Week
of
8/15/97:		 The budget bill recently passed by Congress strips Washington, D.C. Mayor Marion Barry of a large segment of his power. D.C. residents, made up of mostly African Americans, will no longer have direct control of their city. Has democracy in Washington, D.C. been killed?



Name: nat johnson
Email: aa2659@wayne.edu
Response: I hate to remind most of you that there is a little document by the name of the U.S. CONSTITUTION which authorizes Congress to control the District. Moreover, when are we as a community going to say "enough" to the blame of racism and assert control over our own socio-economic and political destiny. The Mayor brought the resentment felt by the politicians upon himself. Unfortunately, District residents brought this result by voting Barry back in office; most, as a protest vote. We should think more in the context of power, not counterproductive emotionalism.


Name: FA Hickman
Email: fahickman@aol.com
Response: YES. At the risk of be accused of playing the race card, it is obvious that there is a concerted thrust to strip Black people of their God-given and Constitutional Rights of self-government. When NYC was about to go under, there was a bail-out. When Chrysler Corp was about to go under, there was a bail-out. No one in Congress suggested taking away the self-governing authority of NYC. Woefully, I predict that this is just the beginning of the stripping away of freedom for Blacks in America. It is a shameful retrenchment. But WE SHALL NOT GO BACK!!!


Name: Michael Jackson
Email:
Response: Marion Barry brought this on his own damn self! It's his own damn fault that Deadbeat City (yeah! I said it!) got its democracy snatched!


Name: Frances Murphy
Email: FrankieLou@aol.com
Response: Cities around the country with Black majorities need to watch carefully what is happening to D.C. You are NEXT!!


Name: Solomon Landers
Email: Numberup@worldnet.att.net
Response: I don't think democracy in DC has been killed, but it is definitely in a coma and on life-support! Of course, there is the question of just how much democracy DC enjoyed anyway, with merely a non-voting representative to Congress. I was born in DC and work now at the US House of Representatives. I see those double-dealing politicians every day. But the financial and managerial problems of the city had become so acute that the powers that be were able to assert their will. DC residents have been ill-served by elected officials and appointees. This control board action is radical surgery. I hope it will not be a case where "the operation was successful, but the patient died." DC residents need to be far more active in protesting issues like this. According to press reports, only a few have made meaningful protest. If the people of DC don't care, Congress surely won't.


Name: K. Leonard
Email: k8wra1@juno.com
Response: Washington D.C. has long been neglected by the Congress of the United States and all of the powerful Federal bureaucrats who work there but do not live there. After work they run off to their snug little suburban communities in Virginia and other easy-commuting areas;without a thought or care about the ones who live there twenty-four hours a day. In so doing, they have allowed the city to become a very dangerous and run-down place for the people who do live there; who are mostly African-American. It is about time they stopped giving lip service about helping the city and actually doing something positive for the citizens. If it requires that Marion Berry lose some of his power and D.C. is no longer his own personal feifdom, I think the citizens, who are mostly African-American, will be better off.


Name: Tracie Cornish
Email:
Response: I think it is interesting that the "powers that be" have gone to such lengths to oust Mayor Barry from power in the District. When I heard of this most recent removal of power from the mayor's office into the hands of the Financial Control Board, my first thought was that it was an attack on the decision of the people - an attack undertaken because the people have once again chosen Marion Barry as their voice. These actions affectively make the office of mayor one of a figurehead. What affect this will have on D.C. however, remains to be seen. It seems to me without home rule or representation in Congress, D.C.'s ability to self-govern was always extremely limited. Prior to Mayor Barry's arrest, lack of congressional representation managed to stifle the district by allowing Congress to fail the city through insufficient appropriations and inattention. Adding a non-voting congressional seat for the residents of the district has not made this situation better or even made the process more effective. While the pressure from Congress seemed to be relieved during the Sharon Pratt Kelly era, she was not an effective leader for the people in many other ways, and the people made it clear how they felt on that issue by re-electing Marion Barry. My question remains: why is the government continuing to attack Marion Barry?


Name: Debbie Johnson
Email:
Response: I am not a resident of D.C. but I would be outraged if I lived there. It is bad enough that the citizens of Washington, D.C. are paying taxes but do not have representatives in Congress who are allowed to vote in the best interests of their constituents, but now the local representatives whom they vote into office are being relieved of their powers to control the local jurisdictions that people live in. That is utter madness. Yes indeed democracy has definitely been killed in D.C. I think that it is outrageous that the citizens of D.C. have to pay such a horrible price just to receive financial assistance from the federal government, when the federal government are the primary users of the local services provided in D.C. I say D.C. residents should just stop paying taxes, in communist countries where the goverment controls every aspect of their lives they at least don't have to pay taxes.


Name: Brother Akindele of MAD Writer Productions
Email: akinyemi@online.emich.edu
Response: Raahubaat usra. Has democracy been killed in the DC (or any area in the U.S.A.)? Sounds like the New World Order is in effect. Do you honestly think for a minute that white people are going to let you have power and let you run things the way you want to run things? Right. Whatever. This is the first step of eliminating potential Nubian-American leadeship. They are going to strip many of our "leaders" powers away. Then what? How come we can't do what the United Nuwwaubian Nation of Moors are doing in Georgia? They are building for themselves. They have their own land, langauge, flag, nationality, scripture, etc. They control their own power. Come on Nubians..get with the program. White folks do not want you around anymore. The New World Order is for THEM not YOU. Therefore, I am not suprised that they would do this to Mayor Barry. I'm just sorry that it had to come down to this to show our people that this phase of what they did to the Mayor is just the tip of the iceberg of what they have in store for us. Wadu


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Congressional Apology Improving Race Relations
African American Businesses and Non-Minority Partnerships
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Thanksgiving
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Democratic Majority in Congress
Rev. Al Sharpton's Candidacy
Euthanasia
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Police Brutality
A National Leader
The Oscars
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Career Women
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