Masaryk University Faculty of Arts
Department of English and American Studies
English Language and Literature
Ondřej Jarůšek
Realism and Social Commentary in The Wire Master’s Diploma Thesis
Supervisor: Stephen Paul Hardy, Ph. D.
2019
I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography.
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Author’s signature
Obsah Introduction ...... 1 1.History of crime and violence in Baltimore ...... 7 2.Poverty and lack of financial opportunities...... 19 3.Dysfunctional school system...... 28 4.Uneven distribution of recreational space ...... 33 5.The importance of role models ...... 36 6.Isolation and disconnection from the outer world ...... 53 7. Vicious circle ...... 62 Conclusion ...... 65 Works Cited ...... 72 Summary ...... 75 Resumé ...... 76 Jarůšek 1
Introduction
A successful neighbourhood is a place that keeps sufficiently abreast
of its problems so it is not destroyed by them. An unsuccessful
neighbourhood is a place that is overwhelmed by its defects and
problems and is progressively more helpless before them. (Jacobs
112)
To claim that the urban neighbourhood the audience is presented in the
show The Wire by David Simon is an “unsuccessful” one would probably be
more than fitting. According to Jane Jacobs’ argument from her book The Death
and Life of Great American Cities, an unsuccessful neighbourhood is an
environment stricken with various shortcomings that mutually reinforce each
other and cause the neighbourhood’s residents to live in drastic conditions. And
that is exactly the world one can observe when watching the discussed the award-
winning show which has been praised, among other things, for its emphasis on
realism and depiction of the situation in the real-life city of Baltimore.
When creating the show, David Simon was drawing from his own
personal experiences from the time he worked in the Baltimore Son, the city’s
largest daily newspapers, and the complexity in which Simon was able to capture
some of the most pressing Baltimore’s problems is astounding. As Peter L.
Beilenson and Patrick McGuire note in their work Tapping into The Wire: The
Real Urban Crisis, „In episode after brilliantly stage episode one sees instances
of disintegrating families, unchecked teen pregnancy, single-parent child
rearing, homeless heroin addicts spreading AIDS through dirty needles, Jarůšek 2 concentrated poverty, endless violence, the failure of schools, and the inability of the police to stop the drug trafficking.“ (Peter L. Beilenson and Patrick
McGuire 6). Thus, the city the audience is presented in the show is suffering from many very serious problems for which there are no simple solutions.
The present paper discusses the realistic depiction of some of those problems and analyzes the way The Wire comments on Baltimore’s social disorder. More specifically, the diploma focuses on the lives of the show’s young protagonists who live in one of the city’s most underprivileged areas and the paper’s aim is to analyse the social and environmental factors that contribute to that fact that these children and young adults tend to engage in criminal activities, even though they are risking their freedom and lives by doing so.
As the authors Peter L. Beilenson and Patrick McGuire further stress,
“Growing up safe and healthy, and being able to go to school and actually learn, is often determined not by race or genes or a can-do attitude but by social and environmental factors.“ (Peter L. Beilenson and Patrick McGuire 136) In other words, that fact that those who live in under such unfavourable conditions are given very limited opportunities to succeed in life without breaking the law is primarily due to the environment that they are forced to live in. Thus, the present paper’s goal is to identifiy some of the most pressing issues associated with
Baltimore’s urban environment that negatively influence the lives of local children and young adults.
The first chapter of the diploma offers a historical overview of the city of Baltimore in regard to its problem with violent crimes. For the past several decades, the city of Baltimore has been stigmatized by its reputation of extremely Jarůšek 3 high crime rate which is often noticeably higher that in comparison to other big cities in the United States of America. A lot of those crimes can be attributed to the drug related illegal activities, but there are still many of murders of innocent people not involved with the gangs. Also, the victims (as well as perpetrators) of these crimes are children or young adults. The paper identifies the riots of 1968 which occurred after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King as one of the catalysts of the rise in violent crimes, exodus of a sizeably porting of the city’s population and the subsequent poverty. To illustrate this dark history of
Baltimore is important in order to understand better its current situation and why the characters in the discussed show live under such inhumane conditions.
The second chapter of the paper focuses on one of the main factors that contribute to the young protagonists’ inclination to illegal activities, and that is the sad reality of pervasive poverty and lack of economic opportunities in the inner-city neighbourhood that is affected by Baltimore’s historical development.
Since we are witnessing lives of children or young adults whose parents and other predecessors most likely never worked, due to the lack of jobs and also their lack of education, the young protagonists do not see themselves getting a job themselves realistic. The most logical solution for someone in their unfavourable condition is to engage in illegal activities, such as selling drugs, because the environment simple does not provide them with enough opportunities to make a living for themselves in a legal way. While struggling for survival in a decaying neighbourhood, they are willing to risk their freedom and well-being in order to earn at least some money. And that is something that the local gang enables them. Jarůšek 4
The chapter number three identifies dysfunctional school system as another factor that has a significant influence on the young protagonists’ development. The show reveals Baltimore’s school system as immensely flawed and insufficient. The students are neglected by most of the school’s officials who do not show much of an interest to educate the children. Rather, they are focused on getting regular funding from the state. Thus, even those children who might have a chance of getting high school diploma one day are left far behind and their chances for a better life are undermined by the institution which is supposed to prepare them for their future. Such children then start to eventually look for any available means of survival which unfortunately often means engaging in illegal activities.
The fourth chapter deals with the problem of uneven distribution of recreational space which can be viewed as another factor which contributes to the children’s descent into a criminal life. Although one might not think at first this might be of a great importance, many researchers agree that children’s ability to participate in various games in sports centres or other recreational centres can have a positive effect on their development, since these activities can provide them with an alternative to gangs and drugs. As the audience of the show can notice, The Wire presents kids in the city’s predominately white suburbs enjoy the access to various playgrounds, parks and so on, whereas mostly
African-American children are forced to play on the streets, often not even with improvised basketball hoops etc. Thus, due to the official organizations’ neglect local children are not given the chance to participate in healthy collective activities that would help them to stay on the right side of the law. Jarůšek 5
The chapter number five discusses the importance of positive role models and father figures in the boys’ lives. As was found by researchers, many
African-American boys identify their fathers as their role models, but as the television shows reveals, most of the kids from the disadvantaged neighbourhood are growing up without their fathers, presumably because they are dead, in jail or simply left the family. Thus, the boys are forced to substitute the father figure with someone else in their environment. But unfortunately, they live in an area dominated by drug dealers who are the ones who are closest to the fatherless boys. Thus, they acquire certain principles and ethics from those negative figures, but they lack someone who would provide them with much needed guidance and leadership. Some of the characters the chapter focuses in more detail on include Michael Lee, D’Angelo Barksdale or Duquan "Dookie"
Weems.
The sixth chapter of the present diploma addresses the problem of isolation and disconnection from the outer world. Numerous characters on the show, such as D’Angelo Barksdale or Wallace, who display inability to function outside the borders of their own neighbourhoods in which they have lived in virtual isolation for their whole lives. In spite of all of it shortcomings, the neighbourhood has become a part of their identity and they have very little conception of what the realities of the world beyond their neighbourhood is like.
They are disconnected from lives of regular people who do not have to struggle for survival every single day and the realities of their neighbourhoods which include violence, drugs and death, seem “normal” to them, since they deal with it on a regular basis. Thus, it seems only natural and logical to become a part of this lifestyle. Jarůšek 6
It is important to stress that all of the mentioned factors that contribute to the young protagonists’ negative development are interconnected and they mutually influence each other. This is in more detail shown in the following chapters.
The most important literary works used in the present diploma include
Constructing Social reality: Self Portraits of Black Children Living in Poverty by Loretta J. Brunious in which the author deals with lives of African-American youth from underprivileged areas which are almost identical to the one presented in The Wire. In addition, another important work for the present paper in Jane
Jacobs’ book The Death and Life of Great American Cities in which the author describes what aspects are necessary for urban neighbourhoods to function properly. Among many other sources, one of the most important ones was the book Tapping into The Wire: The Real Urban Crisis by Peter L. Beilenson and
Patrick McGuire in which the authors deal with some of the most major problems that are depicted in the discussed show and how they still effect the real-life city of Baltimore.
And at last but not least, it should be stressed that the goal of the present paper is not to in any way make excuses for criminal behaviour of individuals who live under unfortunate conditions. Rather, the diploma attempts to analyse some of the most problematic areas of the resident’s lives which contribute to the fact that these people eventually resolve to criminal activities. By doing so, the diploma makes an effort to help the readers understand better the situation of the children and young adults who live in isolated, decaying neighbourhoods.
Jarůšek 7
1. History of crime and violence in Baltimore
On December 2nd 2018, a young black male named Anthony Grant was killed by a gunshot in the Southwest District of Baltimore. As reported by the city’s police department through social media, the boy was only 17 years old
(Baltimore City Department Facebook). In Anthony’s eulogy posted on-line by
Hahamy Madison from Since Parkland, a project started by teenage journalists covering stories about young Americans killed by guns, “His mother worked for
Safe Streets, hiring people with criminal histories to prevent shootings in the area.” (Since Parkland) And even despite his rather troublesome past, Anthony wished to go back to school and attend Baltimore City Community College. “I was very proud of him,” said the boy’s mother to The Baltimore Sun, the city’s largest daily newspaper. (The Baltimore Sun Facebook) Unfortunately, the gunman took Anthony’s chance for a better future and as Since Parkland adds,
“He was one of four homicide victims in two days.” (Hahamy Madison)
Another one of those tragic victims was DaVonte Friedman, an 18-year- old boy killed just a day before on December 1st 2018 whose story carries a striking resemblance to that of Anthony Grant’s. Similarly, DaVonte as well had several run-ins with the law in the past but was working hard to redeem himself and to make something out of his life. According to the news site CBS Baltimore,
“He even spoke to several members of the Baltimore City Council on youth violence before he was murdered.” To furthermore illustrate DaVonte’s potential, the boy’s brother stated: “He wanted to do so much. He had so much Jarůšek 8 in his future that he wanted to accomplish that he never got to do.” (CBS
Baltimore)
Thus, as one can notice, in spite of some of their past mistakes, both teenagers eventually got on the right track and made an effort to turn their lives around, but, as The Baltimore Sun puts it, “they couldn't escape the risks young men face in the city.” (The Baltimore Sun Facebook) These sad stories show how the dangerous the city is even for those who are trying to make their lives better.
In addition, these are just two of an overwhelming number of examples of teenage African-Americans who prematurely passed away on the deadly streets of Baltimore. But these examples are important ones, because they highlight the dangers and problems of extremely high amount of violent crimes committed in Baltimore’s disadvantaged and predominately black neighbourhoods. And the victims (as well as perpetrators) of these offences are often young black residents of the city.
Of course, one could propose that the problem of violent crimes in urban areas is not exclusive to Baltimore, but what makes the capital of Maryland in this sense so extraordinary is the alarmingly high crime rate which is extreme even in comparison to other problematic American cities. Also, this problem is not at all a new one. It has been present in the city of Baltimore for at least several last decades.
This is one of the sad facts highlighted in the report by Elizabeth Park et al. titled “Examination of Youth Violence in Baltimore City 2002-2007” from
The Office of Epidemiology and Planning and The Office of Youth Violence Jarůšek 9
Prevention based in Baltimore in which the authors stress that “Youth violence is a serious issue facing Baltimore City.” (Elizabeth Park et al. 4) As the authors mention in their work, it should be noted that the city is aware of this problem and tries to make the streets safer by fighting against violent crime, stating that at one point the city even managed to reduce its “homicides to their lowest point since 1970.” (6) But unfortunately, in spite of this admirable achievement, “data released in 2009 showed that Baltimore City’s homicide rate ranked 2nd highest in the nation among cities with a population over 500,000.” (6) An on top of that,
“In Baltimore City, all race/ethnicity groups had higher homicide rates than their counterparts in the State of Maryland in 2007.” (6)
To furthermore illustrate how critical the present situation is, according to an article by The Associated Press, one of the most prominent American not- for-profit news agencies, published on the news site USA Today, the number of killings per residents in 2018 reached the highest number in Baltimore’s history.
(Associated Press) As Associated Press informs, based on the FBI’s annual Crime in the United States report, there were 342 murders in the city that has approximately 615,000 inhabitants. “Maryland’s biggest city yielded a punishing homicide rate of 56 per 100,000 people” states AP’s article, adding that “The per capita rate was a record high for the city.” (Associated Press)
In comparison, “Among major U.S. cities, Baltimore was followed in the FBI’s annual tally by Detroit, which last year recorded a homicide rate of 40 per 100,000 people; Memphis, Tennessee, with a rate of 28 per 100,000; and
Chicago, with a rate of 24 per 100,000. But some smaller cities reported a higher homicide rate than Baltimore’s. St. Louis, with a population slightly over
300,000, had a rate of 66 murders per 100,000 people.” (Associated Press) Jarůšek 10
Therefore, as one can notice, Baltimore’s recent violent crime statistics are visibly higher than in other big American cities. Thus, it should not be surprising that some of the nicknames Baltimore has earned over the years include several unpleasant ones such as “Mobtown”, “Bulletmore” or
“Bodymore, Murdaland.”
But it should be pointed out that it has not always been this way. It can be argued that one of the catalysts of today’s problems of Maryland’s capital can be traced back to the late 1960s. These years can be characterized by an unprecedented social turmoil, disorder and general chaos most of which was caused primarily by high racial tension of that time.
The sense of strong unrest and instability of this time period in the city is highlighted by Sara E. Morris from the University of Kansas in her article titled “Baltimore 68: Riots and Rebirth” where the author states the following:
„Baltimore entered a two-week period of civil unrest after the April 1968 assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King. Although sparked by King’s death,
Baltimore’s riots were part of the Civil Rights Movement. Baltimore’s African-
Americans lived in inadequate housing, faced high rates of unemployment, and suffered from the general decline associated with white flight – all of these factors contributed to riots.“ (Morris 266).
As the author mentions, the lives of Baltimore’s African-Americans were difficult and unequal in comparison to the lives of white Americans even before the riots of 1968, but the problems that occurred as a consequence of this social unrest, even though the riots themselves lasted for “only” a couple of weeks, profoundly worsened their already uneasy living conditions. And over the time, Jarůšek 11 this helped to create the environment in which high level of crime became concentrated.
The importance of Baltimore’s civil riots of 1968 in the context of the city’s present condition is pointed out also by Elizabeth M. Nix in her work
“Constructing Public History in the Classroom: The 1968 Riots as a Case
Study.” In her work the author states that “the results [of the 1968 riots] that lingered were still contested forty years later.” (Nix 29) And from today’s point of view, the statement is still true even though over 50 years have already passed since the riots.
In addition, according to the author, in spite of the riots’ profound negative effect on the city, not many residents who moved to the city later are aware of the roots of some of the city’s present problems. She writes as follows:
„Everyday Baltimoreans passed empty lots that ringed the city’s core, or were forced to drive to the county to do their shopping because the city lack departure stores, big box retailers, or, in some neighbourhoods, even supermarkets.
Despite the evidence available throughout the city, most residents did not connect today’s empty lots to charred city blocks in 1968, or the present dearth of retail to the very real decisions every small business had to make forty years ago.“ (29)
Therefore, the effect the 1968 riots have had on Baltimore should not be taken lightly, because, as the author mentions, there is still visible “evidence available throughout the city” that shows in what ways Maryland’s capital has suffered over the years. Jarůšek 12
The dramatic decline has been generally associated particularly with the west and central west side of Baltimore which started to deteriorate due to various factors which are highlighted by Sean Zielenbach in his paper entitled
“Community Development in Central West Baltimore: An Analysis of
Opportunities and Limitations.” The author of the work writes as follows: „Once a relatively stable middle-class area, central west Baltimore has experienced a multidecade economic and social decline. As in many central-city neighbourhoods throughout the country, the central west Baltimore area has suffered from an exodus of residents and businesses, increasing poverty and unemployment, and widespread disinvestment.“ (Zielenbach 313)
As the author indicates, some of the most profound damaging factors that prompted Baltimore’s dramatic decline include namely “exodus of residents and businesses, increasing poverty and unemployment, and widespread disinvestment.” The increasing level of violent crimes forced local residents as well as business to move out from the city’s troubled neighbourhoods to the suburbs, making it even more difficult for the people in the city’s core to find work and make money in a legal way. To furthermore illustrate the results of the drastic exodus of Baltimore’s residents and business, the author of the paper adds: “In many ways, the decline of central west Baltimore has mirror that of the city as a whole. Baltimore lost 30 percent of its population in the second half of the twentieth century, including 11.5 percent in the 1990s alone – the second highest rate of decline of any major city in the country.“ (316)
This fact is highlighted also by Sean Zielenbach who states that „As more affluent individuals sought to escape the growing crime and violence, the area [of West Baltimore] became increasingly poor and saw the weakening of Jarůšek 13 many existing social institutions.“ (321) Thus, it can be argued that the exodus of a significant portion of Baltimore’s population played a major role in the growing crime rate and poverty.
This major loss of population was one of the factors responsible for the gradually more negative social and economic conditions in the inner-city which ultimately effected also housing conditions. As the author explains, “Baltimore’s loss of population contributed to widespread softening of the city’s housing market during the 1990s. Between 1990 and 1997, real property values in the city declined by 17 percent. The city had approximately 15,000 vacant housing structures by 2000, many of which were simply uninhabitable.“ (316)
But it should be noted that Baltimore is not the only American city that has suffered from these problems which is something that Dr. Loretta J. Brunious deals with in her book Constructing Social Reality: Self-Portraits of Black
Children Living in Poverty. In her work the author describes the drastic deterioration of one of the most dangerous neighbourhoods in Chicago. She writes as follows: “Englewood’s decline in prosperity was caused by a series of events which contributed and ultimately resulted in the area that we know today as one of the highest crime-rate districts in Chicago.“ (Brunious 12) According to Brunious, the most significant factors that contributed to Englewood’s decline include “lack of housing“, “exodus of whites“ or “demolition of homes for city projects.“ (12) This makes Englewood’s situation almost identical to the experience of the residents of the inner-city of Baltimore.
Thus, it is evident that the significant exodus of the area’s residents and businesses made it almost impossible for the remaining people to live a normal Jarůšek 14 life not only in Baltimore, but this has happened in other parts of the United
States of America as well. And as Zielenbach puts it, because of the dramatical decline in population, Baltimore’s housing conditions considerably worsened, leaving many structures “uninhabitable”. (Zielenbach 316) The local people ultimately found themselves living in a deteriorating environment suffering from poverty, lack of employment opportunities and increasing violent crime rate which has over the years become synonymous with the city of Baltimore.
The unflattering stamp which was attributed to the city because of its alarming crime rate is stressed also by Zielenbach in his work. “The city […] has suffered from its reputation as a centre for violent crime. Although
Baltimore’s violent crime rate decreased by 7 percent annually from 2002 to
2005, it still has one of the highest rates in the country. (316) This problem was illustrated also earlier, where the present paper showed that the number of violent crimes per capita actually reached the city’s historical record last year.
It has to be stressed that the drug market also played a major part in the local rise of criminal activity which was pointed out by the New York Times journalist Alec MacGillis in his article entitled “The tragedy of Baltimore.” As
MacGillis writes, „Violence was epidemic in Baltimore in the late 1980s and early 1990s, as it was in many other cities, as crack intruded into a drug market long dominated by heroin.“ Also, the author adds that „In 1993, the city crossed the 350-homicide mark. These were the years that inspired The Wire.” (Alec
MacGillis)
The drug problem is addressed also by Sean Zielenbach who writes „The exodus of jobs and residents from the area accelerated with the racially tinged Jarůšek 15 riots of the 1960s and the emergence of the crack cocaine market in the 1980s and early 1990s.“ (Zielenbach 321)
The underprivileged communities where these problems concentrate can be characterised also by racial segregation, since most of the residents in these areas are African-American. Of course, racial segregation is one of the things that has a long history in Baltimore. For example, this fact was pointed out by
Peter L. Beilenson and Patrick A. McGuire in their work Tapping into The Wire:
The Real Urban Crisis. They write that although during the 1930s African-
American people in Baltimore “represented one-fifth of the city’s population,
[…] they were confined to 2 percent of the city’s area.“ (Beilenson 3) This is stressed also by Afaa M. Weaver in her chapter “Baltimore before The Wire” where the author recollects her memories from the 1950s and 1960s, saying that the her childhood in Baltimore was highly segregated, just as was the childhood
(and present lives as well) of many of the shows young protagonists. (Weaver
16)
Thus, it can be argued that Baltimore’s problems, such as loss of population and businesses, racial segregation, poverty and drug market are all interconnected topics. But there are other problems as well that Sean Zielenbach highlights in his work in regard to Baltimore’s tragic condition. The author states as follows: “Exuberating the problem was Baltimore’s relative lack of housing diversity: attached single family rowhouses comprised fully 58 percent of the city’s resident units in 2000, while detached single-family properties made up only 13 percent of the total housing stock.“ (Zielenbach 316) Jarůšek 16
As one can notice, Sean Zielenbach asserts that one of the problems that the city of Baltimore deals with is the “lack of housing diversity” which is a point that is not mentioned frequently when talking about Baltimore’s biggest problems, but it is an important point, nonetheless. The disproportionate number of detached single-family properties in comparison to attached single family rowhouses is obvious from Sean Zielenbach’s paper and it also illustrates relative lack of diversity in housing units in which the characters of The Wire live.
The importance of housing diversity is one of the aspects that is stressed also by Jane Jacobs in her book The Death and Life of Great American Cities.
In her work the author states the following:
“In our American cities, we need all kinds of diversity, intricately
mingled in mutual support. We need this so the city life can work
decently and constructively, and so the people of cities can sustain (and
further develop) their society and civilization. Public and quasi-public
bodies are responsible for some of the enterprises that help make up city
diversity – for instance, parks, museums, schools, most auditoriums,
hospitals, some offices, some dwellings. However, most city diversity
is the creation of incredible numbers of different private organizations,
with vastly differing ideas and purposes, planning and contriving
outside the formal framework of public action.” (Jacobs 241)
Thus, according to Jane Jacobs’ assertion, a healthy, functioning city needs diversity which can of course take many forms. For example, in the ideal case a city should be able to offer its residents not only various types of housing Jarůšek 17 and dwellings, but also access to public areas such as parks, hospitals, schools etc. But this type of diversity is what the problematic neighbourhoods of
Baltimore lack which again only contributes to the problems that the city has been suffering from for many decades.
This of course brings us back to the catastrophic conditions that the local people still have to deal with today on a regular basis. They still have to lead their lives even in spite of their fear for their own well-being or well-being of their own children who can became easily become victims just as the 18 year old boy DaVonte Friedman and the 17 year old boy Anthony Grant did. Their tragic stories were discussed in the beginning of the chapter. The ever-present dangers of the streets of Baltimore and the resulting fear in which the locals are forced to live in is also highlighted by Sean Zielenbach in his paper. The author states:
“Residents fear for their safety after dark in many parts of core central west
Baltimore, as drugs and related violence remain a part of neighbourhood life.
(Zielenbach 319) And the physical decay as well as pervasive poverty of the core area makes this problem gradually even more dramatic and serious. (319)
Furthermore, as these problems are highly complex and they have a long history in Baltimore, there is no simple solution to the people’s existential problems. In regard to the city’s poverty, Sean Zielenbach adds that “Part of the problem lies in the residents‘ employment capacity. Many of the un- (or under-
) employed individuals lack the requisite skills for even entry-level positions, and underlying issues of drug addiction and personal development further affect their employability. Unfortunately, there are relatively few human development programs (such as drug rehabilitation and job-training efforts) in west
Baltimore.“ (321) Jarůšek 18
Thus, as the chapter illustrated, the problems that the city of Baltimore faces (and has faced for decades) are extremely serious and they effect the everyday life of the local residents to the worst possible extent because they have to fear for their very survival. The neighbourhoods of the inner city deal not only with dangerous drug market and gang-related activities, but also with extreme level of poverty, lack of job opportunities, substandard housing conditions and a wide range of other critical problems.
And this is exactly the dark and aggressive world that The Wire brings us in. It should be also pointed out that there were several attempts to make the conditions in Baltimore’s most problematic areas, but they were not successful.
This is stressed also by Sean Zielenbach who states as follows: „External efforts to create strong local non-profits in the core central west side have generally failed.“ (324) Thus, people living in these terrible social and economic conditions are left to fight for their own survival which in many cases leads to the early death of local children whose desperate situation eventually leads them to getting involved with the local gangs.
Jarůšek 19
2. Poverty and lack of financial opportunities
The present chapter deals primarily with the topic of poverty which is here identified as one of the main reasons why the children in underprivileged communities tend to get involved with gangs and criminal activities.
The problem of unfavourable economic conditions is an important theme that Loretta J. Brunious deals with in her work Constructing Social Reality: Self
Portraits of Black Children Living in Poverty. In the book the author asserts the following: “Poverty is a highly complex social phenomenon. In the United
States, it is pervasive in predominately black areas and directly influences the cognitive and emotional development of children, as well as the very basic fact of survival.“ (Brunious 8) The author makes an important observations which is that predominately African-American neighbourhoods often suffer from critical economic conditions which is something that can be easily observed throughout
The Wire’s five seasons.
Vast majority of the show’s black characters that are presented to the audience live in terrible poverty which of course applies both to adult people as well as children who in some instances even live without their parents. For instance, the character of Wallace, a 16 year-old boy, is shown to reside in a rundown building where he is accompanied by several other even younger children with not adults to take care of them. Thus, Wallace helps the kids to get food thanks to the money he earns by selling drugs – an activity which he has been engaged in for several years.
Of course, the character of Wallace is no anomaly and virtually everyone else in the poor neighbourhood lives in similarly drastic conditions. And since Jarůšek 20 there are very few opportunities of earning money in a legal way, many local residents, and mainly children, are forced to engage in illegal activities.
The relationship between economic conditions and the level of crimes is an important one because these topics are deeply interconnected. This is also something that is observed by Albert H. Hobbs in his work “Relationship
Between criminality and Economic Conditions.” In the work the author writes the following: “For more than a century students of social conditions in Europe and America have investigated the relationship between criminality and economic fluctuations. Most of them have concluded that the volume of crime, or of certain types of crime, is influenced by economic conditions in general or by certain aspects of economic conditions.“ (Hobbs 5) In addition, a similar observation is made also by Olof Dahlbäck in his work “Urban Place of
Residence and Individual Criminality.” The author writes as follows:
“Criminality is greatest in areas where a large part of the population lives under unfavourable conditions; for example, where a large part of the population belongs to the lower social classes, where there are many broken homes, where average income levels are low, where overcrowding is rampant, and where housing standard fall below normal levels“ (531) This description fits perfectly on the type of an environment that the audience sees on The Wire. People live in buildings that are almost falling apart, there is extremely high level of unemployment and people are every day literally fighting for survival.
Thus, it can be argued that poverty is one of the reasons of Baltimore’s alarmingly high crime rate. In addition, it is also the inhumane conditions which is a part of the reason why children join gangs in such an early age. There is simply no other option for them to make money and pay for the most basic Jarůšek 21 human needs. As Tiffany Potter and C. W. Marshall mention in their book The
Wire: Urban Decay and American Television, „The Wire shows us an urban
America in which life becomes better and fuller for only a precious few.
Opportunity and innate ability seem not to have a place, since mere survival becomes a legitimate measure of success.“ (Tiffany Potter and C. W. Marshall
4) In other words, a decent life is a luxury that most people in Baltimore’s disadvantaged neighbourhoods simply cannot afford.
Peter L. Beilenson and Patrick McGuire in their work Tapping into The
Wire: The Real Urban Crisis make the following point: „If you live in an area with a solid education system, jobs that pay a living wage, access to health care, and decent housing, you, as an individual, are going to have a healthier, higher social status. All of which translates into well-being for you and the citizens of your community.“ (Peter L. Beilenson and Patrick McGuire 136) Thus, based on the authors’ assertion, a person’s ability to lead a decent life is determined namely by the environment that he or she lives in. If the neighbourhood provides its residents with adequate conditions, they have a greater chance to be successful and live comfortably.
But that is not the case for many residents in Baltimore’s inner-city. The people residing in the city’s disadvantaged areas are not able to lead a normal life since their very environment simply does not allow them to do so. As the author further state, “The real problem in too many cities is the lack of opportunity for people to be successful. When you have opportunity, life turns out better, period. So many folks in Baltimore City just do not have the basic opportunity. They grow up in conditions that a human being can’t really grow in. By design, behaviours that are unhealthy will manifest themselves in these Jarůšek 22 environments.“ (140) In other words, the characters that the audience is presented in the discussed TV show simply do not have the most basic chance to lead a normal life without fearing for their own lives. Due to their environment’s condition and lack of opportunities to make their lives better, they are forced to fight for their lives by any means necessary even if it means resolving to illegal activities.
This can be observed primarily in the case of the young characters such as Wallace, Bodie, Poot or D’Angelo in the Season One or Michael, Namond and others in the Season Four. They, just as the adults who have failed to take care of them, are fighting for their very survival and in their context, this means joining the gang which can provide them with at least some sort of opportunity to temporarily survive, although they are exposing themselves to losing their freedom. Thus, as Peter L. Beilenson and Patrick McGuire add, „In a lot of ways the kind of actions people take are very rational. They’re for survival but they also land them in jail.“ (140-141) Joining the gang is for the children “rational” since they do not see any other option of surviving. Joining the gang seems natural to them. Or as Rafael Alvarez in his work The Wire: Truth Be Told puts it “they simply wade into it, like the high-school sophomore who walks into a hamburger joint and asks for a job.“ (Alvarez 299)
Also, it should be noted that the leader of the local gang organization in the TV show benefits from the fact that children work for him in several ways.
As James Braxton Peterson explains in his chapter “Corner-Boy Masculinity:
Intersections of Inner-City Manhood,” by allowing young kids to work for him, the drug lord “accomplishes (at least) two objectives: first, since the majority of the corner boys are younger that the age of legal responsibility they function as Jarůšek 23 buffers for the bosses, automatically circumventing the criminal justice system; and second, by recruiting the youngsters of the youth, the drug organization indoctrinates them into the central 'code of the street '.“ (108-109) Thus, the drug lord provides the children with an opportunity to earn money, but he does so in order to be able to control them and to make his organisation grow larger.
The economic reasons for joining a gang are also one of the things that is highlighted by Loretta J. Brunious where she writes that when several eight graders in Chicago’s Englewood were asked why kids get involved with gangs, they replied “to get help, protection, respect and money.” (Brunious 14) And this applies also to the children presented in The Wire who are willing to risk their lives and safety in exchange for the opportunity to survive in the world they are trapped in.
Olof Dahlbäck in his work asserts that the communities in which people often resolve to delinquency can be characterized by the so called “Social disorganization,” which is “a concept that has been much used in ecological criminology since its use by two researchers in a study on urban crime”
(Dahlbäck 530) Furthermore, the author states the following:
The researchers found that 'delinquency areas' in the city tend to be
socially disorganized as measured by their low social cohesion, high
mobility, and great ethnic heterogeneity. The high level of crime in
these areas is believed to be due largely to the fact that this
disorganization leads to deficient social control of young residents.
Since the degree of disorganization varies between areas, it may seem Jarůšek 24
natural to assume that the area affects the criminality of individual
residents. (530)
This description of what the concept of social disorganization looks like in the real world very aptly describes also the world that the audience sees on
The Wire. Due to racial segregation by which the areas are affected even today, the neighbourhood where the children live can be characterized by “great ethnic heterogeneity” and the conditions of the city lead to “deficient social control of young residents.” Subsequently, the children who feel unable to succeed in any other possible way get involved with the gang where they become “pawns” who are expected to behave accordingly to the orders they receive from the head of the criminal organization.
This sense of hierarchical order of the gang is nicely illustrated during one of the scenes in Episode 1.3. In the scene D’Angelo explains the rules of the game of chess to two other gang members, namely Wallace and Bodie, and he equates the roles of individual chess pieces to the different roles assumed in the gang by its members:
D’Angelo: Look, check it, it’s simple. See this? This is the kingpin. And
he the man. You get the other dude’s king, you got the game. But he’s
trying to get your king, too, so you gotta protect it. Now the king, he
moves one space any direction he damn choose, ‘cause he’s the king.
But he ain’t got no hustle. But the rest of these motherfuckers on the
team, they got his back. And they run so deep, he really ain’t gotta o
shit.
Bodie: Like your uncle. Jarůšek 25
D’Angelo: Yeah, like my uncle. You see this? This the queen. She’s
smart, she’s fierce. She moves any way she wants as far as she wants.
And she is the go-get-shit-done piece.
Wallace: Reminds me of Stringer.
D’Angelo: And this, over here, is the castle. It’s like the stash. It moves
like this. And like this.
Wallace: Dog, stash don’t move, man.
D’Angelo: Come on, yo, think. How many times we moved the stash
house this week? Right? And every time we move the stash, we gotta
move a little muscle with it, right? To protect it.
Bodie: True, you’re right. All right. What about them little bald-headed
bitches right there?
D’Angelo: These right here, these are the pawns. They’re like the
soldiers. […] And they like the front lines. They be out in the field. […]
The pawns, man, in the game… the get capped quick. They be out the
game early. (1.3)
Thus, the game of chess can be interpreted as a metaphor for the way the
Barksdale organization works. D’Angelo’s uncle Avon is the king since he is the head of the gang and Stringer, who is Avon’s left hand, is represented by the queen because he is the one through whom Avon sends most of his orders. He makes sure that everyone works the way they should, and he protects Avon from any harm. Bodie and Wallace are the pawns, they are the ones “out in the field”, the ones who sell Avon’s drugs and when they have to, they even kill people. Jarůšek 26
They are the ones who is exposed to most dangers, that is why “they get capped quick.”
As one can see, the ones who are exposed to most of the violence are the kids themselves. And due to their position in the gang they are frequently ordered to be the perpetrators of the violent crimes themselves. Over the time, this way of life might start to appear normal to some of these kids. As Loretta J. Brunious explains, “One of the primary reasons children kill themselves and others, is that a culture of violence is nurtured and perpetuated throughout society. They live in a society of violence that perpetuates drug trafficking, child neglect and abuse, teen-age pregnancy, penal institutions and other causative factors relating to the crisis adolescents face in impoverished communities nationwide.“ (Brunious 33)
Thus, the environment in which violence is normalized highly contributes to the violent crimes that are committed by children. For example, this can be seen in
Episode 1.12 in which Poot and Bodie are instructed to murder their friend
Wallace:
Bodie: You’s a weak-ass nigga, man.
Wallace: Y’all my niggas, yo. We boys.
Bodie: You’ve brought this on yourself.
Wallace: Why it gotta be like this? You my niggas from B.C.,
remember that?
Bodie: Come on, you wetting your fucking pants, like you a little
boy. Be a man! Stand up like a motherfucking man.
Wallace: That’s us, man. (1.12) Jarůšek 27
But despite his pleading, the two boys he grew up with fatally shoot him, leaving him to die in a deserted building. The scene also offers an interesting detail that might go unnoticed by most viewers. In the scene, there can be noticed a poster of the rapper 2Pac behind Wallace’s back and the choice of this poster is not at all accidental. On the contrary, it has a significant symbolic meaning.
Apart from the known fact that the famous artist died by being fatally shot
(which applies also to the character of Wallace), he also during his teenage years lived in Baltimore where he attended a local school. (Tupac: Resurrection
Documentary) Thus, this scene can be interpreted in a way that the authors of the show are trying to convey that the famous rapper could have easily found himself during his teenage years in the same situation as Wallace, and therefore none of his art that has influenced over the years millions of people all over the world would be created. Also, there might have been dozens (if not hundreds or thousands) of similarly talented people in Baltimore who never got the chance to express their talent because they were murdered in a very young age like the character of Wallace.
Thus, it can be argued that one of the primary reasons why young boys living in disadvantaged neighbourhoods in urban areas get involved with gangs is the fact that the generally catastrophic conditions of their environment do not give them an opportunity to lead a regular life. They are forced to fight for their own survival on a daily basis. Due to the lack of opportunities and pervasive poverty typical for the ethnically homogenic inner-city of Baltimore, they decide to get involved with gang and criminal activities even though it puts them at risk of being arrested, or in the worst case being killed, perhaps even by one of their friends like Wallace. As Peter L. Beilenson and Patrick McGuire state, “acts of Jarůšek 28 violence are more likely to result in death or severe injury in the United States that elsewhere because of the incredible prevalence of handguns“ (Peter L.
Beilenson and Patrick McGuire 126) and this contributes to the fact that many children in Baltimore (but other American cities as well) become victims (or even perpetrators) of such crimes. Unfortunately, as Loretta J. Brunious states,
„Violence has become a way of life for many of our children who live in poverty and despair“ (Brunious 34) and there is probably very little that can be done to help them unless major changes in the city are implemented.
3. Dysfunctional school system
The present chapter deals with the topic of Baltimore’s dysfunctional school system which is another important factor that contributes to the fact that children from disadvantaged neighbourhoods frequently tend to look for the help in local gangs.
Most of the official institutions that the audience can see on The Wire are presented as failing or stricken with problems due to which they are not able to function properly. This can be said not only about the police department which is demanded to make arrests of street-level criminals which could compromise the investigators’ attempt to develop a solid case against the head of the local criminal organization Avon Barksdale, but one of the failing institutions is also the local school attended by children from the city’s most dangerous neighbourhoods.
Jace Jacobs in her book asserts that „In bad neighbourhoods, schools are brought to ruination, physically and socially; while successful neighbourhoods improve their schools by fighting for them.“ (Jacobs 113) According to the Jarůšek 29 author, a successful neighbourhood can be characterized by a well-functioning school system which is supported by the local community, whereas schools in bad neighbourhoods are ruined both “physically and socially.” This is something that applies also to schools presented by the show’s creators. Even though there are certain characters that care about the school’s tragic current state and want to change it, for example the character of Roland “Prez” Pryzbylewski, the
Baltimore City school system is depicted as drastically failing and thus contributing to the children’s choice to lead a criminal lifestyle.
But even in spite of Roland “Prez” Pryzbylewski’s good intentions to help the children the audience can see him at first as clearly unprepared do deal with children who come from this type of an environment. To illustrate this point, we can use, for example a scene from Episode 4.3 in which a fight breaks out during Pryzbylewski’s math class. One of the girls assaults one of her female classmates, leaving her on the floor in a pool of blood. Pryzbylewski is clearly shocked by this scene and is virtually unable to move. He knew that teaching underprivileged kids would be difficult, but he was obviously not prepared for this type of a situation to happen. On the other hand, Michael Lee, one of the students, seems more or less indifferent about the horrific scene because where he comes from violence is a part of his everyday reality – and so it is for many of his peers.
As Rafael Alvarez notes in his book, „The season [number four] paints and unforgiving portrait of educational dysfunction” where “jaded administrators roam the neighbourhood each fall to round up students for a single day of school – just enough to ensure state funding is preserved. Teachers worry more about 'teaching to the test' than about actually teaching the students Jarůšek 30 anything.“ (341-342) Thus, instead of being interested in the kids’ education and their future ability to find decent jobs, we are presented with a situation where the school is more concerned with its financial state and instead of passing valuable information onto the children the teachers tend to simply “teach them to the test” just so the kids can leave the school and be replaced by new students.
But, as Alverez points out, „It is far from atypical; many real-life Baltimore schools are failing“ And although the system has made over the years some progress, the school system still does not provide the students from underprivileged areas with help and attention they need. (347) This unfortunate fact is highlighted also by Sean Zielenbach who writes as follows: “Baltimore’s public school system consistently rates as one of the worst in the state in terms of student performance, and the high school serving central west Baltimore have typically fared that the city average.“ (321-322)
Yet, the failing school system is something that most of the people the audience sees on the show perceive as normal and not alarming, including the children’s own parents who only “nod in recognition, no longer shocked by bad news coming out of the schools.” (342) Meanwhile it is primarily the children themselves who suffer the most from the educational system’s dysfunction.
There could be numerous good students who might succeed in the academic world if they were given a chance, but since the Baltimore City school system does not provide them with such opportunities, their ability to one day lead a normal life where they do not have to worry for their lives is drastically undermined. Thus, the system loses “countless good kids like Randy and Dukie”
(342) mainly because the school’s inability to cultivate the children’s development. Jarůšek 31
This notion is also something that was highlighted by the former president of the United States of America Barack Obama. In a conversation with the show’s main creator David Simon he stated the following: “Ultimately you have to address some of the environmental issues. [..] What we understand [..] is that if kids are left so far behind that they don’t have a recourse, they’re going to see what else is available to survive.” (The Obama White House) In other words, when children from certain disadvantaged neighbourhoods are neglected not only by their parents or other people in their environment, but also by important official institutions like schools which play a significant role in their development as well, they start to look for other means of survival which for many of those children means getting involved with gangs.
But there is also another problem that effects the kids’ ability to succeed in schools. As Alvarez explains, “many thousands of Baltimore children are sent to school poorly prepared to learn.”(Alvarez 342) And indeed, a vast majority of these kids come from the environment in which they are forced to struggle for survival and their own parents are not supportive about the children’s ability to succeed in their school subjects. They simply do not care about their school results. “Poverty, crime, and drug abuse define many of their lives, and financial instability forces many families to move through the school year, disrupting kids’ educations. Students arrive from homes without books or a sense of reading, much less a love for it. In many cases the parents themselves struggled in school and don’t appreciate the value of education.” (342) Thus, the dysfunctional school system ultimately contributes to the children’s descent into the criminal world, but also the conditions of their lives often do not allow them to pursuit school achievements in the first place. Jarůšek 32
This fact was pointed out also by Brian White, a teacher who worked in a school attended by children from these poverty-stricken areas: “It’s so rough at home that a lot of these kids are raising themselves. They were 12 going on
20. They’ve got other things to worry about than a teacher saying, 'Where’s your homework?' For some of these kids, school is not the No. 1 priority. Survival is their No. 1 priority.“ (344) A similar observation is made also by Loretta J.
Brunious who writes as follows: “Given the psychological turmoil of adolescence and the social reality in which black, disadvantaged adolescents exist, it is little wonder that the academic performance of these youngsters is so precarious.“ (Brunious 14) Therefore, the ability to make their future lives potentially better by getting proper education is in the case of most of those children from underprivileged neighbourhoods undermined not only by the fact that the school system itself is not prepared to provide them with what they need, but also their lack of achievements in schools is also determined by the fact that the conditions of their environment simply do not allow them to succeed.
Therefore, they are trapped in the world where they often become subjects of social oppression.
In regard to this topic, Loretta J. Brunious in her book states the following:
The social oppression of black adolescents reared in poverty offers a
penetrating insight into substandard housing, miseducation, police
brutality, corrupt politics, deplorable sanitary conditions, inadequate
health facilities, damaged self-concepts and institutional racism. They
are forced to cope with these oppressive forces and rely on the “Street
Institution“ for their “support“ and “education.“ Again, the “social Jarůšek 33
facts“ have a direct impact on their total development and their
construction of reality. (Brunious 33)
In other words, children from disadvantaged neighbourhoods are exposed to various destructive elements, these elements subsequently make it almost impossible for the kid to develop in a healthy way. Specifically, they are not able to attend school, find a job and stay away from gangs. But, since these negative
“social facts” are a part of their everyday life, their view of the world becomes distorted. Ultimately, they stop trusting the official institutions like schools or police departments because they feel neglected by them and they start to seek
“education” and “safety” in the local “Street institution” which in the case of the children depicted by the show’s creators is the dangerous Barksdale criminal organization.
In addition, as Rafael Avarez in his book states, “The reality is that the hardships that cripple so many of the city’s families, particularly drug abuse and poverty, and the lure of the streets, are far too powerful for many young people to overcome.“ (348) Thus, due to the fact that the local school system is not able to prepare the children for their future life and also due to the fact they come from the environment where they have to worry about their very survival, young kids are not able to succeed in school and rather they look for the refuge in the open arms of local gangs.
4. Uneven distribution of recreational space
The present chapter briefly discusses the topic of importance of recreational spaces. The paper argues that such spaces might help the children who live in disadvantaged neighbourhoods to engage in healthy activities rather Jarůšek 34 than being involved in drug trafficking and similar illegal activities in such a young age.
Jane Jacobs asserts that in order for children in cities to live a healthy life “they need a variety of places in which to play and to learn. They need, among other things, opportunities for all kinds of sports and exercise and physical skills.“ (Jacobs 80-81) But as one can see in The Wire, the local children suffer from a terrible and almost complete lack of access to such places that would help them to develop in a positive way.
This point is stressed also by Peter Clandfield in his chapter “'We ain’t got no yard': Crime, Development and Urban Environment” where the author states that “uneven distribution of recreational space is […] one of the real iniquities The Wire depicts.“ (Clandfield 45) In order to illustrate this disproportion of recreational space in Baltimore, the author furthermore describes scenes from one of the episodes in the Season One. “Episode 1.04, for example, pointedly juxtaposes the suburban soccer match of McNulty’s young son with scenes of children playing on inner-city sidewalks and using improvised basketball hoops on the grounds of Franklin Terrace.” (45) Thus, whereas white kids who have the privilege to live in the suburbs of the city, away from the many horrors and dangers which are a part of every day’s reality of the children who live in the inner-city, can enjoy access to playgrounds and participate in sports activities in their spirit time, the children from the West
Baltimore who are isolated in problematic neighbourhoods have very limited opportunities to patriciate in such activities since there are no playgrounds or recreational spaces in their locality. Jarůšek 35
The importance of these types of spaces and recreational areas is highlighted also in the manual entitled “Rising above Gangs and Drugs: How to
Start a Community Reclamation Project” which was created by the Office of
Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention based in California. The manual was prepared by Billie Sargent Hatchell and in it the author states that the aim of these recreational areas is “to teach youth discipline and sportsmanship, to integrate schools and recreation centre activities and to provide youth with a positive alternative to gangs and drugs.” (Hatchell 129) Thus, one can notice that the recreational centres and playgrounds for sport activities can play a major role in the children’s life when they are growing up in problematic neighbourhoods with high crime rate mostly caused by local gang members. In other words, these places of recreation can help children not to get consumed by the dangerous world of drugs and violence.
But as the show’s creators show the audience, these types of sport centres and recreational areas are absent in Baltimore’s disadvantaged neighbourhoods. But, on the other hand, there is a at least one person who realizes the importance of such places and tries create one in order to provide the local children with some positive alternative to the criminal lifestyle. The character in Dennis “Cutty” Wise, a former gang member and convict, who, after spending fourteen years in prison, decides to open a boxing gym in the neighbourhood. But in order to do this he needs money and so, in Episode 1.11, he decides to ask Avon Barksdale for help. The audience finds out that Cutty needs the sum of ten thousand dollars but, perhaps quite unexpectedly, Avon gives him the requested money plus another extra five thousand dollars. At this moment the audience can see Avon in a new light because up until this point he Jarůšek 36 has been presented more as a cold-blooded killer who does not hesitate when he has to give an order to kill someone, but suddenly he appears also as a person who in fact cares about his community. A former boxer himself, Avon is very likely aware of the important role that such a sport centre could play in the neighbourhood. But this also raises the problem of the official local organizations’ and government’s disinterest to finance such facilities. As Peter
Clandfield further states in his work, “The fact that it takes drug profits to support facilities to divert youth from the drug trade implies an indictment of official neglect of importance of recreational opportunity.“ (Clandfield 45)
Therefore, one can notice that there is a severe problem in Baltimore when it comes to distribution of playgrounds and recreational centres. Whereas children in predominately white suburbs enjoy the access to such areas, African-
American children isolated in disadvantaged neighbourhoods in the city’s core have very limited opportunities to engage in sports activities. And that is even despite the fact that these activities can play an important role in crime prevention since these recreational centres can provide the local children with positive alternative to a criminal life. And as such, due to the absence of organizations that would be willing to solve this problem by building playgrounds and recreational areas, the local people have to rely on themselves and their own efforts to open these sports centres which can help to safe children from the dangers of the streets.
5. The importance of role models
The present chapter argues that one of the main factors that negatively influence the development of young male characters in The Wire (as well as in Jarůšek 37 real-life neighbourhoods) is also the lack of positive male role models and father figures in the boys’ lives that would provide them with proper guidance and strong ethical principles.
The significant role that these parental figures play in the lives of young black males is highlighted by Patricia A. Thomas in her work entitled “Father
Presence, Family Structure, and Feelings of Closeness to the Father among Adult
African American Children.” In her work, the author states the following: “Male role models are very important in the lives of African American youth.“ (Thomas
531) In addition, according to the author, it was “found that almost two thirds of the African American youth […] described their fathers as their male role models.“ (531) Thus, as one can notice, the role of father figures should not be taken lightly in the context of African-American families, since many young boys look up to their fathers and view them as their role models.
But at the same time, in a lot of cases there is a pressing problem with the father’s presence in black families and many boys are therefore forced to grow up without a father figure in their lives. As Patricia A. Thomas explains,
“African American children are 11 times more likely than are White children to be the offspring of never-married parents and to live with only one of those parents. The majority of African American children younger than 18 do not live with their fathers.“ (530) Therefore, in spite of the great importance of the father figure in African-American families, young black boys are in reality much more likely to grow up without their fathers around.
And this is exactly something that can be said about almost any boy from the show’s neighbourhood who often come from a broken family. They were Jarůšek 38 raised either only by their mothers (or grandmothers), or, in the worst cases, they are growing up without their parents altogether.
For example, in the case of young D’Angelo Barksdale, one of the most prominent young figures of Season One, the viewer can see that although he stays in touch with his mother, his father is not present (since he is presumably dead or in prison). Thus, the only male relative that he can look up to is his uncle
Avon Barksdale who is the head of the local criminal organization. And as we find out later in the season, all other male relatives of D’Angelo were leading this type of criminal lifestyle as well. This is revealed when the character states the following when interviewed by police investigators:
D’Angelo: Y’all don’t understand, man. Y’all don’t get it. I grew up in
this shit. All my people, man, my father, my uncles, my cousins… It’s
just what we do (1.13)
Thus, virtually all D’Angelo’s male relatives were a part of the game just as he is. In his family there was probably no father figure who would provide him with a positive alternative to the criminal lifestyle of other family members.
And since D’Angelo was forced to look up to his male relatives who were all involved in the criminal and violent way of life, he became involved in it as well just as he was expected to.
As Patricia A. Thomas in her paper further explains, “From a social learning perspective, children select attractive ethical role models and learn from them by observing and emulating modelled behaviour.“ (Thomas 589) And even though “There are many potential role models that children can look up to, […] parents represent an important type of role model for children.“ (589) Therefore, Jarůšek 39 according to the author, children generally look up for the much needed moral guidance primarily in their parents whose ethical principles they subsequently tend to adopt. But unfortunately for D’Angelo Barksdale, he lacks the luxury of being raised by both parents who would provide him with such guidance and therefore he observes behaviour of other people close to him, such as his uncle, who is portrayed as a ruthless drug kingpin and killer who doesn’t hesitate to order murders of people who might compromise his illegal activities.
After fully realizing how destructive the world he lives in is, D’Angelo finally admits that he wants to “start over.” (1.13) When talking to his mother, he even says that he “ain’t ready” and he “ain’t never gonna be ready for this game.“ (1.13) But, since his mother Brianna does not support his decision to leave the gang and does not want him to compromise the gang’s ideals, she persuades him that this is the way it has to be:
Brianna: Start over, huh? How the fuck you going to start over without your peoples? Without your own child, even? If you ain’t got family in this world, what the hell you got? [...] This right here is part of the game, Dee. And without the game, this whole family would be down in the fucking Terrace living off scraps. Shit, we probably wouldn’t even be a family. (1.13)
Once again, this underlines the lack of positive leadership in
D’Angelo’s life. Instead of supporting his son’s decision to leave the gang and
“start over” and caring for his freedom and safety, she persuades him not to do it. She even stresses that without the game, that is without this criminal lifestyle, their family would be “living off scraps” which again underlines the Jarůšek 40 unfavourable economic conditions as one of the reasons of engaging in these illegal activities.
But there are perhaps even more drastic examples of what the lack of responsible parents or the lack of a strong father figure and mentorship can result in. For instance, this can be seen in Season Four where the viewers are presented several new young characters and one of them is a boy named Michael Lee. As
Peter L. Beilenson and Patrick A. McGuire state in their book Tapping into The
Wire: The Real Urban Crisis, in spite of his very young age, the character of
Michael is “Responsible for his young brother Bug and weary of his drug- addicted mother” (Peter L. Beilenson and Patrick A. McGuire 98) and thus he is
“forced to take on adult roles at an early age.“ (98) Therefore, due to growing up without a father and only with his mother who is addicted to drugs, Michael is in a sense robbed of his childhood, as he is forced to take on the responsibility for his younger brother because there is no adult who would do so instead of him.
According to Loretta J. Brunious, this type of experience is not unfamiliar to many other black children throughout the United States of
America. The author in her work explains that “Many black children have had little of what is commonly termed ' a childhood.' Unlike most white children, many black children do not enjoy the luxury of a period of playtime and learning which extends into their late teens, since they often assume responsibilities and burdens of adulthood at a very early age.“ (Brunious 5) This seems identical to the way the character of Michael Lee is forced to grow up. He never gets to experience some of the most basic things that seem normal to most white children living in the suburbs, such as playing all day in the park or watching Jarůšek 41 their favourite cartoons on TV. Instead, he is put into a position where he has to take care not only of his own, but also has to take care of his younger brother because the adults in his life failed to do so.
Thus, Michael finds himself lost and without help during arguably the most important stage of his life in which most of his personality is being formed and developed. As Loretta J. Brunious explains “Because adolescence is co critical-the stage in which children stand between childhood and adulthood, the social construction of their reality is paramount in their development. This period is characterized by confusion, assertion, and the search for personal identity.“
(4) In other words, during this period of time Michael Lee tries to develop his identity and personality, but he is trapped in a world where he is burdened but adult responsibilities and is not offered a great deal of opportunities to get help.
In addition, Loretta J. Brunious furthermore elaborates on this notion.
The author states as follows:
Burdening children with adult responsibilities may inhibit their
passages through the usual stages of childhood development. In
addition to this burdening, children who live in poverty are forced to
cope with negative messages and images such as violence, gang graffiti,
warning signs to gangs and drug dealers, over-representation of liquor
stores in a one block radius, people of all ages 'strung out' and
congregating inside and outside of these 'establishments,' drive-by
shooting, and so forth. These 'social facts' come to constitute the
important elements, cognitively and affectively professed, for the Jarůšek 42
eventual construct of a social reality that is at once realistic and
potential destructive. (7)
Thus, the only “social facts” that Michael Lee knows are very traumatizing ones. More concretely, he is surrounded by drug gangs waging wars against each other, young people killed each other on almost daily basis and no adults in his life seem to be able to save him from this highly destructive environment. He is exposed to all of its dangers and has to cope with them on his own and since this becomes his everyday reality, he eventually becomes a part of it as he sees this as the only option of how to survive.
In addition, the way in which adults failed to provide Michael with a positive example is hinted later in the Season Four. In one of the scenes, his brother’s father is released from prison and upon coming back home Michael appears to have a clearly distrustful attituded towards the man. The reason is, although the authors of the show do not say this explicitly, Michael might have become a victim of sexual assault when he was young, presumably committed by the father.
This again only reinforces Michael’s lack of faith in adults in his life.
Eventually, in his attempt to survive and not seeing any other way to do so, throughout the season we can see him transform from an innocent looking young boy to a coldblooded killer. Or in other words, as the authors Peter L. Beilenson and Patrick A. McGuire put it, “He tries very hard to maintain the only identity he has been able to carve out of streets of chaos, that of loyal soldier in the drug wars.“ (Peter L. Beilenson and Patrick A. McGuire 135) Failed by parents and lacking a strong enough positive role model in his life, “He marches on, feeling Jarůšek 43 that his life holds no other option. He is one of the many gunslingers on these cheerless streets who believe they will be dead before the age of thirty.“ (136)
Although it is still not too late to turn his life around, it is far more likely that by leading this type of a lifestyle he would soon end up in jail or in a grave.
This of course is not a problem that happens only on a TV show but is frequent in the streets of real-life Baltimore and many other cities as well. For instance, an article by the CNN journalist Natalie Angley entitled "Former gang member helps at-risk youth," which was published on the news site The
Baltimore Times, offers a thrilling life story of an ex-gangster named Shanduke
McPhatter who grew up in highly disadvantaged neighbourhood in New York.
As the author of the article writes, “He was raised by his mother and never knew his father” and the former gang member himself stated the following: “Some nights, I had to eat a syrup sandwich. That was what dinner was. And that hunger will send you out to look for a different way, like going into the store to steal a cake or something to put food in my stomach. […] I believe that was part of a catalyst for me becoming angry and doing whatever I felt was necessary to survive. […] No leadership in my life. No meaning. Nothing to live for.”
(Angley) Thus, he became involved in criminal activities which at first started by stealing “a cake or something,” but his crimes gradually became more violent and later he decided to join a gang. (Angley)
But as one can notice, Shanduke McPhatter’s story of his childhood is not too different from the story of the character of Michael Lee. Similarly, as
McPhatter, Michael also grew up with “no leadership” and has “nothing to live for.” As such, he also has to do he feels that is “necessary to survive.” One can only hope that Michael’s story will not end tragically as in the case of many other Jarůšek 44 young black kids living in Baltimore, but hopefully he ultimately manages to turn his life around just as Shanduke McPhatter did. But probably a more realistic outcome of his life is that he will spend most of his life in prison, or in the worst case, he will be killed by another soldier of the game while he is still young.
Of course, it should be noted that in many cases the problem of young boys growing up without father figures in their lives who would provide them with leadership and at least some positive influence can be partly attributed to the so-called “War on Drugs” which led to many arrests of small non-violent criminals. This was pointed out also by the former president of the United States of America Barack Obama during a conversation with The Wire’ main creator
David Simon. The video was posted on the official YouTube channel The
Obama White House. During their talk Barack Obama stated the following: “A consequence of [the War on Drugs] was this massive trend towards incarceration, even towards non-violent drug offenders. [..] You’ve got entire generations of men being locked up. Which means an entire generation of boys growing up, either without a father, or if they’re seeing their dad, they’re seeing him in prison.” (The Obama White House) Thus, it can be argued that due to the
War on Drugs many young African-Americans living in disadvantaged neighbourhoods suddenly found themselves without their fathers even though the men did not commit a serious violent crime, while some of the most dangerous criminals stayed free. This is also something that is highlighted by
Peter L. Beilenson and Patrick A. McGuire. As the authors in their book state,
„The War on Drugs that the United States have been fighting in most places in the country consists of scooping up as many drugs addicts and low level dealers Jarůšek 45 as possible, as quickly as possible, and packing them into the criminal justice system willy-nilly. There is little effort to triage out the violent criminals from the nonviolent. In fact, the truly bad guys are left mostly alone.“ (Peter L.
Beilenson and Patrick A. McGuire 36) Thus, the War on Drugs in a way might have indirectly contributed to the emergence of new criminals, since young boys who were suddenly growing up fatherless in a neighbourhood occupied by dangerous criminals might have lacked the tools and guidance to stay away from this lifestyle and instead they subsequently became criminals themselves.
But it should be also noted that there is another layer to this problem.
There are not only young kids who started to have run-ins with the law because of the lack of positive role models and father figures. As the show also hints, such situation can also contribute to young kids using illegal drugs. For example, this can be observed in the case of the character of Wallace. At one point of the
Season One, a mutilated body is dropped by the local gangsters near the house where Wallace and other kids live. As the detective Jimmy McNulty describes the dead body, the gangsters “Burned him, broke fingers, gouged an eye out, all kinds of fun.“ (1.13) And of course, the gangsters intentionally chose to place the body to make their other potential enemies afraid. This is explained by
D’Angelo Barksdale who states the following: “They dropped the body where we’d see it. Send a message to the jects, they said.“ (1.13) And one of the people who saw the mutilated body was the character Wallace who became deeply traumatized by the experience. In this regard D’Angelo adds the following:
“Wallace, he couldn’t handle that. After seeing that, he wanted to get out, go back to school. We even joked about it, him being 16 and all, needing to go start back over again as a freshman.“ Thus, after seeing the dead body Wallace Jarůšek 46 realized what horrible world he is trapped in and wanted to find a way out. But in order to find some comfort, the viewers can see him starting using drugs, namely heroin. And this again ties in to the idea of the importance of some sort of a guidance young kids need because if Wallace had parents who would provide him with mentorship and offered him a safe place from the horrors of the street, he possible would not resolve to taking drugs in order to deal with the traumatizing experience.
At this point it should be noted that various torturing techniques were something that the man named Nathan “Bodie” Barksdale, a real-life Baltimore gangster that served as an inspiration for creating the show’s character Avon
Barksdale, was accused of by police during his criminal years. And as he himself admitted in an interview, when he was young, he became a victim of torture as well when he was accused of stealing money from another drug dealer.
(KOCHRECORDS YouTube) Thus, it is safe to assume that even children in the real-life Baltimore might have found themselves in a similar situation as the character of Wallace who discovered a mutilated body lying outside and subsequently became emotionally scarred by this violent image.
But there is yet another young character thar starts using heroin because of the environmental factors, and that is the character of Duquan "Dookie"
Weems. Similarly as Wallace and many other boys from the show, Dukie comes from a highly problematic household where he completely lacks any sort of guidance or leadership. In fact, at home he witnesses adults who tend to abuse drugs or alcohol. Thus, this is something that Dukie is familiar with from a very young age and it should not be surprising that he eventually starts using drugs heavily himself. Jarůšek 47
But the problem of drug abuse by children is not a problem that is present only in Baltimore. For instance, Jane Jacobs describes similar problem which she came across while living in New York City. The author states as follows: “when heroin began to be sold from one of the apartments, a stream of drug addicts filtered into the street“ (123), adding that even “some of the adolescents on the street were addicts, and more were becoming so.“ (123)
But apart from the danger of overdosing by drugs, Wallace and Dukie also expose themselves to catching “the bug,” which is a term used by the show’s characters in reference to HIV – a decease, which is transmitted not only by unprotected sex, but also by dirty needles. In fact, some of the drug users in The
Wire are revealed to already have HIV/AIDS because of their drug problem and that is something that might possibly happen also to Wallace and Dukie.
This danger is highlighted also by Peter L. Beilenson and Patrick A.
McGuire who state the following: “In many parts of the world, HIV/AIDS remains a huge and deadly epidemic. And even though attention to AIDS has waned in the United States since the mid-nineties, it is still a significant problem.“ (Peter L. Beilenson and Patrick A. McGuire 63)
As the authors add, there was an attempt to create somewhat safer conditions for the drug addicts in Baltimore. More concretely, there was introduced “a bill allowing Baltimore City to establish a needle exchange program by granting a dispensation from the state paraphernalia law was introduced in the General Assembly in Annapolis in 1993.“ (64) But unfortunately, the bill did not get enough support from the officials who argued that it would make it “easier for drug addicts to pursue their illegal habit“ (65) Jarůšek 48
Thus, people with this problem were frequently forced to use for example
“homemade syringes“ (68) and also some of the addicts “were picking up used syringes from the street or in some cases buying used syringes from opportunists at 2 dollars for a bag of ten.“ (68) And it is probably safe to assume that poor kids like Wallace and Dukie were not able to buy new syringes whenever they needed and so they possibly used ones that they found lying on the street.
Therefore, because of their uneasy situation and because of the lack of positive role models who would protect them from these dangers, Dukie and Wallace exposed themselves to the risk of contracting a deadly disease.
On the other hand, the show provides the viewer also with examples of kids who are actually in contact with their fathers, but they are not given the guidance they need. For instance, in the Season Four the viewers are introduced to a young boy named Namond who is a son of one of the gang soldiers named
Roland “Wee-Bey” Brice who is serving a sentence in the local prison. Even though Namond is involved in the drug trafficking he does not feel like he belongs into this world. Again, like so many characters in the show, he is trapped in this existence. But in his case, he is, shockingly enough, encouraged to continue in his criminal activities by his own parents. Thus, he finds himself unable to change his life for the better even if he actually wanted to. As Ralph
Believeau and Laura Bolf-Believeau state in their chapter “Posing Problems and
Picking Fights; Critical Pedagogy and the Corner Boys”, “Namond’s sense of being exists in the tension between the expectations of the role he should play and the possibility that he may not fit in that role.” (Ralph Believeau and Laura
Bolf-Believeau 94) Jarůšek 49
The boy’s feeling of being lost and afraid not to be able to live up to his parents’ expectations of being a ruthless gangster like Wee-Bay (his own father) is clearly illustrated in the following scene where Namond explains to the police officer Ellis Carver why he cannot go home to his mother named De’Londa:
Namond: Whant am I gonna do? Carver: I’ll run you home. Namond: I can’t go home. She expect me to be my father, but I ain’t him.
I mean, the way he is and shit. It just ain’t me.“ (4.12)
Therefore, the boy does not seem to have anyone close to him who would show him a positive alternative to the criminal lifestyle. On the contrary, he is encouraged to become criminal by his parents. The motivation of his mother can be viewed as her inability to see any other way for her son to provide money which she selfishly seems to want for herself as well, whereas Wee-Bay, being a gangster loyal to the Barksdale organization, has really nothing else to teach his son other than how to be a successful soldier. This is pointed out also by
Ralph Believeau and Laura Bolf-Believeau who state the following:
“De’Londa’s materialism drives her to push Namond toward underground economy of the drug trade and, at least initially, Wee-Bay’s limited sense of the world beyond his prison cell and the streets of Baltimore make him likewise complicit in the parental push to turn Namond into a criminal.“ (117) In fact, one of the very few lessons Wee-Bay is able to teach his son is to cut his hair in order to make it more difficult for the police to identify him:
Wee-Bay: “Even he white police lookin‘ out from three blocks away
gonna be able to spot you from every nigga out there.“ (4.6) Jarůšek 50
It is clear that in Namond’s case the lack of positive guidance and support from his parents is maybe even worse that in the case of some the other young characters. Some of the other kids are growing up without their parents, whereas
Namond’s parents are present (although he visits his father only in prison) but they both encourage the boy to lead the criminal lifestyle which will likely eventually result in his arrest or premature death. Thus, the lack of moral support and positive role models makes him feel trapped in a world which he feels he does not belong in.
In addition, it should be also pointed out that role models does not have to take only the form of one’s parents which is a point highlighted also by
Patricia A. Thomas who states that “parents are not the only influence on children's moral development.“ (Thomas 589) Since some of the boys grow up alone, the do not have any parents to look up to, and thus they look up to other people in their environment. But unfortunately for these children who live in this type of a decaying neighbourhood, the most prominent male figures in their environment are drug dealers and other criminals.
Patricia A. Thomas proceeds to explain that “individuals are likely to come across many potential ethical role models during their childhood. From a social learning perspective, the type of childhood role model (e.g., parent, teacher, coach) is not as important as having had exposure to such a model.
Ethical models represent an attractive and credible source of information for children to learn normatively appropriate behaviour.“ (589) For instance, they can start to look up to other gang members who are in the organization’s hierarchy above them. As the author states, “Supervisors are likely to be important models because their position in a prestige hierarchy makes them Jarůšek 51 attractive in that they enjoy status and power.“ (590) This assertion can be applied not only to people working in regular firms and corporations, but also to the young characters from The Wire who look up to their bosses who are in power.
For example, in Episode 1.1 we can D’Angelo overseeing a drug transaction in which Wallace takes customer’s money, calls Poot and he gives the customer his drugs. D’Angelo is not happy about this and instructs his workers in the following way:
D’Angelo: Look, you can’t serve you customers straight up after
taking they money. Somebody snapping pictures, they got the whole
damn thing. See what I’m saying? You get paid, you send they ass
off around the building, yo. Then you serve. All right? (1.1)
Then, in Episode 1.13 the audience is presented a similar scene. Except this time, it is the character of Poot who is in charge and thus oversees the local drug transactions and he sees one of his workers doing the very same mistake that D’Angelo pointed out to him. So, he call the worker over and says to him the following:
Poot: What the fuck was that? You take a nigger’s money, then
you serve him? What the fuck? I’m saying, you take their money,
then send them round and let some other nigger serve. The way
you doing it, someone snapping pictures got the whole deal. You
hear? (1.12)
Thus, as one can notice, Poot delivers basically the very same speech as
D’Angelo, his former boss, did which indicates that D’Angelo had a major Jarůšek 52 influence on Poot due to his position. Poot looked up to him and he acquired behaviour and principles that D’Angelo passed onto him in the past.
Therefore, children can be influenced by a wide variety of people in their environment, but since the environment presented in the show is dominated by predominately negative role models, such as drug dealers and killers, the boys who are exposed to their influence are highly likely to adopt the behaviour and views of those figures. Due to the fact that they live in this type of a world where most of them lack responsible parents of father figures that would provide them with mentorship and guidance, they start to turn to negative figures in their environment. Ultimately, they start to see the problems of their neighbourhoods as “normal” and they develop in a negative way because of the negative role models in their environment they are influenced by.
Jarůšek 53
6. Isolation and disconnection from the outer world
There can be also noticed a very interesting phenomenon which applies to many of the young characters presented on the show which is the fact that in spite of the horrible troubles that their environment is stricken by, it is still an inseparable part of their identity. A part of this can be explained by the social isolation they are forced to live in. Consequently, their neighbourhood is all they know, and they do not have not much of an idea of how the world works outside of their streets.
The notion of isolation from the outer world in the case of children who live in underprivileged neighbourhoods is also pointed out by Loretta J. Brunious who states as follows: „the residents of ghetto neighbourhoods have become increasingly isolated socially from mainstream patterns and norms of behaviour.
These children have been isolated residentially and socially.“ (Brunious 141)
Thus, in a sense, children from these decaying neighbourhoods live in their own world which does not share much commonalities with the world beyond their streets. They cannot relate to the people outside, because their everyday reality and experiences are vastly different.
This point can be illustrated on several concrete examples. For instance, in one of the scenes in Season One, Wallace is approached by a little girl named
Sarah who is having trouble with her homework.
Sarah: Yo, Wallace. What’s this about here here?
Wallace: This one here? “A bus traveling on Central Avenue begins its
rout by picking up eight passengers. At the next stop it picks up four
more, and then an additional two, while discharging one. At the next- Jarůšek 54
to-last stop, three passengers get off the bus and another two get on.
How many passengers are on the bus when the last stop is reached?”
Just do it in your head.
Sarah: Eight?
Wallace: Damn, Sarah, look. Close your eyes. You workin’ a ground
stash. 20 tall pinks. Two fiends come up and ask for two each, another
one cops three. Then Bodie hands you 10 more, but some white guy
rolls up in a car, waves you down, and pays for eight. How many vials
you got left?
Sarah: Fifteen.
Wallace: How the fuck you able keep the count right, but not do the
book problem?
Sarah: Count be wrong, they’ll fuck you up.
Although one feels proud for the girl’s ability to solve the alternative math problem presented by Wallace, it also implies a sad reality in which the girl lives in. Even though she tries to solve the math problem in the official schoolbook, she is ultimately unable to do so, but only after the math problem is put into a context that she is familiar with, in this case selling drugs, she solves it correctly without a hesitation. A viewer’s heart sinks when he finds out that she is expected to be able do keep the drug count right because otherwise she would be physically punished.
This clearly illustrates the local residents’ inability to function outside of their own world which is not something that applies only to adults, but as Jarůšek 55
Sarah’s example shows, this disconnection from the outer reality, that is the reality outside of their neighbourhood in the “formal” world. In other words, the streets are all they know, and their environment is a significant part of their identity.
And since most of the young characters have never been outside of the borders of their neighbourhood, they are very familiar with it and they have developed such connection to their environment that they how to function in it in order to lose police officers when they are being chased by them. For example, in Episode 1.9, the audience can see several police cars pursuing the car of Avon
Barksdale, the local drug lord, but eve despite they have him outnumbered and are equipped with walkie-talkies to communicate with each other, Avon is able to easily disappear in the web of streets he is so well familiar with, making the hopeless police officers seem incompetent and not as smart as him. Also, in
Episode 3.1, we can see a scene where the Baltimore police department uses all of its resources, such as a helicopter, an army of police officers, drug-sniffing dogs etc. in order to catch one of the young members of the gang who carries the stash of drug. But once again, the young residents can outsmart the police officers because they are not as familiar with the environment as the children are. After the police’s failure to accomplish their job, the character of Ellis
Carver, on of the detectives, jumps as a car and yells: “You don’t get to win, shitbird. We do!” (3.1) But the fact is that the little kid won.
This is pointed out also by Joanna Crosby in her chapter “This Ain’t
Aruba, Bitch” where the author writes as follows: “Carver, he’s fucking heroic: on the roof of the car, all articulate an’ shit. He is The Man. And yet, what’s it all for? The dogs, cars, and ‘copter? A hopper with a backpack. A backpack not Jarůšek 56 holding the stash, by the way. For which Carter prepped his troops before they began the bust: don’t go for the runner, he warns them. After the runner bolts, we see a kid grab a lunch bag and walk off. Dealers 1, police 0.” (Crosby 6)
Another evidence of how the local children are able to outsmart the police officers due to their knowledge of the streets can be witnessed in Episode 1.12.
In it, the female police detective Shakima “Kima” Greggs goes undercover in order to accompany Orlando Blocker, a police informant, during a drug trade.
After parking their car in a dark alley, detective Greggs tries to figure out where they are so she can potentially inform other officers of her position, but ultimately is unable to determine her location.
Greggs: Where are we? That sign said Longwood, but I could swear
this was Warwick.
Orlando: Hoppers be turning the sigh poles to fuck with y’all (1.12)
Thus, although the local people are isolated and disconnected from the outer world, they are very familiar with their environment where they are able to outsmart police officers. They can move in the neighbourhoods much more efficiently than the police officers because it is everything they know. They live in isolation but in cases like these if can work to their benefit.
But there are many other examples of this notion of disconnection from the outer world, some of which are of course not as sad and dark as in the case of the little Sarah who could not solve a basic math problem. For instance, in the case of the character of Wallace this disconnection becomes evident in the scene in which he is taken by detective Daniels to the countryside to live temporarily in safety with the boy’s grandmother whom he hasn’t seen in approximately 7 Jarůšek 57 years. Wallace’s and Daniels’ conversation starts just as they are getting out of the detective’s car.
Wallace: What’s that?
Daniels: What?
Wallace: That noise.
Daniels: It’s crickets. (1.11)
This scene is rather subtle, but again very important one in what it implies. Wallace, being a boy from Baltimore’s ghetto, is only familiar with the urban environment and the outer world feels somewhat alien to him. This is apparent in the moment when he hears an unknown sound of in the countryside and is confused about what that sound is, upon which Daniels has to inform him that it is produced by crickets. This might seem like common knowledge and very basic information to virtually every regular child of Wallace’s age, and probably even younger, but since he has lived his whole life in an isolated community, he lacks this information. In other words, if something is not present directly in his neighbourhood, he doesn’t know it.
After a short time of residing with his grandmother, Wallace makes his way back on his own to Baltimore because he is unable to find comfort there.
And when asked why he came back from the countryside back to the neighbourhood, Wallace simply replies “I guess it’s home.“ (1.12) He is torn out of his environment and needs to go back to what he knows best which is in fact the very only thing that he actually knows - his neighbourhood. This becomes even more evident during a conversation with his friend D’Angelo. In the scene Jarůšek 58
D’Angelo is surprised that Wallace does not know a certain restaurant in
Baltimore.
D’Angelo: This Here. Sterling’s, baby. We about to feast.
Wallace: What the hell is Sterling’s?
D’Angelo: Sterling’s, you know, up on 29th street? Don’t you know
nothing?
Wallace: Shit, If it ain‘t up on the Westside, I don’t know shit, you know.
‘Cause this shit… this is me, yo, right here.(1.11)
Therefore, it can be clearly seen that Wallace’s almost entire knowledge of the world consist only of what he sees and experiences “up on the Westside.”
The world beyond his neighbourhood seems alien to him and the only place he feels at home is the very same place where he balances every day on the thin line between freedom and jail, life and death.
But this is something that happens not only in the discussed television show, but also in real neighbourhoods. Jane Jacobs quotes in her book Dr. Dan
W. Dodson of New York University’s Center for Human Relations Studies who found out that in Manhattan’s West Side “Each [street] appears to be a separate world of its own with a separate culture. Many of the interviewed had no conception of the neighbourhood other than the street on which they resided.“
(Jacobs 120) This appears to be almost identical with the character of Wallace who, as was illustrated, also has no conception of the world beyond his own environment. Jarůšek 59
This sense of a strong connection of residents to their environment and other people in it, even though it is a decaying area, is highlighted by Jane
Jacobs. In her book, the author states the following:” Why slum dwellers should stay in a slum by choice [...] has to do with the most personal content of their lives. [...] The choice has much to do with the slum dwellers‘ personal attachments to other people, with regard in which they believe they are held in the neighbourhood, and with their sense of values as to what is of greater and what is of lesser importance in their lives“ (Jacobs 279) Also, with regard to the residents’ connection to their deteriorating neighbourhood, the author furthermore adds: “It is a big part of their life. They seem to think that their neighbourhood is unique and irreplaceable in all the world, and remarkably valuable in spite of its shortcomings.“ (Jacobs 279)
Therefore, according to Jane Jacobs’ assertion, no matter how badly damaged and disadvantaged a neighbourhood, or “a slum”, might be, its residents, or as the author calls them “slum dwellers”, still feel connected to their home environment. They choose to stay there in spite of all of the problems present in the area because it still represents “a big part of their life.”
The strong notion of the disconnection that the discussed show’s characters feel when they find themselves beyond their neighbourhood can be seen also in another scene. In it, the character of D’Angelo Barksdale decides to take his girlfriend and mother of his son to an expensive restaurant. After eating their dinner, D’Angelo looks rather nervously around the restaurant, which is filled not only, but mostly by white apparently well-off white people, and he asks his girlfriend the following: Jarůšek 60
D’Angelo: Think they know?
Donette: Do they know what?
D’Angelo: You know. What I’m about.
Donette: What you mean, Dee?
D’Angelo: Come on, you know, it’s like… we get all dressed up,
right? Come all the across town. Fancy place like this. After we
finished, we gonna go down to the harbour. Walk around a little bit,
you know? Acting like we belong down here, know what I’m
saying?
Donette: So? You money good, right? Dee, we ain’t the only black
people in here.
D’Angelo: It ain’t about that, it ain’t what I’m talking about. It’s
about where we… Come on, you know. I’m just saying, you know,
I feel like some shit just stay with you, you know what I’m saying.
Like, hard as you try, you still can’t go nowhere, you know what I’m
saying? (1.5)
This is another scene that clearly illustrates how the show’s characters feel disconnected from the outer world. Even though D’Angelo can afford buying a dinner in an expensive restaurant, he still does not feel like he belongs there which is something he is trying to explain to his girlfriend Donette. This becomes evident in the moment when D’Angelo states that “some shit just stay with you” and “[no matter how] hard as you try, you still can’t go nowhere.” In spite of the fact he is actually able to physically leave the neighbourhood and Jarůšek 61 visit a nice part of the town, the environment he grew up in is always present with him, making D’Angelo feel trapped.
This feeling of entrapment eventually leads D’Angelo to express his wish to start a new life in exchange for helping the police officers with their investigation of his uncle’s illegal activities. In an emotional scene, D’Angelo says the following:
D’Angelo: “I want to start over. I don’t care where. Anywhere. I don’t
give a fuck. I just wanna to go somewhere where I can breathe like
regular folk.“ (1.12)
As the viewer can notice, D’Angelo just wants to “breathe like regular folk”, he no longer wants to lead the life where friends kill each other, and where one can never be sure if he survives the day. D’Angelo’s feeling of entrapment becomes even more evident in the following monologue:
D’Angelo: “Y’all don’t understand, man. Y’all don’t get it. I grew up
in this shit. All my people, man, my father, my uncles, my cousins…
It’s just what we do. You just live with this shit until you can’t breathe
no more. I swear to God, I was courtside for eight months and I was
freer in jail than I was at home.” (1.13)
In spite of his criminal activity, it is easy to feel sorry for D’Angelo since at this point of the story he appears to be more of a victim of the environment that he grew up in rather than the person who would enjoy this was of life. As the character reveals, he comes from a family where virtually all male relatives and predecessors were (or still are, such as D’Angelo’s uncle Avon) involved with the gang activities. One can see that D’Angelo was not really given a chance Jarůšek 62 but to be a part of the criminal organization. As he says, “It’s just what we do.
You just live with this shit until you can’t breathe no more.” Thus, as it appears, a person like D’Angelo Barksdale is expected to became a part of the gang and is not given a real chance to leave, he simply has to live with it until he is either arrested and put in prison or killed like Wallace and many other young pawns of the game.
7. Vicious circle
Altogether, it can be seen that there are numerous complicated reasons why children or young adults get involved with criminal organizations. Some of the main factors that influence their decision include pervasive poverty in their neighbourhood, failing school system that would prepare them for future life, isolation, lack of responsible parents and positive role models in their lives or lack of recreational areas that would provide children with a positive alternative to the lifestyle of violence and drugs.
Due to the combination of all of these factors the children start looking for the means of survival that are available to them which in the case of most of them means becoming criminals. And as the final montage of the discussed show’s very last episode entails, unless serious changes are implemented in the way the city of Baltimore functions, there will not be a significant change in its residents’ lives. Jane Jacobs argues that “Slums and their populations are the victims (and the perpetuators) of seemingly endless troubles that reinforce each other. Slums operate as vicious circle“ (Jacobs 270) which is exactly what can be said also about the situation of Maryland’s capital. Jarůšek 63
Thus, as indicated in the show’s ending montage, as long as there will be such inhumane conditions in the city’s disadvantage neighbourhoods, there will always be extraordinarily high crime rate, there will always be pervasive poverty or alarmingly high level of drug-trafficking. In other words, unless there are some major changes implemented in the city, there will always the this type of an environment in which children are robbed of their childhood, where they are forced to take on adults’ responsibilities and where they have to look for any means of survival that are available to them. Therefore, in this environment children will always continue to engage in serious illegal activities and kids like
Michael Lee, who would have a chance to become a successful boxer if the circumstances were better, will grow up to become someone like Omar Little, a cold-blooded gangster who kills other gangsters for profit.
Also, apart from violent criminals, without proper guidance and health programs there will also always be young children, such as Duquan “Dookie”
Weems, who will become addicted to hard drugs at a very young age, risking not only getting overdosed or poisoned by a bad batch, but also contracting HIV.
As Jane Jacobs adds, “a perpetual slum is always going backward instead of forward, a circumstance that reinforces most of its troubles“ (277) and in some of these drastic cases the local community starts to resemble “a jungle.“
(277) This is one of the messages the show tries to convey to the audience – that in a decaying community in urban areas where all of the area’s major problems are interconnected and mutually influenced by each other, people will not have an opportunity to lead a normal healthy life like people in more fortunate neighbourhoods. On the contrary, they will live in a concrete “jungle” where Jarůšek 64 their only concern is to survive the constant and never-ending struggle.
Jarůšek 65
Conclusion
The present paper dealt with the topic of realism and social commentary in the award-winning television show The Wire from the creator David Simon.
Focused on the realities of some of the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods of the city of Baltimore, the television show managed to bring light to important questions regarding the condition that the residents of these areas are forced to live in. On the one hand, it could be argued that the show does not present the city in its entirety and only focuses on some of its problems which are not completely exclusive to Baltimore and can be found also in other American cities, such as Chicago and its dangerous area Englewood. But on the other hand, it should be noted that by focusing on these negative matters that have been associated with the city of Baltimore for decades and exposing them to millions of viewers all around the world, the show managed to raise a discussion about these topics which is a key part of being able to implement the much needed changes that would make the city function healthier and its streets would be more safer for its residents who in the city’s current state have to fear for their lives on everyday basis. Of course, these inhumane conditions have negative effect not only on the adult people who in these underprivileged areas, but also the children who are trapped in this type of a world. Many of these children subsequently get involved with local gangs or start to engage in other criminal activities.
Therefore, the aim of the present diploma is to identify some of the most important factors that force children from these disadvantaged areas into the criminal life where they can easily become not only victims of violence, but frequently also the perpetrators of such crimes. The present paper argues that Jarůšek 66 some of the most significant factors that contribute to the kids’ negative development include: poverty (and lack of economic opportunities), lack of positive role models in the children’s environment, dysfunctional school system, uneven distribution of recreational areas which would provide kids and adolescents with a healthy alternative from illegal activities, and disconnection from the outer world. In order to do so, the present paper analyses primarily seasons number one and four of the show, but the diploma references scenes from other seasons as well.
The first chapter of the diploma provides a historical overview of the decline of neighbourhoods in the inner-city of Baltimore. The paper argues that the riots of 1968 after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King can be viewed as one of the main accelerators of the city’s decay. Due to the escalating racial tension, violent crimes started to become more common than in the past which was one of the reasons of massive exodus of a sizable portion of residents and businesses from the inner-city to the suburbs. As a result, the housing market in the city’s core was drastically weakened and poverty became more pervasive.
This again contributed to the rise in crime offences which have gradually become alarmingly frequent. Baltimore’s crime rate started to become extremely high even in comparison to other big American cities where African-American communities live in rather isolated neighbourhoods. In fact, the last year’s crime rate per capita in Baltimore was the highest in the city’s history. Streets have become dangerous even for local children who live in constant fear for their lives and due to the neglect of official institutions they are not given a lot of chances to change their lives for the better. Jarůšek 67
The second chapter of the paper argues that one of the main reasons why the children who live in these underprivileged areas is the pervasive poverty and lack of economic opportunities. Due to the exodus of population and businesses decades ago, the urban environment presented in The Wire can be characterized by complete disorder and terrible living conditions. Most of the children and young adults come from families where no one in the several past generations had a stable job and thus their chances to actually get one themselves is almost non-existent. The only people from this environment who are presented as rich or well-off are the major drug dealers, such as Avon Barksdale, the head of the local criminal organization, which indicates to the children that this is their only way how to survive and earn money. Many researchers conclude that the relationship between poverty and criminality is of crucial importance, since many people who live in these underprivileged neighbourhoods do not see any other possibility to make money. Due to the general decay and neglect, they are not given the simple opportunity to be successful and thus they decide to get involved with gangs which offers them at least some form of financial opportunities by selling drugs. And in spite of the fact that because of this lifestyle the children expose themselves to the risk of losing their freedom or lives, they are willing to risk it because their poor neighbourhood does not offer them anything else.
The third chapter of the present diploma argues that another major aspect of the children’s choice to engage in illegal activities is the city’s dysfunctional school system. As The Wire illustrates, the school system in the city of Baltimore is not designed to help the students in their development but rather the administrators are more worried about the school’s budget. In addition, generally Jarůšek 68 speaking, teachers in these schools are not prepared to and competent enough to educate children from the city’s urban area. Therefore, since the students are not given proper education, their ability to find employment in the future is drastically minimalized, which once again undermines their financial possibilities. Also, due to the destructive environment that most of these children live in, their number one priority is not to do good in school but rather to fight for their very own survival which forces them to focus on other things than school in the first place. Thus, even though there are might be many students that would otherwise succeed in school and could find a decent job in the future, their ability to do so is crippled by the school’s dysfunction and the environment that they come from.
The chapter number four deals with the topic of uneven distribution of recreational space which is another factor that contributes to the fact that many children from Baltimore’s disadvantaged neighbourhoods tend to get involved with drug gangs. Several researchers assert that children’s ability to access playground or other recreational centres reduces their potential of engaging in criminal activities. But unfortunately, as the discussed television show reveals, most of the children in Baltimore’s decaying neighbourhoods do not have access to such facilities. For example, this is nicely illustrated in a scene in which a son of one of the show’s protagonists, who lives in the city’s predominately white suburbs, enjoys playing a soccer match, while African-American children who live in the city’s core are forced to play on streets with improvised equipment.
This of course points to the fact the while children in the city’s suburban neighbourhoods are taken care of by the city’s officials, the children who were born in the ghetto are neglected. This ultimately contributes to their criminal Jarůšek 69 activities since they do not have access to the recreational areas or sport centres that would provide them with a positive alternative to the criminal lifestyle. On the other hand, it should be pointed out that The Wire shows the audience one exception to this rule and that is the character of Dennis “Cutty” Wise, a former drug member and convict, who decides to open a boxing gym in the neighbourhood. But in order to do that, he is forced to asked Avon Barksdale, the leader of the local criminal organization, for finances. Even though Avon
Barksdale, a former boxer himself, agrees, the fact that the sports centre which aims to help the local children needs to be financed by drug profits only underlines the fact that the official organizations and people in the city’s government overlook the conditions of Baltimore’s poor neighbourhoods. Thus, the people have to rely on themselves.
The fifth of the chapter that another major reason why boys in Baltimore tend to get involved with the local drug gang is the lack of positive role models and father figures in their lives. As was discovered by various researchers, majority of young black males identify the father figures in their lives as their role models, but in a lot of cases African-American families, the father is not present which can be seen also in the case of almost every young boy depicted in The Wire. Most of the show’s boys do not have fathers who would provide them with guidance and strong ethical principles which would help them in during their adolescent years which are thought to be perhaps the most important period of their development. Due to this fact the boys are forced to look for other role models in their neighbourhoods that they could look up to, but there is critical scarcity of figures who would provide them with a positive image. For example, the character of D’Angelo Barksdale grows up only with his mother Jarůšek 70 and the father figure in his life is supplemented by his uncle Avon, the local drug lord. The lack of a positive role model is evident also in the case of the character of Michael Lee who grows up in a home where he is forced to take care of his brother Bug because there is no one else able to do so. Thus, he has to give up his childhood and take on the responsibilities of adulthood which ultimately contributes to his eventual “career” of a cold-blooded killer. On the other hand, the character of Namond does have a mother and visits his father in prison, but both of his parents actually encourage him to the criminal way of life which he does not want to engage in. Therefore, he feels betrayed and abandoned by the very people who are supposed to support him and protect him from jail or physical harm. We are also presented characters like Duquan “Dookie” Weems who comes from a home where adults are addicted to alcohol and heroin. This eventually contributes to the fact that he himself becomes addicted to hard drugs, exposing himself not only to the danger of overdosing, but also contracting HIV.
Thus, since most of the children and young adults come from broken homes and their neighbourhood is controlled by the local drug gang which many of their friends are a part of, some of the children adopt principles of the drug dealers who are higher in the organization’s hierarchy. They lack a strong positive figure who would show them they can lead their lives in a different way.
The last chapter of the present paper deals with the topic of isolation and disconnection from the outer world. As the show presents, the neighbourhood where the show’s young protagonists live is not only their natural environment, but it can be seen also as a part of their identity which is always present with them. For example, we can see this in the scene in which the character of
D’Angelo Barksdale visits a luxurious restaurant with the mother of his child, Jarůšek 71 but instead of fully enjoying himself, D’Angelo feels like he does not belong there because of where he comes from. Also, the inability to function normally in an environment other than their own is presented in the case of the character of Wallace when he is taken to the countryside to live temporarily with his grandmother. At first, he does not recognize the sound of crickets which underlines the idea that he has lived in the isolated urban neighbourhood for so long that he has no perception of basic things from the outer world. But it does not take long, and Wallace feels the need to come back to his neighbourhood which, in spite of all of its shortcomings, represents home to Wallace. He is willing to stay there even though he is forced to struggle for survival there and everyday his life is in danger. Thus, since the characters live most of their lives in the isolation of their own neighbourhoods, they start to adopt to all of its elements, even the destructive ones which become part of their reality. Thus, they start to see violent and drug trade as something “normal” and they become more prone to become a part of it.
In conclusion, one of the most important messages that the television show is trying to convey to the audience is that unless some major changes are implemented in Baltimore, the city’s most disadvantaged neighbourhoods will continue to destroy themselves and the streets will stay extremely dangerous. In other words, unless the city improves its overall living conditions and gives people more opportunities to lead a normal healthy life where they do not have to fear for their safety on everyday basis, future generations of children will continue do descent in the criminal life because it will be their only chance for survival.
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Works Cited
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Hobbs, Albert H. “Relationship Between criminality and Economic Conditions.” Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology (1931-1951), vol. 34, no. 1, 1943, pp. 5-10. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1137175. Accessed 2 April 2019. Jacobs, Jane. The Death and Life of Great American Cities. Random: New York, 1961. Print. KOCHRECORDS. “The Avon Barksdale Story / DVD Available on Demand 7.1.” Online video clip. YouTube, 4 January 2010. Web. 12 February 2019. Lincoln Quillian and Devah Pager. “Black Neighbors, Higher Crime? The Role of Racial Stereotypes in Evaluations of Neighborhood Crime.” American Journal of Sociology, vol. 107, no. 3, 2001, pp. 717-767. JSTOR. www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/338938. Accessed 28 March 2019. MacGillis, Alec. “The Tragedy of Baltimore” New York Times, 12 March 2019. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/12/magazine/baltimore-tragedy-crime.html. Accessed 11 April 2019. Michael E. Brown and Linda K. Treviño. „Do Role Models Matter? An Investigation of Role Modeling as an Antecedent of Perceived Ethical Leadership.” Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 122, no. 4, 2014, pp. 587-598. JSTOR. www.jstor.org/stable/42921459. Accessed 4 April 2019. Morris, Sara E. “Baltimore 68: Riots and Rebirth.” Reference & User Services Quarterly, vol. 53, no. 3, 2014, pp. 266-268. JSTOR. www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/refuseserq.53.3.266. Accessed 2 March 2019. Nix, Elizabeth M. “Constructing Public History in the Classroom: The 1968 Riots as a Case Study.” The Public Historian, vol. 31, no. 4, 2009, pp. 28-36. JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/tph.2009.31.4.28. Accessed 20 February 2019. Parker, Elizabeth et al. Examination of Youth Violence in Baltimore City 2002- 2007. Baltimore City Health Department, 2009. Web. 21 March 2019. Peterson, James Braxton. “Corner-Boy Masculinity: Intersections of Inner-City Manhood.” The Wire: Urban Decay and American Television. New York: Bloomsbury, 2013. Print. Potter, Tiffany and C. W. Marshall. The Wire: Urban Decay and American Television. New York: Bloomsbury, 2013. Print. Ralph Believeau and Laura Bolf-Believeau. “Posing Problems and Picking Fights; Critical Pedagogy and the Corner Boys.” The Wire: Urban Decay and American Television. New York: Bloomsbury, 2013. Print. Simon, David and Ed Burns, creators. The Wire: The Complete First Season. HBO Video, 2004. DVD. Simon, David and Ed Burns, creators. The Wire: The Complete Third Season. HBO Video, 2006. DVD. Jarůšek 74
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Summary
The present paper identifies five main factors that contribute to the fact that many children and young adults from Batlimore’s underprivileged communities tend to get involved with gangs and participated in illegal activities. These factors include poverty, dysfunctional school system, uneven distribution of recreational areas, lack of positive role models in the lives of the kids from disadvantaged neighbourhoods and their social isolation.
In order to do so, the paper analyses the social and economic conditions in some of the most problematic parts of the city of Baltimore as they are portrayed in the award-winning television show The Wire by David Simon which allows the audience to witness the existence of the local residents whose lives are often reduced to a constant battle for survival.
Keywords: The Wire, Baltimore, Criminality, Youth, Adolescents, Crime, Gangs,
Poverty, School, Role Models, Violence, Drugs Jarůšek 76
Resumé
Cílem diplomové práce je identifikovat a popsat hlavní faktory, které mají podíl na šíření kriminality mezi mládeží žijící ve vyloučených lokalitách Baltimoru.
Těmito faktory jsou dle zjištění autora především chudoba, nefunkční školní systém, nedostatek rekreačních zón, společenská izolace od vnějšího světa a nedostatek pozitivních vzorů, ke kterým by mohli mladiství v těchto oblastech vzhlížet.
Za účelem popsání příčin šíření kriminality mezi mládeží diplomová práce zkoumá společenské a ekonomické podmínky v oblastech, kde tito mladiství žijí.
Práce analyzuje jejich vykreslení v úspěšném seriálu The Wire - Špína Baltimoru, který je často vyzdvihován za svůj důraz na realismus a který divákům poskytuje pohled na existenci zdejších obyvatel, jejichž životy jsou často redukovány na holý boj o přežití.
Klíčová slova: The Wire - Špína Baltimoru, Baltimore, Mládež, Zločin, Školní Systém, Chudoba, Násilí, Gangy, Drogy