In Defense of the Wire

In Defense of The Wire Anmol Chaddha, William Julius Wilson, Sudhir A. Venkatesh Dissent, Volume 55, Number 3, Summer 2008 (whole No. 232), pp. 83-88 (Article) Published by University of Pennsylvania Press DOI: 10.1353/dss.2008.0098 For additional information about this article http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/dss/summary/v055/55.3.chaddha.html Access provided by University of Richmond __ACCESS_STATEMENT__ (Viva) (8 Jan 2014 17:32 GMT) ARGUMENTS In Defense of The Wire Anmol Chaddha, William Julius for black men without a high school diploma Wilson, and Sudhir A. Venkatesh would climb from 41 percent to 65 percent. In Baltimore, one-third of the adult black male population is jobless, a figure that probably exceeds 50 percent in ghetto neighborhoods, LTHOUGH WE agree that The Wire does and the urban high school graduation rate is not take on every issue relevant to life only 34.6 percent, compared to a suburban A in the inner city, John Atlas and Peter graduation rate of 81.5 percent—a gap of 47 Dreier do not sufficiently acknowledge its re- percentage points. markable contributions. Quite simply, The In our view, an unflinching focus on these Wire—even with its too-modest viewership— persisting crises is not irresponsible or gratu- has done more to enhance both the popular itously cynical. To be clear, we are not taking and the scholarly understanding of the chal- anything away from the critical work of groups lenges of urban life and the problems of urban like BUILD and ACORN. We would be wary, inequality than any other program in the me- however, of overly optimistic portrayals that dia or academic publication we can think of. present the active involvement of community Despite the show's critical acclaim, Atlas groups as sufficient counterweights to en- and Dreier fault it for four reasons: (1) The trenched structural forces, when as the above Wire's version of reality is only partly right be- figures so clearly reveal, a deepening crisis con- cause the show misses the positive aspects of tinues to mark ghetto neighborhoods across the changes brought about by collective activism; United States (2) The Wire reinforces white, middle-class The profound and widespread inability of stereotypes of inner city life; (3) the show's media to adequately cover grassroots activism characters are for the most part corrupt, cyni- is a misguided premise for attacking The Wire cal, and ineffective; and (4) The Wire misses and shortchanging its accomplishments. Com- what is hopeful, and therefore the show does pared to the countless television shows and not encourage America to change. movies in which good triumphs over evil and It is true that the grassroots organizations cliched games of cops and robbers indulge us and activists highlighted by Atlas and Dreier with a happy ending, in sharp contrast, The are not present in full force in The Wire's de- Wire has carefully depicted the ugly underbelly piction of modern-day Baltimore, and in gen- of urban inequality. eral these organizers and activists do not get The Wire is not a documentary but fiction. the attention and credit they deserve in the The writers created characters and plotlines mainstream media. However, the show is not that advance the story they wished to tell. What remiss in focusing on the shocking inequality is the story that The Wire sought to tell? Ac- and injustice that persist despite the heroic cording to its creator and chief writer, David efforts of these groups. According to Harvard Simon (previously a distinguished journalist at sociologist Bruce Western, incarceration rates the Baltimore Sun), the show initially set out for black, male high school dropouts in their to expose the drug war as a fraudulent attack twenties and thirties are nearly fifty times the on the urban poor and communities of color. national average. Western points out that if Subsequent seasons sought to examine the role prison and jail inmates are included among of other social institutions and social forces in those who are out of work, the true jobless rate creating and maintaining social inequality—the DISSENT / Summer 2008 n 83 ARGUMENTS disappearance of jobs and the devaluation of However, white, middle-class stereotypes labor, the inner workings of urban politics, the of inner-city blacks often reflect the Ameri- troubled urban education system, and the neg- can belief system regarding poverty and wel- ligence of mainstream media in its coverage fare, namely, that people fail to succeed in life of important local issues. Each character in the because of personal inadequacies. Indeed, five seasons—including police, gangsters, poli- Americans remain strongly disposed to the ticians, union officials, teachers, and journal- idea that individuals are largely responsible ists—serves the purpose of advancing these for their economic situations. In a series of storylines with unequaled success and rare surveys conducted between 1969 and 1990, nuance. the most-often selected explanation for pov- According to Simon, the central and erty was "lack of effort by the poor them- straightforward goal of The Wire was to show selves." In fact, more than nine out of ten that the "system" is broken and that it fails in- American adults thought that lack of effort dividuals and families. With its sophisticated was either very or somewhat important in critique of the structure of urban inequality, terms of causing poverty. Fewer than 10 per- the show drove this point home, although ap- cent felt that it was not important. parently with a "nihilism" that, for Atlas and Dreier, rendered the critique ineffective. How- HE WEIGHT Americans give to individu- ever, the community organizers they describe alistic factors persists today. A 2007 sur- would presumably agree that the "system" has T vey by the Pew Research Center profoundly failed their communities. We would revealed that "fully two-thirds of all Americans argue that the message of the show and the believe personal factors, rather than racial dis- work of the grassroots activists go hand in hand. crimination, explain why many African Ameri- The Wire exposes the systemic inequality that cans have difficulty getting ahead in life; just the activists and organizers are working tire- 19% blame discrimination." Nearly three quar- lessly to challenge and reform. Indeed, The ters of U.S. whites (71 percent), a majority of Wire suggests that, since attempts to reform Hispanics (59 percent), and even a slight ma- these institutions from within are doomed to jority of blacks (53 percent) "believe that blacks failure, the only way to challenge failed sys- who have not gotten ahead in life are mainly tems is through independent action unsanc- responsible for their own situation." In the face tioned by these very institutions. of these biases, The Wire effectively challenges We also take issue with Atlas and Dreier's such stereotypes by showing how the decisions contention that the show promotes white, people make are profoundly influenced by their middle-class stereotypes of the inner city. They environment or social circumstances—in other never really identify which characters reflect words, how they are constrained by structural what stereotypes. The portrayals in The Wire barriers. are anything but shallow caricatures of the ur- The Wire develops morally complex char- ban poor. Instead, the characters were consis- acters on each side of the law, and with its scru- tently drawn with sincere complexity—Avon pulous exploration of the inner workings of Barksdale (Wood Harris), the thug who physi- various institutions, including drug-dealing cally flinches when his nephew rejects him; gangs, the police, politicians, unions, public Russell "Stringer" Bell (Idris Elba), the cold- schools, and the print media, viewers become blooded shot-caller who introduces Robert's aware that individuals' decisions and behavior Rules of Order into gang meetings; Bubbles are often shaped by and indeed limited by— (Andre Royo), the junkie who is often a better social, political, and economic forces beyond detective than the police he serves as an infor- their control. Anyone who watches Season Four mant; and Omar (Michael Kenneth Williams), will come away with a clear understanding of the shotgun-wielding stickup artist who robs how the public school system has failed these drug dealers but pledges to never harm ordi- students and why the atmosphere in these nary citizens and who brazenly works with the schools is so devastating. Over the course of police to avenge the murder of his gay lover. that season, The Wire combats the misguided 84 n DISSENT / Summer 2008 ARGUMENTS belief that inner-city students themselves are urban poor, which utilizes a simplistic delin- largely responsible for their lack of educational eation between good and bad and right and achievement. wrong and assigns blame in all the wrong In criticizing the exclusion of activists and places, the show disentangles the complex organizers who are indeed working to improve structure of urban inequality and exposes its the conditions of the communities portrayed systemic roots. There are undoubtedly many in The Wire, Atlas and Dreier seem to want issues that Simon and his colleagues did not characters that represent the forces of good address. The problem, however, is not The against the evils that the show has accurately Wire. The real problem is that only one hour a exposed. But they also overlook real instances week was set aside to examine the pressing is- from the show of community-led efforts to con- sues of social inequality for a few months each front dehumanizing systems. Some examples year on a single premium cable network. The include then-City Councilmember Thomas Wire shows us part of the world of the urban Carcetti's (Aiden Gillen) guided tour through poor that should be examined in its entirety a troubled neighborhood by the residents them- and by a number of media.

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