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Spring 2024

The Wire

Spring 2012

Video: Creator of The Wire David Simon’s speech at WSU

David Simon, creator of gritty urban HBO drama The Wire, received the William Julius Wilson Award for the Advancement of Social Justice in September 2011. The award is named after eminent Harvard sociologist and Washington State University alumnus William Julius Wilson ’66 PhD.

When accepting the award at WSU, Simon spoke about building a just and equitable society, and the difficulties in achieving that goal.

You can read more about Simon’s visit to campus in “The Wire: Urban drama, gritty reality, and Soc 496 ‘textbook’”

Time: 1 hr. 57 min.

Note: The video contains expletives.

Video courtesy KWSU

Spring 2012

The Wire: Urban drama, gritty reality, and Soc 496 “textbook”

It’s not exactly a typical day in class, even an upper-level sociology class geared towards the grittiest of urban realities.

The room is filled with the sound of gunfire. A projection screen shows a quartet of inner-city drug thieves pinned down behind a parked car. Each reloads his and her weapon. Their leader, the scarred and unflappable Omar Little, gives them a look and says, “Y’all ready? Let’s bang out.”

The four stand up, fire back in unison, and execute a retreat, with one killed by friendly fire.

Professor Gregory Hooks stops the tape. The room goes quiet.

“And why’d we watch that?” he asks.

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