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Marion Barry: Mayor for Life (Advanced Program) · Spotlight English: Advanced

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Spotlight Advanced. I'm Roger Bassick.
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  Speaker 2: And I'm Gillian Woodward. Spotlight uses a special English method
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  Speaker 2: of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no
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  Speaker 2: matter where in the world they live.
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  Speaker 1: He was one of the most loved and hated Leaders
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  Speaker 1: in the History of United States Politics Some people believed
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  Speaker 1: he cared about them. He fought for them. He had
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  Speaker 1: a similar background. He tried his best to help them.
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  Speaker 1: But others did not like him. They thought he was
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  Speaker 1: hurting the most important city in the country. They did
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  Speaker 1: not think he should be their leader. They thought the
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  Speaker 1: city was at war because of his lack of leadership.
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  Speaker 1: But then he made a terrible mistake. He could no
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  Speaker 1: longer be their leader. He was sent away. Everyone thought
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  Speaker 1: that was the end of the story. The people who
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  Speaker 1: did not like him thought they had won. But he
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  Speaker 1: came back. And what happened next surprised everyone.
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  Speaker 2: Today's spotlight looks at Mayor Marion Barry. He was the
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  Speaker 2: mayor of Washington, D.C. D.C. stands for the District of Columbia. Washington, D.C.
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  Speaker 2: is the capital of the United States.
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  Speaker 1: The people who lived in Washington, D.C. elected Barry to
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  Speaker 1: be their mayor four times. The mayor is the head
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  Speaker 1: of the city. Barry served three terms as mayor from
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  Speaker 1: 1979 to 1991. Each term lasted four years. Barry also
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  Speaker 1: served one more term as mayor from 1995 to 1999.
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  Speaker 2: Barry was born on a farm in the state of Mississippi.
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  Speaker 2: His family was poor. His father died when Barry was young.
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  Speaker 2: Barry's family moved to Tennessee. Barry grew up in the
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  Speaker 2: city of Memphis. He did well in school. Barry went
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  Speaker 2: to college and then earned a master's degree in science.
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  Speaker 1: In 1958, Barry helped civil rights leaders in Memphis with
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  Speaker 1: bus desegregation. Civil rights workers argued for equal rights and
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  Speaker 1: treatment for African Americans. With bus desegregation, they wanted African
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  Speaker 1: Americans to be able to sit wherever they wanted on
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  Speaker 1: city buses. Until then, African Americans could only sit in
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  Speaker 1: the back seats on buses. White passengers sat in the
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  Speaker 1: front seats on buses.
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  Speaker 2: Barry decided to join the civil rights movement full-time. He
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  Speaker 2: was elected the first chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.
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  Speaker 2: Barry moved to Washington, D.C. to become more involved in politics.
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  Speaker 1: Barry started many programs and organizations to help local African
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  Speaker 1: Americans who were poor and needed jobs or education. He
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  Speaker 1: started Pride Incorporated, which provided job training to unemployed African
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  Speaker 1: American men. In 1968, There were terrible fights and destruction
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  Speaker 1: called riots across D.C. related to the desire for equal
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  Speaker 1: rights and treatment for African Americans. After the riots, many
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  Speaker 1: houses and stores in poor areas were destroyed. Barry worked
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  Speaker 1: with a large food store to give food to poor
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  Speaker 1: people who had lost their homes in the riots. Barry
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  Speaker 1: spent a week driving trucks to bring food to the
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  Speaker 1: city's poorest areas.
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  Speaker 2: Barry was elected to serve on DC's first school board.
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  Speaker 2: The group tried to improve the city's education programmes. A
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  Speaker 2: year later, Barry was elected president of the school board.
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  Speaker 2: He argued to increase teachers' pay in schools across DC.
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  Speaker 2: He believed that if teachers were paid more money, more
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  Speaker 2: skilled people would become teachers and improve students' educations.
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  Speaker 1: Three years later, Barry won a position with the District
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  Speaker 1: of Columbia City Council. The council passed local laws, approved
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  Speaker 1: what money the city could spend, and set tax rates
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  Speaker 1: for the city. While he was a member of D.C.
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  Speaker 1: 's city council, Barry was shot by terrorists who took
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  Speaker 1: over a government building. The terrorists held prisoners for two days.
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  Speaker 1: The Federal Bureau of Investigation finally caught the terrorists. Barry
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  Speaker 1: recovered from his wound.
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  Speaker 2: Barry ran for Mayor of DC in 1978. The Mayor
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  Speaker 2: was responsible for the city's operations. The Mayor managed the
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  Speaker 2: police and firefighters. The Mayor worked as the main connection
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  Speaker 2: between the public and the city government. Barry said about.
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  Speaker 3: Leadership, Leadership is about serving others and making a positive
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  Speaker 3: change in their lives.
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  Speaker 1: Barry won the election and became the mayor of the
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  Speaker 1: District of Columbia. He won many fans. A D.C. newspaper
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  Speaker 1: even wrote that he should be mayor for life. During
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  Speaker 1: Barry's first term as mayor, he started a program that
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  Speaker 1: offered a summer job to any school-age person living in D.C.
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  Speaker 1: Barry believed that kids who worked hard during the summer
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  Speaker 1: would be less likely to get into trouble. Keeping a
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  Speaker 1: job taught them how to work hard. A job helped
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  Speaker 1: them earn money for their struggling families. Barry also started
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  Speaker 1: the Urban Homesteading Program. The program allowed people in D.C.
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  Speaker 1: to buy city-owned empty or boarded-up properties for as little
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  Speaker 1: as $ 1. Buyers were then given low-interest loans to repair
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  Speaker 1: their properties.
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  Speaker 2: But Barry also had problems during his first term. The
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  Speaker 2: number of crimes in the city rose.
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  Speaker 4: D.C.
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  Speaker 2: 's rising crime rate would be a problem that followed
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  Speaker 2: Barry throughout his time as mayor.
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  Speaker 1: Barry struggled personally as well. He began using a drug
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  Speaker 1: called cocaine. Cocaine is an illegal and dangerous drug made
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  Speaker 1: from the leaves of a South American cocoa plant. Crack
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  Speaker 1: is a form of cocaine. Both cocaine and crack can
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  Speaker 1: cause serious health problems.
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  Speaker 2: During the 1980s, cocaine was popular in the United States,
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  Speaker 2: but it cost a lot of money. Crack cost much less.
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  Speaker 2: Poor people could buy crack more easily. By 1986, during
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  Speaker 2: Barry's second term as mayor, crack was sold on DC's streets.
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  Speaker 2: Where a small bag of cocaine costs $ 50, users could
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  Speaker 2: buy crack for only $ 5 or $ 10. Crack produced a
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  Speaker 2: powerful feeling in a person faster than cocaine, but it
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  Speaker 2: disappeared after a few minutes. The person would then have
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  Speaker 2: to buy more crack.
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  Speaker 1: There was a high demand for crack during Barry's second
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  Speaker 1: and third terms as mayor. Barry had become popular in
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  Speaker 1: the city. Voters kept choosing him to be mayor. They
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  Speaker 1: loved the fact that Barry had been poor like many
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  Speaker 1: of them, but worked hard to gain success. But Barry's
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  Speaker 1: performance as mayor suffered as he used drugs and alcohol more.
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  Speaker 1: He did not notice the details. People who worked for
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  Speaker 1: him stole money from the city's government. Barry's speech was
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  Speaker 1: hard to understand when he spoke in public.
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  Speaker 2: Drugs and violence in D.C. grew worse while Barry was mayor.
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  Speaker 2: Many young people in the city began selling crack. They
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  Speaker 2: made a lot of money. Crack dealers formed dangerous groups
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  Speaker 2: called gangs that carried guns. There were murders every night
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  Speaker 2: in the city. By the late 1980s, DC had the
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  Speaker 2: highest murder rate in the country. It was called the
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  Speaker 2: murder capital of the country. In 1989, over 400 people
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  Speaker 2: were killed in DC. In 1990, almost 500 people were murdered.
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  Speaker 2: Most of these deaths were from gangs fighting each other
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  Speaker 2: over who could sell crack.
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  Speaker 1: One of the people buying crack was Barry. On January 18, 1990,
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  Speaker 1: Barry was caught smoking crack by the FBI and D.C.
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  Speaker 4: Police.
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  Speaker 1: He was arrested and found guilty of having drugs. Barry
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  Speaker 1: was sent to prison for six months.
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  Speaker 2: When Barry got out of prison, he wanted to be
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  Speaker 2: mayor again. but he knew he needed to win back
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  Speaker 2: enough people's trust to get elected. He decided to try
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  Speaker 2: to get chosen for a job lower than mayor. He
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  Speaker 2: became a candidate for a seat on the city council.
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  Speaker 2: When he talked to crowds, Barry posted signs about himself
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  Speaker 2: that read, He may not be perfect, but he's perfect
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  Speaker 2: for DC. He talked about how he had made mistakes,
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  Speaker 2: but that he loved the city. Barry believed he was
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  Speaker 2: the best person to help the poor and uneducated citizens
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  Speaker 2: of D.C. He won a position on the city council.
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  Speaker 1: Two years later, in 1994, Barry ran for mayor. No
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  Speaker 1: one thought he had a chance. Barry knew there were
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  Speaker 1: people who did not want him to become mayor again.
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  Speaker 1: But he also knew his supporters were loyal. They stood
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  Speaker 1: by him, even though he had spent time in prison.
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  Speaker 1: His supporters believed Barry was the only candidate who cared
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  Speaker 1: about African Americans in D.C.
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  Speaker 2: Barry won the election to become mayor of the District
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  Speaker 2: of Columbia for a fourth time. But his final term
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  Speaker 2: as mayor did not go well. The United States Congress
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  Speaker 2: took control of D.C. 's money. They did not let
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  Speaker 2: Barry make financial decisions. They also took away his power
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  Speaker 2: to choose or fire employees. Barry was left in control
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  Speaker 2: of only the public libraries, the Department of Parks and Recreation,
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  Speaker 2: and the Board of Tourism. Because of his lack of power,
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  Speaker 2: Barry did not run for mayor again.
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  Speaker 1: Barry made bad decisions. He struggled with drugs. But Barry
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  Speaker 1: also tried to help people. From the 1960s, when he
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  Speaker 1: first got involved in the civil rights movement, Barry always
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  Speaker 1: tried to help minorities. He pushed D.C. businesses to set
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  Speaker 1: aside 25% of jobs for minorities. Barry created financial assistance
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  Speaker 1: programs paid for by the government to help poor people
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  Speaker 1: in D.C. buy homes. He developed other programs where successful
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  Speaker 1: adults trained and talked with young people in hopes of
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  Speaker 1: keeping them in school.
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  Speaker 2: Through it all, Barry's defenders never lost faith in him.
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  Speaker 2: Juliette Bethia said, who had been living in D.C. since
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  Speaker 2: the late 1960s.
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  Speaker 3: Said, Marion Berry's programs gave people of color access to money.
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  Speaker 3: We achieved so much during that period.
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  Speaker 1: Throughout the rest of his life, Berry remained in D.C.
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  Speaker 1: politics at lower levels. He also worked in finance. Berry
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  Speaker 1: died from heart disease in 2014. A woman who grew
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  Speaker 1: up in D.C.
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  Speaker 4: Said about Berry, I work in health care because of
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  Speaker 4: Marion Barry. Barry started a medical program in D.C. for
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  Speaker 4: people who had no money. I was poor at the time,
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  Speaker 4: but now I have a good life. I thank Marion
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  Speaker 4: Barry for that.
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  Speaker 2: Have you ever heard of Marion Barry? Did you know
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  Speaker 2: that he was arrested for smoking crack cocaine? Would you
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  Speaker 2: have voted for him to be mayor again after he
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  Speaker 2: got out of prison? Could you trust him? You can
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  Speaker 2: leave a comment on our website at www.spotlightenglish.com. You can
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: also find us on YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram and X.
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: You can also get Spotlight episodes delivered directly to your
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: Android or Apple device through our free official Spotlight English app.
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  Speaker 1: The writer of this episode was Peter Anderson. The producer
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  Speaker 1: was Michio Osaki. The voices you heard were from the
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  Speaker 1: United States and the United Kingdom. All quotes were adapted
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  Speaker 1: for this episode and voiced by Spotlight. No AI or
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  Speaker 1: artificial intelligence was used in this episode. Spotlight episodes are written, voiced,
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  Speaker 1: and produced by real people for real people, no matter
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  Speaker 1: where in the world they live. This episode is called
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  Speaker 1: Mary and Barry, Mayor for Life.
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  Speaker 2: We hope you can join us again for the next
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: Spotlight episode. Goodbye.