WiReD

I have a difficult time reading these articles and feeling productive; it seems as if there is no right answer to solve problems of economic sprawl and segregation. At what point should the U.S government step in and try to solve some of these economic issues in urban areas? Are the government's attempts to solve these problems beneficial? Re-locating or removing people from the 'slums' or 'ghettos' does not seem to be working and many community empowerment programs do not have access to the materials and resources necessary to be productive.

I connected our readings to the first season of The Wire and the culture surrounding poverty and violence. *spoiler alert* After the police tapped suspicious beepers and phone booths, they were able to listen and de-code the language of the dealers and even some of their code names. I couldn’t help but notice that the “gang members” have their own set of moral and ethical rules, their own language, their own forms of entertainment, their own social norms and their own way of enforcing justice. It occurred to me that in order for the Baltimore Police to truly understand and predict Barksdale’s accomplices they had to actually get to know them. Through the lens of an ethnographer, this seemed like a form of participant observation. Which leads me to my main point; before we can attempt to solve a social problem with volunteer work and donations, we must truly try to understand them and learn what the actual sources of the issue are.