The Wire: Caricature of David Simon : The New Yorker

The Wire is a television series that focuses on the dystopia of Baltimore and in particular West Baltimore which was once home to many middle to upper class African Americans who have since migrated to other areas of the city. West Baltimore is now home to socio-economically disadvantaged African Americans and like East Baltimore is known for its high crime rates.
David Simon is adamant that The Wire is dissent. "It is perhaps the only storytelling on television that overtly suggests that our political and economic and social constructs are no longer viable, that our leadership has failed us relentlessly, and that no, we are not going to be all right." It is a story about the "decline of the American empire."

The Wire - learning to play chess

In this clip from The Wire, D'Angelo Barksdale teaches Wallace and Broadus to play chess by equating the pieces on the board to the players in the drug trade.

Bloody Baltimore

The Wire, especially the first season, is a social commentary about the failure of the War on Drugs, a term coined by Chief Domestic Advisor to Richard Nixon, John Ehrlichman. It was never supposed to be an effective social or public health policy. It was only meant to be a political solution for Nixon to combat anti-war protesters. Succesive Presidents either wholeheartedly adopted the so-called war or never had the political will to declare it a failure. See Smoke and Mirrors: The War on Drugs and the Politics of Failure by Dan Baum (1996).

David Simon speaks at USC Gould Law School

David Simon at Loyola University Baltimore

David Simon and the cast of the Wire talk about Baltimore

Mayor Sheila Dixon discusses The Wire