“Baltimore is a repository for many people,
of many of their worst assumptions and fears about Black people…The
wire doesn’t become a hit series by accident. Because people don’t
know enough about Baltimore to see it as anything other than a
projection of their own imagination.”

– Lawrence Grandpre, (Leaders of a
Beautiful Struggle)
Mass media and propaganda about Baltimore has dominated
mainstream consciousness. Media that sensationalizes drugs, crime and
poverty. The goal of “We are NOT the WIRE” is to challenge dominant
portrayals of Baltimore that center only on crime and poverty by
highlighting its long-standing tradition of resistance, community
organizing, and grassroots leadership.