Higher Learning from HBO's The Wire

Harvard Offering Course on HBO Hit 'The Wire'
By: EURweb.com

Students at Harvard University will be able to learn more about understanding and combating urban social issues through a new course based on HBO's critically-acclaimed series "The Wire," which followed the struggles of urban life in Baltimore.

“‘The Wire’, www.hbo.com/thewire has done more to enhance our understanding of the systemic urban inequality that constrains the lives of the poor than any published study” said sociology professor William J. Wilson, according to The Harvard Crimson newspaper.

African-American studies chair Professor Evelyn B. Higginbotham said Wilson will teach the new course, in which the show will be used as a case study for poverty in America.

This Season One pic from "The Wire" shows actors (from left) Tray Chaney, JD Williams, Larry Gilliard Jr. and Michael B. Jordan.

Panelists at the sold-out event encouraged audience members to internalize these harsh realities of the real world problems that the show depicts and actively work to solve them.

“Everything we’re doing to make the world a better place is really for our kids,” said actor Michael K. Williams, who played gay stick-up artist Omar Little on the show. “Our kids are dying in huge numbers. It’s the real wire.”

Sonja Sohn, who played detective Kima Greggs, described the work of Rewired for Change, the non-profit she started with other cast members to help at-risk youth in the areas of Baltimore depicted in “The Wire.” She encouraged audience members to make similar changes in the communities they learn about through “The Wire” and the new Harvard course.

“Become a part of these communities. These circumstances will not change if you do nothing,” Sohn said. “Get it moving. Get it popping. Get up off your butt and do something.”

Panel attendee Sarah V. Chace (class of 1980), who is also a fan of the show, said she already uses “The Wire” as a case study in a class on community leadership she teaches at Albertus Magnus College in New Haven. She said she came to the event to hear more about how other academics and the actors view the role of “The Wire” in depicting urban life.

The event was sponsored by the African American Studies Department and two local charitable organizations, the Boston Foundation and the Ella J. Baker House.

Antigua Tourists Share Account of Police Beating

By: Jackie Jones
BlackAmericaWeb.com

Six Brooklyn tourists on trial in Antigua and Barbuda on charges stemming from a dispute with a taxi driver issued a lengthy statement Wednesday outlining their version of events.

Rachel Henry, 27, Shoshannah Henry, 24, Dolores Lalanne, 25, Nancy Lalanne, 22, Joshua Jackson, 25, and Mike Pierre-Paul, 25, were part of a group of a dozen Brooklynites aboard a Carnival Cruise ship docked at Antigua earlier this month. The six negotiated a $50 fare with a cab driver to tour the island, but ended up in a dispute with the cabbie when he demanded double the amount at the end of the ride. When the group refused to pay the new amount, he drove the passengers to the police station.

According to the statement, read at a news conference in Brooklyn on Wednesday, the group agreed to go to the police station, but instead of going to the station near the port where the ship was docked, the cabbie drove the tourists to a police station in an unfamiliar area. It was there, the group said, that they were placed under arrest and beaten by police.

Kevin Powell, a community activist and writer who organized Wednesday’s news conference, told BlackAmericaWeb.com that authorities had dragged out the process. The case Powell was told would only last a day or two is dragging toward its third week.

There were reports that the Rev. Jesse Jackson may traveling to Antigua in an attempt to negotiate a settlement with authorities to gain the tourists' release. Powell said late Wednesday he had not spoken with Jackson, but was glad to see greater attention focused on the situation in the Caribbean nation. On Tuesday, Carnival did not return a call from BlackAmericaWeb.com seeking comment, but the New York Daily News reported a spokeswoman for the cruise line denied reports that it had left the tourists hanging and only recently in touch with their families.

Carnival "has been in frequent contact with these individuals and a variety of assistance has been provided," spokeswoman Jennifer de la Cruz told The News.

Read the full statement prepared by Dudley Brutus, one of the group of the tourists, which was read at Wednesday's news conference - The Trip from HELL