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Today’s Civics Lesson from The Wire

Thursday, December 17th, 2009

Been re-watching the entire series the last few weeks. Just caught the episode with Bunny Colvin’s brilliant paper bag speech below. This is my third time watching the entire series. If I were running a university, I’d institute a class that did nothing but watch, study, and discuss the show. And passing it would be required to get a degree.

Well, at least the first four seasons.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, December 17th, 2009 at 11:06 am by Radley Balko and is filed under Alcohol, General Criminal Justice, General Drug War. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

14 Responses to “Today’s Civics Lesson from The Wire”

  1. #1 |  Noel St. John |  December 17th, 2009 at 11:17 am

    That series ruined TV for me. Now I cannot watch any other show without comparing it to The Wire. Can’t wait to see David Simon’s next effort, Treme.

  2. #2 |  digamma |  December 17th, 2009 at 11:36 am

    That speech is lifted nearly verbatim from Simon’s & Burns’s book The Corner.

  3. #3 |  Dan |  December 17th, 2009 at 11:42 am

    Funny, I have also been recently rewatching it. Between the time I first saw it and rewatching it now, I have read David Simon’s Homicide: A Year On the Killing Streets, and The Corner. Now that I pay more attention to them, its funny to see the small cameos of all the people I have read about that David Simon made connections with over the years with his books and stories; like the real Jay Landsman, Deandre Mcullogh, Derodd Hearns, Tyreeka Freamon, even caught Simon himself trying to interview Sobotka.

  4. #4 |  Nando |  December 17th, 2009 at 12:38 pm

    Simon makes some great points and Bunny’s paper bag speach is a great example. Watching this video makes me change my x-mas wish: I wish there were a Hampsterdam somewhere in the USA.

  5. #5 |  Nick T |  December 17th, 2009 at 1:33 pm

    There is a class like that Radley, I believe it’s being offered at Harvard University. Sadly it’s not required.

  6. #6 |  Rhayader |  December 17th, 2009 at 2:10 pm

    @Dan #3: Yeah I noticed the same thing after reading the books. My favorite cameo is DeAndre McCullough as Mouzone’s “Harper’s”-forgetting sidekick. Jay Landsman does a great job as Lt. Mello too, especially in season 3.

    But yeah, the paper bag speech was kickass. It’s virtually impossible to pick a favorite character from a show like that, but Colvin would have to be up there.

  7. #7 |  Brian |  December 17th, 2009 at 2:33 pm

    Over the last two weeks, I watched all five seasons. I’d planned to just watch an episode here or there, but I just couldn’t turn it off.

  8. #8 |  Another Brian |  December 17th, 2009 at 3:10 pm

    Greatest television series ever made.

  9. #9 |  Carlyle Moulton |  December 17th, 2009 at 3:44 pm

    Yes the Wire is brilliant. Season 2 has just started on ABC (Australian Broadcasting Commission) TV. This week episode 3 was broadcast. It acts as an excellent text for a course on how the war against drugs is really “the war against Niggers” and how it acts as the new “Jim Crow”.

    I recommend that anyone who likes the wire or the books by its creators get hold of Nate Blakeslee’s book on the 1999/2000 Tulia Texas cocaine travesty. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/158648219X/theagitator-20/. It also would serve as an excellent text for a course on how whites acting in a spirit of righteous indignation use the law selectively to wreck the lives of Afro Americans.

  10. #10 |  Gonzo |  December 17th, 2009 at 8:38 pm

    There’s a dual-instructed course at the university I teach at that deals with The Wire. It’s taught in tandem by professors from both the English and Criminal Justice departments. It’s fucking brilliant — I just went and sat in as much as possible for the semester.

  11. #11 |  josh |  December 18th, 2009 at 10:34 am

    I watched the first episode and wasn’t impressed. Even as a Baltimoron the cops had accents so thick I couldn’t understand half of what they said.

  12. #12 |  Rhayader |  December 18th, 2009 at 12:19 pm

    I watched the first episode and wasn’t impressed.

    Yeah that’s actually almost to be expected with this show — it’s so dense and interwoven that a single stand-alone episode does little to draw in newcomers. Before you write it off though, you really should watch the whole first season. If you still aren’t impressed, fair enough. But my guess is you’ll be addicted.

  13. #13 |  Cvnk |  December 18th, 2009 at 6:09 pm

    I’m curious as to why you exclude the 5th season? Did you really think it was that bad or do you just think it doesn’t contain a worthwhile lesson in civics?

    Personally I don’t think I would exclude any season as I thought they were all great (even though S2 was a little frustrating at first it was still great drama).

  14. #14 |  no longer blind |  December 19th, 2009 at 12:08 pm

    “It also would serve as an excellent text for a course on how whites acting in a spirit of righteous indignation use the law selectively to wreck the lives of Afro Americans.”

    Watch the entire series and then tell me how this reductionist lazy thinking does not jibe at all with the show’s overarching and true message: “legal” and “illegal” institutions rule the United States and, regardless of race, creed, gender, etc., they use and discard people, cities, and the nation without a second thought. And they will continue to do so until they are forced to stop.

    So act accordingly. I would start with Omar’s mindset and go from there.

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