Baltimore has struggled to overcome the outsized negative impact HBO’s “The Wire” has had on its reputation since the show hit the airwaves nearly 24 years ago.
Dr. s. Rasheem’s new documentary film, “Beyond the Wire,” provides a path forward should people choose to take it.
Rasheem’s film offers a counter-narrative to the TV series’ flattening of Baltimore’s identity into one of drugs, crime, and poverty. The overview for “Beyond the Wire” describes it as a challenge to “dominant portrayals of Baltimore that center only on crime and poverty by highlighting its long-standing tradition of resistance, community organizing, and grassroots leadership.”
The documentary includes interviews with local organizers, educators, historians, and residents who speak on what they believe has caused the systemic failures they and the city face today. There is also an emphasis, however, on generational love, strength, and continuity in Baltimore’s Black community, refusal to be erased, dynamic leadership, and civic engagement.
The film is one in a series of Rasheem’s Baltimore Legacy Project (BLP), a comprehensive effort to preserve Baltimore’s past by interviewing residents and their stories, as a means of documenting the important historical events of the last 70 years. The first film in the series is “Baltimore Still Rising”, where 20 Baltimore residents talk about their experiences in the aftermath of Freddie Gray’s killing by police in 2015. The film was released in 2025.
The June 18 world premiere of “Beyond the Wire” at The Senator Theatre is sold out but there are still a few tickets left for the encore world premiere added for Thursday, June 25, also at The Senator Theatre, at 7 p.m. According to the Baltimore Legacy Project’s website, there is a third showing scheduled for Saturday, August 29 at the SNF Parkway Theater at 2 p.m. Each showing will be followed by a discussion about the impact of how the media portrays Baltimore.
“They got it wrong, because one, they didn’t do enough, they didn’t talk about why this situation and circumstances existed enough,” said Imam Earl El Amin, in a clip from the film. “You gotta go to the root to understand what produced this. What produced some of these behaviors in these neighborhoods was that these people were locked out of the society.”
In a January 2008 article for The Guardian, the city’s former mayor, Kurt Schmoke, recalled a line from a study of Baltimore conducted in 2000: “In Baltimore, there is rot beneath the glitter.” He said “The Wire” explored the rot.
“However, what is often missed is that the creators of the show (one a former newspaper reporter in Baltimore, the other a former policeman and school teacher) are trying to convey a message about many American cities, not just Baltimore,” Schmoke wrote nearly 20 years ago.
Yet, as recently as two weeks ago, comedian Steve Hofstetter posted on Facebook that whenever he announces a show in Baltimore people express deep concern for his safety. He reminds them that “The Wire” was not a documentary.
“I really am pissed about that. I will use that term, in terms of the damage I think ‘The Wire’ did to this city in terms of our image,” said Diane Bell MC of Opportunity Connections, LLC, speaking in a clip from the film. “That is not who we are. That is NOT who we are.”
The numbers back Bell up. On Friday, May 1, Mayor Brandon M. Scott announced that in April 2026, Baltimore had the fewest homicides for a single month since at least 1970. Over the first four months of 2026, Baltimore City saw a 10.8% drop in homicides over the previous year, and an 11.9% decrease in non-fatal shootings. This is after recording the lowest homicide rate in 2025 in nearly 50 years. In other categories, carjackings are down 38%, burglaries are down 17%, auto theft is down 11%, and total robberies are down 16% compared to this time last year. Scott credits a multi-pronged approach that prioritizes community violence intervention, cross-office and group partnerships, and most of all the residents for valuing safety and support for those who need it.
Rasheem’s “Beyond the Wire” shines a spotlight on that community, and informs the world that “The Wire” is not representative of Baltimore.
Editor’s note: This article was edited to add crime statistics accumulated through April 2026.
‘The Wire’ could have been a documentary of Baltimore. Even today, my neighborhood’s identity still revolves around drugs, crime, prostitution and poverty. Drug-dealing crews work the corner every day, all day. Junkies passed out or screaming out loud. DON’T CANDY COAT THIS TERRIBLE PROBLEM. ENOUGH ALREADY, FIX IT!!