those things. It helped shaped my life a lot but the person who was most important in my life was my mother. My mother finished the third or forth grade. My father third or forth grade and they were sharecroppers. That is where you work all year chopping cotton, you dont know anything about chopping cotton, but picking cotton, we had a garden. When it was all said or done it was about 3 4,000 in cash all of that year. The man had a store and sold the seeds to my family at a price higher than he paid for them and bought the cotton back at a price lower than he could get for it from others. I think it was important that in america you find that there are very few opportunities of that time for black boys born in mississippi, poor, living in a house without any running water, electricity and used kerosene lamps and without other amenities we have. My mother was a domestic and cleaning white womens family bathroom, kitchen and taking care of other peoples kid. My mother said when she went to interview for a job, and got through the duties and responsibilities, and she would tell that white woman who was the one hiring, i am not going to go through the back door. If i am good enough to take care of you know son and clean your house and cook your food i am good enough to go through the front door. She lost a lot of jobs that way. And she said domestics were called by their first name. They didnt have a last name. And she said my name isnt maddy it is ms. Cummings. And she lost jobs for that. And i think that courage rubbed off on me. I was too young to understand it. But that was a defining moment in my life. She lived to 92 years of age and passed about 67 years ago. You can clap 92 long time. So, speaking of your mother, when you were a young man you were busy, you had school, Honor Society and a lot of odd jobs. You were collecting merit badges. But you were a rabblerouser even your youth. You like today drink white water from white water fountains but what did your mother have to say about doing that . She slapped the hell out of me. That was a custom in the south. She said boy, you know better than that. She was conditioned to live like that. Back then the older people in segregati segregation were used to living like that. And the younger people said why are you living like this . Let me back up and put the book in context. A lot has been written about marion barry and a lot of paragraphs have been taken, but those interviews and those stories was about the what of my life not the who of my life. It is about me being fullterm mayor which is i have done this or that. I decided to tell the story of who marion barry really is who what i am made of. This book is frank. I tell it all. The good, the bad, and the ugly because life is no rose bed for everything goes perfectly and no imperfections in your life without any mistakes. I put that in the book and for those of you reading the book that is great. You will see this is detailed. This book took me almost a year to do. I am up to 12 in the morning and going to work on my counseling job, working saturday, sunday, working holidays, late into the night to make sure i was accurate on what i put together. I talked into a number of tape recorders to put this together. It was a labor of love. A labor of love. And so my life didnt start with the vista or end with the vista. The vista was this much of a sliver in my 78 years. It was important, but i am going to get that out of the way because of regardless of what happened at the vista and said this or didnt say that, it happened 24 years ago. I will say it again. 24 years ago 24 years ago and i ask forgiveness from reshade and her mother mary moore because she was a victim as i was. I apologized to the community, my wife, my son christopher and they accepted the apology. This country is a country of second, third, fourth and fifth chances. What i hope this book will do is inspire someone who is struggling to stand up and get rid of that struggle as much as you can. I hope this book will educate some people as to the truth because dr. King said truth brings you to the ground and you will rise again. So i put it in that context. And the other context and i will go back to where you are is washington, d. C. Washington, d. C. Is our nations capital. It is our local government. For had of the Foreign Embassy and the Justice Department<\/a>. Yeah. I cant really answer questions about him. [inaudible] i dont believe so. So those folks, i could tell you from experience with them and people we talked to, they dont make the transition to be government lawyers. When you leave private practice and you go to work for the Justice Department<\/a> you have to transition into being a government lawyers whose job is to represent it public as a whole. I can tell you the people that come from those organizations, they just now think they are working for those organizations but they have the governments power and resources to do what they want. But Christian Adams<\/a> and i, a couple years ago, we did a foyer request for the resumes of all the career people that have been hired in the Civil Rights Department<\/a> since the start of the department and hundred percent of the people hired were clearly hired on the bases of their politics and their ideas. And the Inspector General<\/a>s report if you look at it, there is a whole paragraph how it talks about in the hiring process, the Civil Rights Division<\/a> overlooked and didnt hire lawyers with stellar creditentials from disfavored organizations and firms. One of things you talk about in the book hans, or both of you, had to do with the department of justice behavior during the Bush Administration<\/a> regarding detainees and the role that eric holder and the office of responsibility played respect to the investigations of them. Can you talk about that . This shows how politics drive the attorney joan general, not the law. There was a great deal of controversy by the cia and others in try to get information from the terrorist in guantanamo bay. But you know, at the end of the Bush Administration<\/a>, the Justice Department<\/a> setup a team of prosecutors, career prosecutors not legal appointees to take a look at the action the interrogators had taken skwp they did it by legal memos by the Justice Department<\/a> but they took a look to see if any violated criminal laws and should be prosecuted. And with the exception of one contractor, not an employers, they concluded that in fact there was no prosecutions to be had and they followed the low. When eric holder came in what does he do . He reopens that entire investigation to relook at the cia operatives to see if they had violated the law and he admitted in testimony before congress that he did it without reading the extensive memos that the career lawyers put into the files on this. I could tell you, john could tell you because we worked there, they wrote extensive memos on the individuals we looked at saying here are the facts, here is the law, here is our recommendation on what to do about it. Yet he reopens the investigation without reading the legal memos preparred by the former prosecutors so the cia employees had to hire lawyers again and were put through the ringer of an investigation and at the end of all of that they decided, well, gosh, looks like the first people that looked at this were right. After putting these cia folks who were working hard as they could to protect us through what was an unneeded nightmare all ever again. There was a famous poem about prosecution abuse written in the 1960s by a fellow grant called the incredible bread machine. Bill gates was so fascinated with the scandal in the 1990s he printed a hundred copies to give to his employers. In the final line, the entrepreneur is being dragged before the court for sentencing and he is asked about making a final statement and he says i have one question when i are you doing . And he said we prefer the rule of men it is vastly more sufficient. The rule of law, the cornerstones of freedom, liberties and constitutional system, is being eroded for the sake of political convenience ask personal agendas. It is very sad because i can assure you it is difficult to build the rule of law. It is very easy for it to become the rule of men and once it is the rule of men it is difficult to walk it back. It is possible. We have seen the Justice Department<\/a> restored but it requires an awful lot of effort and this is something we have to all Pay Attention<\/a> to because there is lots of reclamation work in the future years. I am joel and involved in representing johnson versus the offic office of personal administration. First, new administration in 2017, suppose it is one of us, what opportunity is there for a new attorney general to clean house under the Current Civil Service<\/a> laws and get rid of all of these racialist and other people that were hired improperly . Does this require new legislation . Can the attorney general just announce we are firing 150200 people that have misused career attorneys who misused their authority. And second, what if anything was done to discipline the attorneys responsible for those trying to frame senator fred stevens and withheld information that probably would have led to his acquittal. I will tell you, it will be difficult. Once you get into a career slot, even if you have been put into it in a way you should not be, it is difficult to get rid of folks. And one of the things we talk about and this is once again out of the Inspector General<\/a> report, right at the end of the clinton administration, there were all of these positions open in the civil right division, career slots. And when the United States<\/a> Supreme Court<\/a> issued their ruling in bush versus gore and the clinton folks new al gore wasnt coming in as president , they said quwe have to fill the positions before the Inauguration Day<\/a> of january 20th. And basically in a federal government that normally talks, if you are fast six months to advertise and fill a position but it can take up to a year. They got every slot but one filled in three weeks. And the career personal folks had never seen anything like this. This administration has taken that and gone further. So they have filled every single career slot with someone with who is ideaologically and politically an ally with them and they will be there when the new administration comes in and if is a Republican Administration<\/a> theyll have an ex extremely difficult times. We dont cover the ted stevens issues. We ran out of room. [laughter] we sent the manuscript off to the publisher and every day something came up that the Justice Department<\/a> was doing wrong or screwing up but we had to call an end to it. Ted stevens happened on bushs watch also. This maybe just volume one. Other questions . Any closing thoughts from our panelist . Just that the medias responsibility in letting this happen cant go unnoticed. This is the media that gave aroundtheclock coverage to the dismissal of a few u. S. Attorneys in the second bush term for not carrying about the president s priorities which is something the president has a right to expect. Some United States<\/a> attorneys didnt carry the president s wishes and served out their first time and were let go during the second and replaces. Bill clinton fired every u. S. Attorney in the United States<\/a>, all 93, the day he took office. Regardless of what cases were pending, regardless of the record they had, regardless of their success rate. He fired every single one of them. Bush tried to replace a few and it becomes the scandal of the century. For the news media to so extensively cover that, frankly a mountain of a mole hill, and allow the record to go as it has with precious little comment i will give you an example. The irs leak story broke on friday. It is a friday document. It was only late yesterday afternoon the New York Times<\/a> ran the first word on this. Took 72 hours for the newspapers to mention the irs email scandal. Where can you go from here . Abc and nbc have yet to mention it as far as i know. I think that the fact there is an alternative media out there and internet outlets and cable outlets where some of the stories can be reviewed indepth is one of our salvations. It is important for all us of to take responsibility and tell friends, relatives and neighbors that their liberties are in jeopardy. When an administration can go in court, and i didnt mention when they said a book can be censored, but for them to say we want the power to put a gps on your car, this is frightening stuff. All of us have a personal responsibility to tell friends, neighbors and relatives that are Civil Liberties<\/a> are in jeopardy and we have to Pay Attention<\/a>. That is one thing i would say. I dont care if you are liberal, conservative, or moderate you should be concerned about this. If for example you are a liberal and like the policy outcomes you are seeing, you should understand those policy outcomes are being driven by an attorney general who is basically not following the law passed by congress and signed by a prior president. If eric holder can do that and get the policy outcomes you as a liberal want, that means when a republican president comes in and appoints a Republican Attorney<\/a> general, perhaps he will take that as a lesson and not enforce laws you now like or take actions which you dont like the Public Policy<\/a> outcomes. That is what happens when you have a Justice Department<\/a> that is not anchored in the law. You know, it is the job of congress to change the law in a way that you like and others like. They are the ones having that Public Policy<\/a> debate along with the president. It isnt the attorney generals job. He doesnt have the authority to v veto of laws passed by congress by the poplarly elected representatives of the American People<\/a> and signed into law by the president. It is extremely dangerous and it is a threat to our liberty. I worked at the Justice Department<\/a>. I can tell you it is very easy to abuse your authority and abuse your power and get away it. And you do not want people like that working the justest department and you dont want to know attorney general who appro approves of that thing regardless of party. I want to thank you for coming and join me in thanking the panel. [ applause ] we would like to hear from you. Tweet us your feedback. Twitter. Com booktv. And now marion barry discusses this career, the scandals that almost ruined him, his time in prison n for cocaine possession and his rebuilding of his political career. This is just under an hour. Good evening, everybody. Welcome to the National Press<\/a> club for this special event. I am a member of the clubs book and author committee. We are glad you have come to this event and hope you inenjoy it. The club has about 15 wraps on a variety of books so if you are not on our email list and would like to learn of future events, see me after the event and we will put you on the list. We dont oversight and investigations overload you with emails. It is about one a month. I want to tell you of the future events in july all of which start at 6 30 p. M. On tuesday july 8th todd per will discuss his new book the time has come on wednesday july 9th brad thor discusses act of war and tom young will present sand and fire on the 15th of july and on tuesday july 22nd at 6 00 p. M. Innovative state how new technology is changing government this is a good time to silence your cellphone; please. I am going to introduce our guest, have a conversation with hem, and after that you can ask questions. Just raise your hand. And when we run out of time for questions he will be signing your books. I have been told by the management once you are done with that we are having jazz night in the bar upstairs with a live broadband. Marion berry was born in 1936 in a tiny town in mississippi and picked cotton as a child. When marion was eight his mother left his father, who he never saw again, and moved to memphis. He was inducted into the National Honor<\/a> society in high school and received a degree in chemistry and his masters in chemistry in 1960. He completed all courses required for a doctor degree where he studies organic compounds. He was cofounder of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee<\/a> which was active in the deep south when it is very dangerous. In 1964 the organization sent him to washington, d. C. Where he won a seat on the school board in 1971 and became a Council Member<\/a> in 1974. He served as the mayor of washington, d. C. Twice for the area and he has been a member of the washington, d. C. Council representing ward eight since 2005. Despite a life of many accomplishments, and we just heard of a few of them, he is known for a few minutes on a video tape in the vista hotel in 1990 and we will get to that later but i would like to use the time to explore the other aspects of your life that i didnt know about until i read the book. One thing that really surprised me was you were one of the first black eagle scouts in memphis. As the mother of two eagle scouts, i bet you have never gotten this question, what was your favorite merit badge and what did you learn from scouting . Good evening i think it was lifesaving in swimming and camping and bird watching. Was that girl watching . Bird watching. They didnt have a merit badge in girl watching. I think they do now and my son got it. Did you feel you learned things from the boy scouts that helped propel you through university . I Learned Leadership<\/a> skills, tenacity and resilience and courage and of of those things and getting along with other people from different backgrounds. I went to new mexico and all of those things. It helped shaped my life a lot but the person who was most important in my life was my mother. My mother finished the third or forth grade. My father third or forth grade and they were sharecroppers. That is where you work all year chopping cotton, you dont know anything about chopping cotton, but picking cotton, we had a garden. When it was all said or done it was about 3 4,000 in cash all of that year. The man had a store and sold the seeds to my family at a price higher than he paid for them and bought the cotton back at a price lower than he could get for it from others. I think it was important that in america you find that there are very few opportunities of that time for black boys born in mississippi, poor, living in a house without any running water, electricity and used kerosene lamps and without other amenities we have. My mother was a domestic and cleaning white womens family bathroom, kitchen and taking care of other peoples kid. My mother said when she went to interview for a job, and got through the duties and responsibilities, and she would tell that white woman who was the one hiring, i am not going to go through the back door. If i am good enough to take care of you know son and clean your house and cook your food i am good enough to go through the front door. She lost a lot of jobs that way. And she said domestics were called by their first name. They didnt have a last name. And she said my name isnt maddy it is ms. Cummings. And she lost jobs for that. And i think that courage rubbed off on me. I was too young to understand it. But that was a defining moment in my life. She lived to 92 years of age and passed about 67 years ago. You can clap 92 long time. So, speaking of your mother, when you were a young man you were busy, you had school, Honor Society<\/a> and a lot of odd jobs. You were collecting merit badges. But you were a rabblerouser even your youth. You like today drink white water from white water fountains but what did your mother have to say about doing that . She slapped the hell out of me. That was a custom in the south. She said boy, you know better than that. She was conditioned to live like that. Back then the older people in segregati segregation were used to living like that. And the younger people said why are you living like this . Let me back up and put the book in context. A lot has been written about marion barry and a lot of paragraphs have been taken, but those interviews and those stories was about the what of my life not the who of my life. It is about me being fullterm mayor which is i have done this or that. I decided to tell the story of who marion barry really is who what i am made of. This book is frank. I tell it all. The good, the bad, and the ugly because life is no rose bed for everything goes perfectly and no imperfections in your life without any mistakes. I put that in the book and for those of you reading the book that is great. You will see this is detailed. This book took me almost a year to do. I am up to 12 in the morning and going to work on my counseling job, working saturday, sunday, working holidays, late into the night to make sure i was accurate on what i put together. I talked into a number of tape recorders to put this together. It was a labor of love. A labor of love. And so my life didnt start with the vista or end with the vista. The vista was this much of a sliver in my 78 years. It was important, but i am going to get that out of the way because of regardless of what happened at the vista and said this or didnt say that, it happened 24 years ago. I will say it again. 24 years ago 24 years ago and i ask forgiveness from reshade and her mother mary moore because she was a victim as i was. I apologized to the community, my wife, my son christopher and they accepted the apology. This country is a country of second, third, fourth and fifth chances. What i hope this book will do is inspire someone who is struggling to stand up and get rid of that struggle as much as you can. I hope this book will educate some people as to the truth because dr. King said truth brings you to the ground and you will rise again. So i put it in that context. And the other context and i will go back to where you are is washington, d. C. Washington, d. C. Is our nations capital. It is our local government. For had of the Foreign Embassy<\/a> and the National Government<\/a> and all of the cabinet agencies here and 3045 members of the house of representatives, a hundred senators are here, there is an interNational Press<\/a> here, a National Press<\/a> and that means there are more eyes on me than any other person in america in america and i survived that and overcome that and i am not letting it get me down and i want to thank the people of washington, d. C. Who are bright and beautiful for having the sense and understanding to cut through all of the bs. [ applause ] and also, this major press here, we have a few barry haters, probably about half a dozen, some are here tonight, and what the barry haters do is they cannot find anything good. There is always good in something, isnt it . One columnist who hasnt read the book and then wrote on the book. And that is not right to do. I am going to take it out and i think it is helping me sell books so keep in mind doing that. Back to you ms. Harmon. I was fascinated to read about your education in the field of science and in the book you say you moved from science toward Community Activism<\/a> because teaching students, the white ones didnt want black men to teach them and the black ones were not preferred so it upset you the black communities were not as educated and you moved into Community Activism<\/a>. And that is true. I had four sisters and three have passed so i have one living sister in memphis, tennessee. She is ten years younger than me. I talked to her this morning. Gloria is her name. When i was in high school i went to a sports oriented high school. Booker t washington was the staidwide champion among black schools in everything. Football, basketball, track and everything. I went for the band because i was too small to play football, not good enough for basketball and i went to the band. After two weeks the band master said you have to buy a trumpet and we cannot let you take it home. I didnt have money and my mother didnt and no body did so i dropped out. And then i went into boxing and i won 15 fights at 112 pounds. And moving up to banner weight and fought them. The last two fights i had this guy hit me so hard i saw stars. I didnt get knocked out but i saw stars. I told the coach. I am sorry i have to go. I am not doing that. He said stick it out. Same thing happened two weeks later. I said coach, i am gone, dont try to talk me back. I am glad he did succeed in talking me back because i would have been hit upside the head so many times. I was very smart academically and loved science. So i went to college and i will try not to give you too many details because you will not want to read it if i tell you everything. I decided to major in chemistry with a minor in math. And i came through an era where people were using their first letter of their name and the middle name like g washington cox or k orlando cole. I didnt have a middle name and part of what we did, the four of us used to do, some specialty and mine was current events. I named myself after the russian scientist because he had done outstanding things in science and that is how i got the middle name. One other point on my education, i went to kansas for a year. I could not stand that kind of lifestyle. Drinking beer and going to kansas skwp get entertainment because lawrence was segregated but they would not serve you. So i went to the university of tennessee for three years and i was the only black student in 3,000 natural students and i made enough good grades to stay there for three years and i was doing my dissertation and i got tired of it. I could help more people with the civil rights unit and that was overcoming struggle, tenacity, courage, big vision all of those things that repeat throughout the book no matter what the situation was, god gave it to me and i decided to run good give back to the community. And there is not one person who lived or visited here who hasnt been affected directly or indirectly by the leadership of marion barry. [ applause ] so, lets skip over several fascinating things and go to when you won your first election for mayor. There is no much you did that i wasnt aware of. You had the first audit on city finances and found the city was 387 million deep in the hole and during your first three consecutive terms in office you balanced the budget 1112 years that is something we should learn to do these days. You reduced the deficit by 200 million, you established a relationship with wall street and obtained their highest Credit Rating<\/a> for the city, you forced slum landlords to fix up propertyties and instituted programs to provide fair and affordable housing, reduced the infant mortality rate that was the highest in the country to the lowest, expanded summer jobs programs to 20,000 kids and build 70 buildings east of 15th and above pennsylvania creating revenue and jobs. I get the sense from your books that your favorite out of many accomplishments and increasing the hire for government contractors. When i took off in 79, i was sworn in by Thurgood Marshal<\/a> who worked to get me out of jail. That was a big event for us. But washington, d. C. Back in those days, and natives dont like me to say this, it was a sleepy, southern town. There were no this building wasnt here. This complex wasnt here. Pennsylvania avenue had only one building, the fbi building, and fstreet and gstreet all of those streets on the west end didnt have any major highrise buildings. We have a Building Height<\/a> restriction. But look at washington now. Look at it now. It didnt happen overnight. It took a lot of work, a lot of vision, and a lot of tenacity. For instance, i appointed herb miller as the white developer as chair of my committee and they came up with very great recommendations. Also, i reorganized the permit department and welcomed businesses to come to washington. We have doubled the number of hotel rooms since when i started. I think that is important to see the big picture because i painted a large photograph of our city. All of this is replete with courage, tenacity, vision and understanding and loving this community and they love me back. That is very important. So that is i am great in terms of my programs is my summer job program. [ applause ] because when i grew up i had to sell rags, pop bottles, carry the morning and evening paper, and scuffle all during the year. Anything that saved me was a friend of mine lived down the street and he grew much faster than me and in between my 10th and my 11th grade i grew about 2. 53 inches. I had nothing to wear. My mother couldnt afford. So he traded me and gave me all of this clothes, his khaki pants, his suits, his shirts, etc so to him i am eternally grateful. It is about overcoming and not complaining about what you dont have but working hard to get what you want. Back to the city government, my second really this is my first most Important Program<\/a> was minority business. That is hispanics, that is blacks, that is women. It was 3 when i came in. 3 when i left it was 47 , millions of dollars transferred to the hands of people who had been left out. One example of that is bob johnson of bet. The counsel uh the council awarded with my help, the franchise, and he didnt have an operator. He was a programmer. Then he had a problem where to locate the National Head<\/a> quarters of bet. We have land on new york avenue where Washington Beef<\/a> was supposed to go. I let bob johnson lease all of that land for a dollar a year. He began here and now he is a multimilli multimillionare and billionaire. Don peoples is another one who i appointed it the Tax Commission<\/a> at the age of 23. People said he was too young. But he moved on to be a developer and he is one of the most prosperous developers in the country, white or black, and started right here because of my vision. I could name a hundred more like that. But the final point of the equation is the black middle class. There were qualified members of the black middle class that were not given the opportunity to work. They had degrees or certificates but the washington, d. C. Government was littered white at the top so we opened the government up with a residency requirement. And those black families were able to move from here up to here and in fact i am very proud of the fact we build a strong black middle class. In the process of what happened, a number of the black middle class, went to prince georgia county. I understand it because they didnt hear the sirens and ambulances and gun shots and all of those things. And in fact, wane curry, at his second inauguration asked me to stand, where was his quest i was and thanked me for the missile wheel, for fort washington, for booy and those places. I am proud of that, too. We will not let these imaginary boundaries stop us. If they are suffering here, they are suffering here. If there is success here, there is success here. Now Prince George<\/a> county is the richest population of black people in america and i am proud i contributed greatly to that situation. [ applause ] you write not everybody was pleased with you shifting from the White Community<\/a> to the black community and you felt this playedplayed a role in what hap. That by the late 1980s the fbi started to look through your bank accounts, credit card bills, and spending 10 million in an effort to find you on something. And you reported there was a hertz renting truck following you around day and night. Why do you think they did this . I put it as economics. I had a problem with the fbi during the Civil Rights Movement<\/a> because we all did. But when i came to washington i didnt have a problem. But when i started the Minority Program<\/a> of shifting millions of dollars to the Minority Community<\/a> from 3 to 47 and also it seemed strange. The fbi and everybody else should have welcomed me building the black middle class. I got 47 of the vote from the white people but when i got in office, i knew it, but didnt understand all of the social problems in the black community particularly the low income communities. Because in the White Community<\/a> they dont need job training or job placement. They find their own jobs. They dont need a great Education System<\/a> because they send their kids to a great one and pay for it. So i think that is when it started. Some of my barry haters will not believe that. And i will ask you to do me a favor well i will not tell you off because i dont want to tip them off. You do admit you were not squeaky clean in the 80s . You admit to alcohol and some drug use and a couple of affairs. So you admit that. It wasnt hard to admit. That is the truth. I am serious. It is the truth. What happened to me those two years and that one night that i was at the vista, one i should not have gone to that hotel andtient have gone upstairs or been anywhere even though i am not they would have found another way. But i am glad they found this way which was safer than another way. I have apologized for that and apologized to the community. In fact, if you talk about christianity i am a strong devote christian. The disciples asked jesus how many times can you forgive someone and he said 70 times. So im not perfect. I admit my defaults and faults. I admit my mistakes. Unless you do that as we call it on the state you are shucking and jiving. So i want to find somebody who is perfect. Anybody who is except jesus anybody who hasnt made a mistake hasnt done a damn thing. I am not trying it justify it but explain it so people can see the context of the whole picture. I am 78 and i thank god for that. The majority of people that graduated in my High School Class<\/a> and we light a candle for everyone that went on to heaven and it got so bad the white candles outnumbered the people here. It was too painful so we stopped having them. We knew all of people that went on because there was a lot of interaction in our class. But what i want to do with those mistakes and misjudgments, however you want to describe them, i want them to be a lesson to others who suffered the same thing particularly the drug situation. We have millions of millions of americans who are suffering right now from their disease and drug addiction. There are thousands of washington, d. C. Residents who are suffering. In fact, when we talk to a job developing people, they will tell you that one of the Biggest Barriers<\/a> to employment is dirty ur urines. So if marion barry can do it, you can do it. That is one reason i wrote the book so i can put it in there and educate and inspire. A lot of our people, both white people and black people, are going through a lot. It might not be drugs and alcohol but it is something. Divorce maybe, kids that dont act right, financial problems. I want to say you can tackle that problem. Dont ignore it. My pastor used to preach about a storm that we all are just getting out of a storm, on a way to a storm, or in a storm and the question is how do you get out of the storm . If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging. But more importantly it is better to go above the storm and through the storm and some of will rob off on you. If you ignore the storm, that isidious and too many people ignore the storm. This book is about helping other people. I will be helped financially but this is an example of how one man can overcome so many things. I am just an ordinary person who has done extraordinary things. The reason i am taking the time to talk about this in detail, if you read in the book, is that the barry haters dont want to tell you the truth and wouldnt know it if you saw it. But you understand that and thank you so much for understanding where i am coming from and through the grace of god do i sit here and some other people. I just got over a major illness. A blood infection. It takes you out. 30 people that get it doesnt come back. But god blessed me to come back and bless the community. I am still not quite there. I am limping a little but i would rather walk that way than no other way. And you say why are you talking about the god stuff . I have been in difficult times emotionally and physically and otherwise and only when i gave it to god did i begin to try to come back on it. So that is why i use that a lot. The naysayers are going to find a reason to criticize me anyway so i dont mind you criticizing me about god because god is here. Well i think the one thing that shocked the world was when you ran for mayor in 1994 and you won and your slogan was he may not be perfect but he is perfect for washington, d. C. Firstly, how did you have the never to run again at that point . And why do you think they put you back there . Several things. One, shannon had not been a good mayor. When we did our poll, he only polled 13 . I told my pollster go back and do this again. This is incredible for an incumbant mayor and she came back and got 13 and she got 13 in the election. And then we had john ray who i helped get on the council. And so many things were not being done. My Minority Program<\/a>s went downhill to less than 30 if that much. Down about 20 now. And also our School System<\/a> was still a wreck and young i go to safeway and i could not get out of there with people asking me so many questions about what i can help with. I knew i could not do it from the council. So i used my tenacity, courage, vision, and resilience to run from a mayor. It was my best campaign. I got 47 of the vote in 1994 because the people of washington, those who are here saw all of the good work he had done and you judge a person not by the cover of a book but by what is in the book and what chapters are there. I knew god had given me visions and i had to give them back and washington is better off because i ran in 94. But i have had 13 races and only lost one. I am known how around the country as one of the most skillful political persons in the country. So that is that. You are still serving King Cummings<\/a> was from that raggeddy paper called the city paper. But he was creative and called me mackbarry. And he also started mayor for life. And i didnt like it. It reminded me of papa duck in haiti and i didnt want to be campaign known that way. But the more people talk to me and say you are the mayor for life and you were the best mayor we had. So everybody refers that to me. Even the mayor i am supporting now, i talked to her this morning and she said how is the mayor for life. So thank you, ken. Thank you okay. I am sorry. You are serving in ward eight, the poorest area and you write you have been is stopped by the police for a dwb. And that stands for driving while black. And driving too slowly. That is a true story. I am getting ready to go further southeast and this National Park<\/a> Service Police<\/a> officer sitting across the street. And i was driving probably 2530 miles per hour. I approached the red light and he gave me a ticket for driving too slow and as it turned out washington, d. C. Doesnt have such a law of driving too slow. But the National Park<\/a> police i had had more trouble with them than anybody in the town. They leave me alone now. They dont pick up the little trivi al things. Do you think racist behavior is still alive even with the black man in the whitehouse . I hear this postracial mess and in the last chapter of my book we talk about where we go from here. I dont say racism but race in a factor in everything that happens in america. It is factor. Not necessarily the factor but it is a factor. Washington, d. C. Has become mostly halves and a third have nots. We have a divide that wide. Look at the income gap in ward eight it is 26,000 a year income. And in ward 3, and i admire those people that get there but it is 200,000. Compare that. What it has done in lower income communities is run people into crime selling drug tos to ge money, breaking into homes, burglary, robbery and i dont condone that but they all about getting money. These young people are influenced by the television. We had a video called grand theft auto. And grand theft auto where they had people shooting cops. That is awful. And the people making money off it are nonblack money. So i went a long ways to talk about that. In lower income communities, you have a black boy who is never, ever in his life, young life, seen a black man get up and go to work because 82 of the families in ward eight and low income families are head of household by a female. I admire those black women and i have one son who just turned 34 and he had the amenities and connections to get him in jefferson junior high and connection to get him into Wilson Senior High School<\/a> and he graduated in 98. What about parents without those connecti connections . Dot. It is massive in america, and we have to do all we can to get people to become selfsufficient. I took a long time to answer that, but i wanted you to at least understand what im saying. I have one quick question before we move to audience questions, and that is youre 78 now, and you have had some Health Issues<\/a> over the past several years, but looking ahead what do can you still want to do, and what do you want your legacy to be . Whats the future for marion barry . I have two more years left on the council, til 16. Thats a given. And im not going to telegraph my [inaudible] about that. I learned long ago in boxing not to telegraph your punches. Only thing i can say is im on the council for two more years. In terms of my legacy, theres so many things. But i guess if i had to summarize it, it would be a person who cared deeply about every human being, particularly those low income black people, particularly the hispanics who do this and those women who undergo a lot of discrimination themselves. And the other thing i want to, i want to to try to get upon for my legacy, being instructive to people","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"archive.org","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","width":"800","height":"600","url":"\/\/ia800302.us.archive.org\/16\/items\/CSPAN2_20140719_190000_Book_Discussion_on_Mayor_for_Life\/CSPAN2_20140719_190000_Book_Discussion_on_Mayor_for_Life.thumbs\/CSPAN2_20140719_190000_Book_Discussion_on_Mayor_for_Life_000001.jpg"}},"autauthor":{"@type":"Organization"},"author":{"sameAs":"archive.org","name":"archive.org"}}],"coverageEndTime":"20240621T12:35:10+00:00"}