Marion Barry Apologizes for Gaffe … With New Gaffe

Marion Barry has apologized again for incendiary comments about Asians—but his apology has him in more hot water. The DC Council member recently said he’d “do something about these Asians coming in, opening businesses, those dirty shops. They ought to go.” Within weeks, he complained about “immigrant” nurses from the Philippines.                                                           

During a press conference with prominent Asian-Americans yesterday, Barry tried to make amends, noting that the US “has had racial tensions since it was founded.” Then the new misstep: “The Irish caught hell, the Jews caught hell, the Polaks caught hell.” He later denied using the phrase generally regarded as an anti-Polish slur, then changed his tune: “I meant Poles,” he said.