Black politician insults Polish people

D.C. Council member Marion Barry stepped up his campaign to mend relations with the Asian community, apologizing again for disparaging remarks he made about Koreans and Filipinos and pledging to work to improve ties between them and African Americans. Yet on his way toward racial harmony, Barry (D-Ward 8) committed another faux pas — this time directed at Polish people — and presided over a sometimes raucous community meeting at which African Americans repeated complaints about the way Koreans maintain carry-out shops. Representatives of the Korean, Filipino, Chinese and Japanese communities attended the meeting, held at a church in Southeast Washington. “Korean stores are filthy,” a woman could be heard saying at the meeting. The woman, who is black, later identified herself as Geraldine Hall and said she lives in the District. “Inside and out, they are filthy,” she said, speaking of Korean-owned businesses, as she left the meeting. Referring to Barry, she said, “He stirred me up.” At a news conference after the meeting, Barry and several Asian American leaders sought to present a united front, saying that the dialogue is an important step toward defusing long-standing tension between blacks and Asians. Asked about the underlying sources of the conflict, Barry said the United States “has had racial tensions since it was founded.” “The Irish caught hell, the Jews caught hell, the Polacks caught hell,” Barry said, invoking a word that Polish people have viewed as disparaging. “We want Ward 8 to be the model of diversity.” Asked later about his reference to “Polacks,” Barry at first denied using the word, then retracted it, saying, “I meant Poles.” His remark prompted a demand from Gary Kenzer, executive director of the Chicago-based Polish American Association, that Barry “apologize to the Polish American community of this country.” “You wouldn’t say a derogatory statement to an African American, a Jewish American, and we deserve the same respect,” he said. Recently, Barry infuriated Asians with two separate statements. After winning reelection, he pledged to “do something about these Asians coming in, opening businesses, those dirty shops. They ought to go.” Later, he offended Filipinos when he pointed out that an increasing number of nurses have come here from the Philippines. “And no offense, but let’s grow our own teachers, let’s grow our own nurses,” he said, “so that we don’t have to be scrounging around in our community clinics and other kind of places, having to hire people from somewhere else.” The remarks prompted criticism from Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D), Barry’s council colleagues and an array of Asian civic leaders, including the Philippine ambassador in Washington. Asian advocacy groups started a “Say Sorry, Barry” petition, which collected 700 signatures.