Color Blind
How Melanin, Class, and Culture Divide Black Washington
Cover Story
As Marion Barry swept every ward in the Sept. 13 Democratic primary except for predominantly white Wards 2 and 3, the pundits proclaimed that the divisions between black and white Washingtonians were greater than ever before.
They had a point: Only 586 voters in Ward 3 punched their card for the three- term mayor. But the election returns also uncovered a race and class rift that permeates Washington's political culture—one that is discussed in hushed tones, if at all. After the election, as the press peppered him with questions about the frail state of black/white race relations in the District, master politician Barry was one of the few observers to detect the other racial fault line.
“The black community is divided, too,” he said softly during a press conference.
Barry was right, of course. Only in a political contest in which all of the main contenders are black do the “secret” color and class divisions within the African-American community become apparent: affluent blacks estranged from poor blacks, high yellas from coal blacks, and buppies from 'bamas.
“It's like a roach crawling into the middle of the room,” says Peter Williams, the former head of Common Cause/D.C. “The people who live there are going to be too embarrassed to go and step on the roach; the people who are visiting aren't going to say anything. So that roach is going to crawl up the legs of a chair onto a table and no one is going to say anything. That's what this problem is like. Plus, no one wants to be called on the carpet for airing dirty linen.”... Continued 
Issue of Jan. 27 - Feb. 2, 1995
News and Features
- Color Blind
Cover Story - Police Property?
The City - Itell's Tales
The City - Ethics Cops Cut Secret Deal
The City - Foreheaded in the Wrong Direction
The Mail - Monkey Business
The Mail - I Condone Methadone
The Mail
Columns
- LCCA vs. Luther Place: CBRF Fiction?
Streetscape - BARRY'S STUMBLING START
Loose Lips - Jesus Was a Liberal
City Desk - Petty Thief
City Desk - Guarding Sharon
City Desk - Cropp's Caps
City Desk
Eats
Movies
- Linklater's Symposium
Film Review - Divine Madness
Film Review
Music
- Lab Rats
Sound Check - And Then They Were One
Sound Check - Grasping for Air
Sound Check - TV Star
Music Reviews - Dub 56
Music Reviews - The Hal Russell Story
Music Reviews - The Long Black Veil
Music Reviews
Theater
- Art Isn't Easy
Theater Review
Arts and Events
- Opera, American Style
Opera - Free for All
Art Review - Canon Fodder
Books - Medicine Man
Books - Read Me a Story
Books - Shooting to Ill
Artifacts
City Lights
This week's best in Arts and Entertainment.
- Diarmuid Jeffreys
City Lights - Jennifer Egan
City Lights - Asylum
City Lights - A Jury of Her Peers
City Lights - “Spirit Stream Storm: Artists' Handmade Films,”
City Lights - Gilby Clarke
City Lights - Jeremy Rifkin
City Lights - “Science Fact & Fiction”
City Lights - Nick Lowe
City Lights - “Paintings From Shiraz”
City Lights - Stridin' All Over My Heaven
City Lights - “Faith Hubley: The Animator's Art”
City Lights - Jerry Jeff Walker
City Lights - Sven Bikerts
City Lights - Freely Espousing
City Lights - “Japanese Manga Symposium.”
City Lights - Earl Lloyd
City Lights - Mary Ellin Barrett
City Lights
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