The Wire: The Audacity of Dope
Yesterday afternoon I enjoyed my day off by watching the fourth episode of The Wire season five on HBO On-Demand. As I was sitting in my living room watching it there seemed to this perfect storm of politics swirling around me as the episode played out. I was home from work for the MLK holiday, which obviously has its own political implications, especially as I enjoyed the comfort of my gentrified New York neighborhood watching a series ostensibly about the progress (or lack thereof) of the African American community in our country’s cities. The best parts of the episode (and I might argue the best parts of the this season as a whole) dealt with the complex maneuvering of political capital by Baltimore’s fictional mayor in order to further his own political ambitions. While watching this and thinking about why I was staying home form work I couldn’t help but also think about the current presidential race that is now going full bore and the disconnect between what I was currently seeing on screen and what the candidates have been screaming about on the stump. More (with very minor spoilers) after the jump…
Amidst this cloud of political ambition and bitter life-shattering reality, general optimism for mankind isn’t all that common a feeling. What The Wire does better than any show — hell, better than just about any piece of contemporary fiction — is to reveal that what we all think of as progress is little more than window dressing.
Since the end of last season Carcetti has been trying to dump police commissioner Burrell and replace him with Major Daniels. Until this week he has been unable to make this happen due to myriad factors, all of which are part of the systemic problem with our political structure. Initially the problem with axing Burrell was it would require Carcetti to promote deputy commissioner Rawls – a promotion fans of the show see as dubious due to Rawls not-so-graceful discourse with his underlings, but more specifically because he is a white man working in a black city (and under a white mayor). Daniels is too green to promote directly and he isn’t known (or approved of) by “the ministers,†a mostly unseen group of super-powerful constituents who yield tremendous force on local politics. I find this facet of the proceedings endlessly fascinating because when we hear the term “the ministers†we think of collar-wearing men of God, despite the fact that what we should be hearing is “special interests.â€
The Wire goes to tremendous lengths to show us that the problems of the dealer on the corner are the same problems as the cop in squad car and the same as the politician in city hall, in that nothing can ever get accomplished because the system is broken. Sure, Rawls will be appointed commissioner for six months while Daniels is groomed for the job, but the deals that had to be cut between Carcetti and the council president completely undermined his initial reasoning for firing Burrell in the first place. There is always dirt that can be thrown. Someone’s career is always in jeopardy or on the brink of promotion and because of this we are constantly in gridlock.
So when I flip on the democratic debate a few hours later, it all just seems so worthless. Look, I’m not so naïve to think that one person can’t make a difference. After nearly eight years of George W. I think we can all agree that one man (and his closest friends) can do a brilliant job of ruining everything up for the rest of us, and obviously as politicians race to the podium today to offer suggestions on how to counter the current financial crisis… things can be done. Those “things†always seem to be a reaction to something. Proactive is impossible sell (unless you’re Jessica Simpson). It is the small stuff that needs to be sweat, but which is comprised of so many insider deals the basis of our entire system of government is constantly being undermined and our votes don’t really matter. Most conscious American’s pay attention to the presidential race, but only a handful have even the slightest idea of who they’re electing to the city council or the state senate. This is why characters like Clay Davis are so sharply realistic. The system is build for them to thrive – after all, the only reason he’s finally getting taken down (assuming he is, in fact, getting taken down) is not because he’s a dirty politician but because a different politician wants to use him as a trophy. And hell, why put talented cops on a case involving 20 dead bodies when you can bring in a political pelt?
MLK dreamt of racial equality, but I wonder if his vision of a harmonious future would be one where everyone, regardless of their skin color actively undermines our democracy hand in hand. Whether it’s a white mayor in a black city who has been turning everything around him to shit so that he may successfully run for governor, or a decent, black police major, with a slowly seeping-out dirty past being pushed through the ranks to satisfy racially divided constituents, or a black businessman whose business happens to be the selling of drugs, or angry, white cops patrolling black neighborhoods, or a well-liked but incredibly corrupt black politician whose dealings have given drug dealers property and H.U.D. money and government pay-outs in exchange for suitcases full of cash, we’re all in this together and we’re all fucking it up.
Tags: HBO, Martin Luther King, Politics, The Wire
