The Wire: Race, Politics, and the American Dream
Ten years ago this month, HBO’s TV Show The Wire aired its series finale.[1] It is considered by many to be one of the greatest TV shows, if not the greatest TV show of all-time.[2] The Wire though is not merely an entertaining hour of television; it is a story, a complete novel. It is the story of a city, Baltimore, and what the War on Drugs has done to the city from everyone from the police to drug dealers to unions to politicians to schools and to newspapers. One of the main focuses of the show, particularly in its later years, was on race relations in the political sphere. Throughout the show, virtually all of the politicians of the show are corrupt in one way or another.[3] However, even in such a corrupt setting, certain more traditional norms are still played out, regardless of the race of the politician. The lessons that can emerge from this are quite striking. Instead of simply focusing on the actions of the politicians, the subtext is what ends up arguably mattering the most. This subtext helps explain not only the inherent issues that arise from different politicians of different races, but more importantly, helps to explain in many ways, the conversations that we are seeing today around politics and race.
The Characters
Before fully diving into the actual way that the politicians on The Wire are portrayed, it is important to understand who these characters are and their backgrounds. Also included are certain high ranking members of the Baltimore Police Department. As will be seen later, what happens to these characters by and through their actions with politicians is just as important as for the politicians themselves. The race of each politician is put next to their names in parenthesis for those that are unfamiliar with the show so that they can understand from where the implicit issues in character portrayals arise. Any description in quotes is taken directly from HBO’s official character page.
Ervin H. Burrell (African-American) — Deputy Commissioner with the Baltimore Police Department, he eventually becomes Commissioner, before he is fired for falsifying crime statistics.[4] He survives by “protecting the department’s reputation as well as his own.”[5]
Thomas “Tommy” Carcetti (Caucasian) — City Councilman from Baltimore’s First District and Mayor after defeating Clarence Royce. He “ harbors a genuine idealism and a desire to improve the life of the city’s diverse population.” [6]
Clayton “Clay” Davis (African-American) — State Senator from Baltimore. “A savvy and charismatic hustler” who is “a master of the con, bureaucratically protected and willing to take money from whoever happens to offering it.”[7]
William Rawls (Caucasian) — Homicide Major with the Baltimore Police Department. He is a career officer and a “lethal bureaucrat.”[8] Becomes Superintendent of the Maryland State Police in the series finale.[9]
Clarence Royce (African-American) — The Mayor of Baltimore. Described as “nimble and resourceful.”[10] Loses the Democratic Primary to Carcetti in Season 4.[11]
Stanislaus Valchek (Caucasian) — Police Commander in the only district with white ethnic neighborhoods.[12] He is “a political survivor and bureaucratic player of the first order” eventually resulting in him becoming Commissioner during the series finale.[13]
Odell Watkins (African-American) — State Legislator from Baltimore and senior member of the House Appropriations Committee. Bound to a wheelchair, he is a kingmaker, but is genuine in wanting to address Baltimore’s woes.[14]
Before diving into the analysis of the show, it is important to note some of the language HBO uses to describe the characters. African-Americans are described as “a master of the con,” “nimble,” a “charismatic hustler,” and protectful of their own reputation above the reputation of their office. Caucasians are described as “political survivor…of the first order,” desire to improve lives of a diverse population, and as having “genuine idealism.” These terms immediately have African-Americans as needing to do things by deceit in order to advance and doing so for their own gain while Caucasians are able to survive because of their ideals and wanting to help others out. This type of dynamic and difference appears again and again on the show.
The Politics and Race
The first traditional politician that viewers encounter on The Wire is State Senator Clay Davis. Davis, is nothing if not corrupt. His whole purpose in life is to make money for himself and place himself as close to the seat of power as possible. He is the perfect example of corruption and how race plays a key role in the show’s portrayal of politicians. The first time in the show his corruption is mentioned is when the police bust his personal driver after receiving $20,000 in cash from known drug dealers.[15] The lieutenant in charge of the investigation shuts down looking into Davis when he discovers that the driver works for him.[16] It turns out that the federal authorities have been looking into Davis for two years for bribery, but the investigation here still ceases.[17]
While this may seem to be typical politics and bribery schemes, race plays a major role in how he is portrayed. The first time bribery comes up, it is not in the sense of a land developer or industrialist trying to get the government to pay for something. Rather, it appears to be a kick-back from drug dealers to a politician. The money coming from drug dealers is a major issue. Throughout the first season of the show the “bad guys” are all African-American and are selling drugs.[18] The first politician seen in the show is an African-American that appears to be working for drug dealers. The War on Drugs has had a disproportionate effect on African-Americans, particularly African-American males.[19] This has created a stereotype where African-Americans are seen as drug dealers and bad people. Clay Davis first receiving money from drug dealers as part of a bribery scheme plays directly into this stereotype. While season two sees him scam white union members out of pensions and money, it is the initial impression with him that matters the most. He is taking bribes from a group that are not only traditionally African-Americans, but also conducting illegal activities. Him taking money from those illegal activities makes it seem as though he is complicit in them. This creates a perception that he is fine with illegal acts and drug possession, if he gets something out of it. As an African-American politician, it simply reinforces a narrative of African-Americans as drug dealers and thieves.
Further, while all the politicians in the show are arguably horrible people, Davis is the only one that is directly implicated in the murder of another person. In his final scene in the show, Davis is admitting to a police officer all of the horrible things he has done. One of the things he admits is to having a drug dealer “bled.”[20] While the inference can be made that he simply took the drug dealer’s money, it is implied to be that he had this drug dealer killed. The drug dealer in question, Stringer Bell, was brutally murdered in the show. It was known long before this that Bell was trying to have Davis help him get legitimate. Davis just kept on taking his money.[21] When Bell was too big for his breeches, that’s when he was killed. Davis saying that he “bled” Bell makes it seem that when Davis got all the money he could out of Bell, he had him killed to protect himself. Again, this play into the stereotype of African-Americans being murders and thieves. By having a politician admit this, it comes across as him only being in a position of power because he was a thief and murderer who would stop at nothing to get his way and succeed.
Politics in the traditional sense in The Wire begin in Season 3.[22] In the show’s universe, Baltimore’s Mayor is Clarence Royce, an African-American based partly on real-life Baltimore mayor Kurt Schmoke.[23] Royce’s eventually replacement, Thomas Carcetti, is based on Schmoke’s real life successor, Martin O’Malley.[24] How they are portrayed is striking not just in their similarities and differences, but also in what it shows about power dynamics and the perceptions of power. One of the main similarities is that both men are adulterers.[25] Royce’s main adultery scene is while mayor, he gets caught by one of his bodyguards getting a blowjob from his secretary.[26] To protect himself, the bodyguard is subsequently promoted to sergeant in the police department, a position for which he had previously been unable to qualify.[27] Carcetti’s infidelities however, end when he defeats Royce in the primary. After being declared the victor the night of the election, Carcetti’s campaign manager comes to him for her “win bonus.”[28] The win bonus she wants is to sleep with him.[29] Carcetti, although he initially appears to give in, eventually and definitively rejects her because “suddenly…he is feeling mayoral.”[30]
The way that sex is portrayed for the two mayors plays directly into established stereotypes. An African-American male is portrayed as a sex fiend who will try and get some no matter what and will do whatever is necessary to protect himself. The white male, on the other hand, is portrayed as a knight. Even when a beautiful lady desires him like none other and will forgo what would likely be significant income to have him, he rejects her out of principle, showing his gallantry. These two different ways of viewing the mayors and sex simply fall back into established norms and beliefs about different races and sexes. This media portrayal goes arguably back to D.W. Griffith and Birth of a Nation where African-Americans were portrayed as deranged sex maniacs. Since 1915, this media perception has clearly not changed. The way sex is portrayed with these two powerful figures, goes back into this belief and perception.
How they are viewed in terms of crime and crime statistics goes back to the same old stereotypes. Throughout the course of the election, Royce is portrayed as someone who is soft on crime and will have the police department report false stats to make the crime rate look better than it actually is. Carcetti is the reverse. He is shown as being tough on crime and wanting to have honest data and information to the public, at least initially.[31] When the crime rate supposedly drops under him, he is treated as a hero.[32] These actions are the same old story: the African-American is incompetent when it comes to policing and crime, but the white man is a hero who can ride in with shining armor and save the day. This again plays into old beliefs and perceptions that only the white man can save blacks from themselves.
Finally, power dynamic come into play. While still on the Baltimore City Council, Carcetti is close friends and allies with another councilmember, an African-American. Carcetti tricks his fellow councilmember to run for mayor against Royce so that the African-American vote is split and Carcetti and scoop up the rest and win. His manipulation works perfectly. Carcetti uses his power to have the vote split and win at the end of the day, even at the expense of losing a friend. Here, you have a Caucasian that is able to manipulate minorities around him to suit his own whims and personal goals, without regards to what happens to a minority. This shows the white man as dominant and that all others must be subservient to him, an old, racist belief.
Royce, on the other hand, is easily manipulated by Davis and State Legislator Watkins. They both use him to their own ends. Watkins, in particular is an interesting power broker. Also an African-American, he is handicapped and forced to use a wheelchair.[33] You have minorities that bully each other, but the most powerful one is not a “whole”[34] man. Rather, he has a physical infirmity. As he cannot use his body, he must use his mind and his wits to manipulate others around him. It is impossible for the king maker to be the a “normal” person, rather he must be “incomplete.” No minority can be perfect, otherwise they would be too powerful. This is just another old stereotype and fear that arise in pop culture and continue to play into the perception of the American people, regardless of its accuracy.
It is interesting how The Wire plays into these traditional stereotypes and attitudes about different races and politics. Throughout the show, The Wire goes out of its way to make sure that it is not just another TV show with “good” white cops and “bad” African-American criminals. Rather, it intentionally blurs the line throughout the show. So why are these power dynamics in play for the political aspects? At the time The Wire was being filmed, the inspiration for Carcetti, Martin O’Malley, was the Mayor of Baltimore and Governor of Maryland. While Mayor, he asked the show to portray Baltimore better or lose tax breaks.[35] Real-life power dynamics are at play here: the person in power needs the show to be a certain way for arguably their own gain. The show, in fear of losing money, somewhat plays into this.[36] While Carcetti is never fully portrayed as a hero, he is portrayed as the best politician available and one that wants to help the people. This makes O’Malley look like the only politician around. In all fairness, as governor, it should be noted that O’Malley did some phenomenal things, including marriage equality, comprehensive gun control, and decriminalization of small amounts of marijuana position.[37] He is also known as a good man and someone who is genuine and sincere. But The Wire, being a TV show, still over does his morality compared to the minorities around him.
Finally, the politics of the police are just as interesting. In the final season of the show, Burrell, an African-American, becomes police commissioner.[38] Carcetti though, wants to fire him and replace him with another African-American who he sees as an ally.[39] Burrell loses his job, not because of incompetence, but because he lies about reduced crime statistics in an attempt to keep his job.[40] His replacement however, refuses to falsify crime statistics in order to make Carcetti good for Carcetti’s gubernatorial run.[41] For that, he is fired.[42] The replacement is ultimately a white male, Stanislaus Valchek, a man who throughout the course of the show has been racist and demeaning to minorities.[43] It is a white male who is appointed to “fix” the issues that were made by the last two African-American police commissioners. Similarly, after being elected governor, Carcetti brings William Rawls, another Caucasian, with him to Baltimore to become the head of the Baltimore State Police.[44] Rawls has done nothing with the State Police throughout the show. Rather, he has been loyal to Carcetti and has positioned himself as indispensable at the expense of other individuals, including other minorities.
Here, the police portrayals again make whites look like they are dominant and in control, while African-Americans are incompetent and/or will simply not follow orders. This continues to show how the show views Caucasians as the “heroes” who are there not for themselves, but to save Baltimore. African-Americans are showed as simply adding to the problems of the city and helping a once great city fall into demise. This narrative reinforces the politics of the whole show: for Baltimore to strive and survive, only the white man is up to the task.
Today
Eight months after the series finale of The Wire aired, Barack Obama was elected as the first African-American President of the United States. People thought we had entered a “post-racial America.” Unfortunately, they have been sorely mistaken. We have seen President Trump come in saying that he will “Make America Great Again” and now that he has been elected we need to “Keep America Great.”[45] The same pretext as in The Wire is still here in real life: African-American politicians have failed, only a white man can save it and make it great. The subtext that The Wire exposed is still around in our politics today. To keep America strong, secure, and safe, the white man must lead. The Wire creators believed that they “…tore the cover off a city and showed the American dream was dead.”[46] But they did more than that: they showed that the American dream was dead because of how we treat each other and race relations in this country. To truly be a great country again, we must eliminate the subtext and our pre-existing prejudices by tearing the cover off of our societal preconceptions. We must embrace a country where all men are truly created equal and treated as equals in the political realm, the realm where power sits and individuals can lead us and unite us based only on the content of their character, regardless of the color of their skin.
[1] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0977179/?ref_=ttep_ep10 (Retrieved March 13, 2018).
[2] Time Magzine lists The Wire as one of the Top 100 TV shows of all-time in an unranked list, Rolling Stone lists The Wire as the number 2 TV show of all-time, and both Empire and IGN list it as the number 1 show of all-time. See http://time.com/collection-post/3103884/the-wire/, https://www.rollingstone.com/tv/lists/100-greatest-tv-shows-of-all-time-w439520/breaking-bad-w439638, https://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/best-tv-shows-ever/, http://www.ign.com/lists/top-100-tv-shows/1 (All Retrieved March 13, 2018).
[3] https://www.theringer.com/tv/2018/2/6/16952246/the-wire-politics-season-three-clay-davis-carcetti-royce (Retrieved March 13, 2018).
[4] https://www.hbo.com/the-wire/season-05/4-transitions/synopsis (Retrieved March 18, 2018).
[5] https://www.hbo.com/the-wire/cast-and-crew/police-commissioner-ervin-h-burrell (Retrieved March 18, 2018).
[6] https://www.hbo.com/the-wire/cast-and-crew/mayor-thomas-tommy-carcetti (Retrieved March 13, 2018).
[7] https://www.hbo.com/the-wire/cast-and-crew/state-senator-r-clayton-clay-davis (Retrieved March 13, 2018).
[8] https://www.hbo.com/the-wire/cast-and-crew/deputy-commissioner-for-ops-william-a-rawls (Retrieved March 18, 2018).
[9] https://www.hbo.com/the-wire/season-05/10-30/synopsis (Retrieved March 18, 2018).
[10] https://www.hbo.com/the-wire/cast-and-crew/former-mayor-clarence-v-royce (Retrieved March 13, 2018).
[11] https://www.hbo.com/the-wire/season-04/6-margin-of-error/synopsis (Retrieved March 13, 2018).
[12] https://www.hbo.com/the-wire/cast-and-crew/dep-commissioner-for-admin-stanislaus-valchek (Retrieved March 18, 2018).
[13] https://www.hbo.com/the-wire/season-05/10-30/synopsis (Retrieved March 18, 2018).
[14] https://www.hbo.com/the-wire/cast-and-crew/state-delegate-odell-watkins (Retrieved March 13, 2018).
[15] https://www.hbo.com/the-wire/season-01/8-lessons/synopsis (Retrieved March 13, 2018).
[16] Id.
[17] Id.
[18] The term “bad guys” is used loosely here. The Wire intentionally blurs the lines between good and evil and instead focuses on the everyday actions of members of the community. There are many instances where the show wants us to cheer for the drug dealers and want to see the police officers lose. This is something that flips the whole premise of a police procedural show on its head.
[19] http://www.drugpolicy.org/issues/race-and-drug-war (Retrieved March 13, 2018).
[20] https://www.hbo.com/the-wire/season-05/9-late-editions/synopsis (Retrieved March 13, 2018).
[21] https://www.theringer.com/tv/2018/2/6/16952246/the-wire-politics-season-three-clay-davis-carcetti-royce (Retrieved March 13, 2018).
[22] While there are police politics at play throughout the show from the time of its premiere, for our purposes we are only looking at electoral politics and the results of such.
[23] https://www.theringer.com/tv/2018/2/6/16952246/the-wire-politics-season-three-clay-davis-carcetti-royce (Retrieved March 13, 2018).
[24] Id.
[25] https://www.hbo.com/the-wire/season-03/3-dead-soldiers/synopsis (Retrieved March 13, 2018); https://www.hbo.com/the-wire/season-04/2-soft-eyes/synopsis (Retrieved March 13, 2018).
[26] https://www.hbo.com/the-wire/season-04/2-soft-eyes/synopsis (Retrieved March 13, 2018).
[27] Id.
[28] https://www.hbo.com/the-wire/season-04/6-margin-of-error/synopsis (Retrieved March 13, 2018).
[29] Id.
[30] Id.
[31] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vmWkJ8hLoE (Retrieved March 14, 2014).
[32] https://www.hbo.com/the-wire/season-05/4-transitions/synopsis (Retrieved March 18, 2018).
[33] https://www.hbo.com/the-wire/cast-and-crew/state-delegate-odell-watkins (Retrieved March 13, 2018).
[34] It should be noted that the author uses certain words here to describe Watkins in quotations on purpose. While the author believes that all individuals, no matter their ableness are full, whole, and complete individuals, to discuss the stereotypes that are portrayed, the use of these phrases is essential.
[35] https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/omalley-still-hates-the-wire-but-will-drink-beer-snap-a-selfie-with-david-simon/2014/07/22/67a08f44-11af-11e4-9285-4243a40ddc97_story.html?utm_term=.91f3d33a8599 (Retrieved March 14, 2018).
[36] It should be noted that the show did not fully give in, but may have conceded here a bit.
[37] https://www.bustle.com/articles/116324-martin-omalley-the-wire-have-a-bizarrely-awful-history-that-isnt-just-made-for-hollywood (Retrieved March 14, 2018).
[38] https://www.hbo.com/the-wire/season-05/4-transitions/synopsis (Retrieved March 18, 2018).
[39] Id.
[40] Id.
[41] https://www.hbo.com/the-wire/season-05/10-30/synopsis (Retrieved March 18, 2018).
[42] Id.
[43] Id.
[44] Id.
[45] https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/keep-america-great-after-year-office-trump-unveils-2020-campaign-n855506 (Retrieved March 14, 2018).
[46] https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2018/mar/06/the-wire-10-years-on-we-tore-the-cover-off-a-city-and-showed-the-american-dream-was-dead (Retrieved March 14, 2018).
