These days, artworks commemorating black politicians normally get outsourced to Chinese workers, but when Washington DC decided to honor the late Mayor For Life Marion Barry, they did it the old fashioned way and hired a white guy. The outcome, unveiled today, is this cheerful-looking bronze of the pipe-hitting mayor.

It could be worse …

You may be asking, why are they all men standing under the statue? I don’t know, but one guy is wearing an Alpha Phi Alpha jacket, which is the black college fraternity that Barry belonged to. So this is probably the Alpha Phi Alpha picture.

I vaguely recall that Martin Luther King’s fraternity may have paid for his statue on the National Mall, which helps explain why it’s a cheap Chinese knockoff: the federal taxpayers should have anted up for a good statue in such a prominent location rather than force a financially hard-pressed fraternity to put it out to the lowest bidder.

Anyway, from Watch the Yard: Black Greekdom’s Digital Yardshow:

It looks like Eddie Murphy is set to play former Washington D.C. Mayor and Alpha Phi Alpha brother, Marion Barry, in an upcoming television biopic that HBO Films is developing.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, “Spike Lee is attached to direct with John Ridley (Red Tails, Da Brick) to pen the script. Murphy, Lee and Ridley would all serve as executive producers.”

I don’t have cable, but I would definitely look forward to seeing a Marion Barry biopic starring Eddie Murphy.

[Comment at Unz.com]