Star of “The Wire” discusses human rights, King’s legacy

Although he didn’t know why, actor Robert Wisdom boarded a plane bound for India. When he… Although he didn’t know why, actor Robert Wisdom boarded a plane bound for India. When he arrived in Delhi, he was overwhelmed by the city’s intensity: He was afraid to help the hungry children begging for food, afraid to touch the lepers hidden in the alleys. After traveling across the world, he was too frightened to experience it.

“I was afraid to touch the world. I realized how important it was to put a match to that fire, to put a cut in the system like a sculpture to shape the needs we require.”

Wisdom, a human rights activist, shared this and many other experiences to students and faculty in the WPU Assembly Room last Wednesday. The talk was sponsored by the Office of Cross Cultural and Civic Leadership and was part of the celebration of Martin Luther King Jr.

Wisdom is best known for his roles as Howard “Bunny” Colvin on HBO’s “The Wire,” Dr. Carl Cohn in “Freedom Writers” and Jack Lauderdale in “Ray.”

His lecture focused on three things he said were most inspirational in his life: Martin Luther King Jr., “The Wire” and, above all, human rights.

“We are at a peculiar point in history. The ’60s saw volcanic social change, now we have Dr. King bridging the gap between the generations of those lives he touched, those who remember him and those who only know him through history.”

His desire to improve the urban condition and to inspire change was anchored by King’s legacy, he explained, but also by a desire to fill his void. His work on “The Wire” responds to that by allowing the audience to see the world, to see life being played out and observe how each character’s individual choices affect the consequences of everyone.

“Every time a character makes a choice, or you make a choice, you put an X in the air, until it becomes a constellation, until it becomes ‘the system.’ How do you change the system of X’s to help the disenfranchised? Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy is only part of it. You need the discipline, care and concern for the world to show up in it every day.”

Wisdom explained that for the ideals asserted by King to work, the United States must live a shared way and have an awareness of social order.

“Look at the world, at the crises in Africa, in America and the Middle East. We’re like scrambled eggs. And our moral code is backwards. We need to gain a deeper understanding before our rights are in danger.”

His work as an activist began when he saw King’s movement grow quiet without a leader. He explained to the audience that nonviolence and understanding in the face of ridicule are just the first steps to changing the world.

“The day will come when you get respect. Even Dr. King was under pressure from those wanting to fight back. But, as time goes on, his importance has increased. He is a tiny, blazing star glowing more brilliantly as time goes on. He offered his bare back as the fulcrum for the world.”

In the question-and-answer session that followed, Wisdom told the students in the audience to step outside of the world they live in to begin change.

“How many of you are in med school? How many of you are going to be lawyers? You have to ask yourself as doctors and lawyers, ‘Who needs my help in the 21st century? Whose voice do I need to represent?’ Because as we saw in [Hurricane] Katrina, the system wasn’t there to represent the needy, the people with no health care, the hungry.”

Wisdom closed his talk by reading a poem called “Anyway,” which is inscribed on the walls of Mother Teresa’s children’s home in Calcutta.

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