Marion Barry remembered as ‘freedom fighter’ at funeral service

By Dorothy Rowley
Contributing Writer

(Special to the NNPA from The Washington Informer) – More than 7,000 mourners crowded D.C.’s Walter E. Washington Convention Center on Saturday to pay their final respects to Marion Barry, the Ward 8 Council member and former four-term mayor who was remembered as giving a voice to the voiceless and helping to make the District the world-class city it has become.

The five-hour funeral service was attended by an illustrious lineup of local and national political leaders and clergy who shared their remembrances of the iconic politician, including Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan and the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who delivered the eulogy.

Jackson described Barry, who died on Nov. 23 at 78, as a “freedom fighter” who emancipated Washington, D.C.

“Marion was one of the architects of the new South and the new America,” he said.

Barry’s widow, Cora Masters Barry, reminisced about the moment they met in 1970 and his true love for his constituents, humorously recalling how he’d often engage in conversations with residents while out running errands, asking them about their families and concerns for the city.

“I stopped letting him go to the gas station, because he would spend all his money, not on gas but on people asking him for money,” she said. “I stopped letting him go to the grocery store, because we couldn’t get out of the grocery store.”

Barry’s only child, Christopher, dressed in African garb reminiscent of the attire his father wore during his early years in D.C., accompanied his stepmother to the service.

Mayor Vincent C. Gray, a close friend and confidant of Barry’s, recounted how his council colleague dealt with a wealthy resident who fought against a group home in his neighborhood.

“Mayor Barry said, and I quote, ‘You really don’t want any answers, do you? If you want to talk about how we will make this work, I will stay with you all night. Otherwise, I have nothing else to say to you.’ That was vintage Barry,” Gray said.

This article originally published in the December 15, 2014 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.