Years ago, I asked a noted scholar about the movie, “The Color Purple.” In the movie, one of the leading characters, an African-American male, is portrayed very negatively. The scholar replied that she had no problem with the way this black male was portrayed. Rather, what was problematic was that negative images such as this one are much more common than positive images of black males in the media. Hence, this lack of balance leads to stereotyping.
In an article entitled, “Why We’re Teaching ‘The Wire’ at Harvard,” William Julius Wilson and Anmol Chaddha discuss their course on urban inequality. The course makes use of the stories and characters developed in this television show to illustrate “how the deep inequality in inner-city America results from the web of lost jobs, bad schools, drugs, imprisonment, and how the situation feeds on itself.” “The Wire,” which focuses on life in inner-city Baltimore, recently concluded its run of five seasons on HBO. The professors reject the notion that this show “stereotypes the poor as dependent on welfare, lazy, criminal,” and the list goes on. Rather, they argue that the show undermines these stereotypes by showing that the characters’ life experiences are limited by social forces beyond their control.
Many of my students, who are predominantly African American and live in inner city Baltimore would vehemently disagree. They find themselves labeled by outsiders due to the way Baltimore is depicted on “The Wire.” As one of my students said, “all of Baltimore’s neighborhoods aren’t that way;” they all “aren’t violent and drug-infested.” Some even mention that people they know are afraid to come to Baltimore after viewing “The Wire.”
While the Harvard professors say that the class is in great demand, consider the fact that the African-American population at Harvard University is approximately 6 percent. Considering that tuition at Harvard is close to $50,000 per year, I think I am safe in assuming that the Harvard student body comes from largely well-to-do families and culturally encapsulated neighborhoods. For many of them, this class might be their initial exposure to the poor and their lives in urban environments. I might suggest that these students venture outside of the friendly confines of Cambridge, Massachusetts and get to know some of my students on an intimate basis. The problem is, this requires Harvard students to be active rather than passive learners. Moreover, it takes work, time and a strong commitment to move outside their comfort zone. At Harvard, “The Wire” can be a teachable moment. However, this moment is in dire need of balance.
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Hello again, Dr. Bucher,First of all , for the person who doesn’t mind men being portrayed negatively, I have to wonder where and how this individual was raised. I found the men (Black and Caucasian) in the Color Purple to be very degrading to Black women. I really don’t enjoy those kinds of movies because, I haven’ t grown to the point of thinking of them as entertainment. The truth of the matter is that kind of behavior still exists today in a modern flavor. Now comes , the inconvenience and usury of desperate people by folk who took advantage of an under served population to film (The Wire), something that was not uplifting to the people,residing in the neighborhood. . Another devastating thing that happened was, the memory of once was home to many, bombed, leaving tons of people homeless and hopeless, my building, 317 East North Avenue was starring as the leading role as the high rise project. My immediate neighborhood became Hollywood Many days I came home from school tired and hungry, only to find that the door was blocked by the police, too many bright lights, and people hollering action,cut and other Hollywood jargon. The landlord skipped town after they paid him to use the building and the only people I had to complain to, was the Director at the time and the police. They tried to make me believe that this was great entertainment. I said, don’t we see enough violence. Why glorify it. Filming The Wire was a miserable time for me. I can honestly say I hate it. The only thing I learned from The Wire is that you can be a part of the problem or part of the solution. . Not all of our neighborhoods are not like what is portrayed on the Wire, again the reality is, some of them are. The way the media portrays our neighborhood , if I was from another country or state, I, myself, might be a little leery about coming to Baltimore. Our city was branded, Murder City by the media, along with being the number one city for murder at one time. Although some of The Wire contained some Hollywood yeast, the fact still remains that some of the city is dangerous as portrayed on The Wire. Yes, their is some stereotyping lurking, because we all are not drug dealers and murderers. A great deal of us in the city are Hardworking, Studious, Intelligent, Law abiding Citizens, who also strive for the better things in life for ourselves and our children. Teaching The Wire and not really taking a look outside of what is portrayed on the Wire is imbalanced. Learning is not just books, Media or something that is told to you second hand but something you can also experience firsthand in your environment or by seeing for yourself. Sometimes the fear of what we hear or see can keep us from achieving. Step outside of your comfort zone, and as a Baltimorean, I would like to welcome anyone to our city, that still has beautiful neighborhoods and beautiful people. Remember, Murder and drugs are Global.
An open mind is a pathway to wisdom
Sallah*
Bucher: I read your post and there are many issues of interest. In no particular order, I will note some of them. It would take too much space to give full explanations. Yes, negative images abound in the mass media. Positive images do not sell. Negative ones “give me some noise” are noticeable. In too many of our neighborhoods, if young males do not act the part, they may be attacked for “acting white”, “you think you are better than me?”, etc. Hence, even some of the good guys were their “pants on the ground”.
I agree with Wilson. People suffering from poor economic situations have learned how to cope and produce a structured life. As with all human groups, people develop a culture that permits survival under practically any circumstance. What one is looking at is a cultural response to deprivations and lack of opportunities. In this case, one must begin to understand the “underground economy” which is the lifeline for many economically distressed persons in similarly situated neighborhoods.
There is no Black Community. There are Black Communities and the inhabitants of those different communities have different priorities. Yet, too many African American talk as if all were the same. In Baltimore City, middle class African Americans have always separated themselves from the lower/working classes — one can see that through churches, social organizations, neighborhoods, and types of employment. As we used to say when I was growing: There are the “400s” and the rest of us. To be “real”, often African Americans speak one language on the job and another in their neighborhoods where they “let their hair down.” Folks in the community are quick to notice linguistic differences in day-to-day interactions.
If people fear to come to Baltimore, what about Detroit, Chicago, Gary, East St. Louis, Newark, Compton, parts of Southern California, etc? One clue to safety? Where can one jog at night with very little fear? Certainly not on Park Heights and Shirley Ave.
Students at Harvard may take the course you mentioned because for some inexperienced students, they have a sort of fascination with black and perhaps Hispanic “thug life”. The difference is that they can go home, wash their hair, change their clothes and they are middle/upper middle class.
The social distance between middle-class oriented blacks and more prosperous whites, Asians, Spanish-oriented Hispanics inexperienced in the daily machinations of a typical person socialized in an urban inner city environment is not conducive to developing “intimate” relationships. Yo! Language is a problem. The typical Harvard student taking Wilson’s classes can gain a hint of the problems. At least those students will have a clue about situations depicted in “The Wire.” Because of unstated cultural imperatives, it takes a long time for Outsiders to get a handle on the living conditions of a people. Cultural anthropologists can be successful because they live among the people. And for that, folks must learn the “real” language of the people.
The teaching of “The Wire” is the balance. Not teaching “The Wire” is the imbalance.
Hello Dr.Bucher,
I must say you opened a can of worms with this topic, but I’m glad you did. First I agree with Ms.Sallah and Mr. Dean. Ms. Sallah said that she had lived in the situation that was being glorified, so have I. I am a product of one of those neighborhoods, in fact my old house was also one of those that was depicted in the show. Some of the characters I’ve grown up with and are still in contact with. There are two sides to that. Yes the show showed a bad side to our city, that only is never good, but all things shown start from somewhere. These producers sometimes not all the time come up with these ideas. They see things and make a story out of it, but that is also where peoples lives get involved. Somebody had to say yes in order for that show to continue five years strong and after that they took those same producers and made a show of New Orleans in the area where the flood had happened that still to this day is not recovered. Open your eyes people. Stop buying tickets and channels to shows where your life as you know is glorified for what you feel to be the bad in your home. Those Baltimoreans that were characters in that show saw a way out. They saw their dream right in front of them and took a chance to be free and to show you what the truth is. Yes it was bad but we live it. You have to start with yourself these situation we are in didnt just start with “TheWire” and it’s not going to stop with complaining about the show and how we are shown to the world. I too have friends out of town who are truely affraid to come here. I have been on vacation and as soon as people find out where I’m from would literally get up and walk away from me because they thought I would set them up for robbery. That wasn’t fair. Teaching a class at Havard is crazy to me but people are afraid of what they dont understand. I agree to the fact that the class might just open their eyes to the truth and not just pass judgment but pass on a helping hand. You dont have to be a student at HarvardUniversity to know that when you as an underprivilegedperson try to approach SOME people who may b better off than you you get the cold shoulder or they stereotype you. I dont agree they should base the entire class off the show but teach these students the true life of those of us who live it, those of us who survived it, and those of us who are sitting right next to them in that very class who’s parents work contiuously to have them learn there.