Media accounts of history are great in regards to allowing students to learn about corruption and politics, however, they have the ability to focus on the negative aspect of an individuals life rather than the great accomplishments they have contributed to. On top of this, for myself I was able to better understand what led these individuals to the scandals they were involved in. For example, Marion Barry was a highly respected equal rights activist in the 1960’s and went on to be involved in politics until he fell into a scandal, and Anita Hill was a law professor who was sexually harassed by a eventual Supreme Court Justice pulling her into a scandal. Both of these scandals occurred over different time spans and the public had different reactions…show more content… and was during his terms as mayor was able to balance the city budget and employ thousands of unemployed in summer work programs. During his political career he was an extremely likeable guy, had a great sense of humor, trustworthy and everyone loved him. However, during his third term as Mayor, D.C. was in turmoil, along with Marion’s personal life. By 1990, Marion was arrested by the FBI for willful possession of crack cocaine. He went to prison for 6 months and when he was released he managed to get elected a fourth term as mayor. Then in 2004 ran for D.C. City Council and was elected but shortly after being elected tested positive for cocaine. But once again in 2008 was re-elected to city council even though he had a drug problem. By the media dissecting his life you can get a better idea of who he was and how his managed to fall off his perfect pedestal he stood tall on for 20 years. This shows that even if you do illegal activity as long as you are a likeable guy any drawback you can get through it. Just like John F. Kennedy who was caught with numerous mistresses his image is almost untouched, potentially due to his assassination. But Marion Barry was also shot, which could lead to his positive image as well. It was not until this documentary came out, students like myself, are able to piece together the real Marion
