Bill Moyers Talks Drugs, Crime, Journalism and Democracy with Creator of 'The Wire'

By Bill Moyers, Bill Moyers Journal. Posted April 21, 2009.

But if you were a schoolteacher or a kid on a corner or a cop walking the beat. If you-- if you were, our sentiments were always with labor, it was always at the street level. If you were one of those people, you couldn't help but hear the affection. That this was-- it may have been a conflicted lover. But it was a love letter nonetheless. And I thought that scene really caught it.

BILL MOYERS: We'll hear it now, this love letter. Thank you, David Simon, for being with me on the Journal.

DAVID SIMON: Thank you.

[...]

DETECTIVE KIMA GREGGS: Let's say goodnight to everybody. Goodnight moon. You say it.

CHILD: Goodnight moon.

DETECTIVE KIMA GREGGS: There you go. Goodnight stars.

CHILD: Goodnight stars.

DETECTIVE KIMA GREGGS: Goodnight po-po's.

CHILD: Goodnight po-po's.

DETECTIVE KIMA GREGGS: Goodnight fiends.

CHILD: Goodnight fiends.

DETECTIVE KIMA GREGGS: Goodnight hoppers.

CHILD: Goodnight hoppers.

DETECTIVE KIMA GREGGS: Goodnight hustlers.

CHILD: Goodnight hustlers.

DETECTIVE KIMA GREGGS: Goodnight scammers.

CHILD: Goodnight scammers.

DETECTIVE KIMA GREGGS: Goodnight to everybody.

CHILD: Goodnight to everybody.

DETECTIVE KIMA GREGGS: Goodnight to one and all.

CHILD: Goodnight to one and all.

[...]

BILL MOYERS: That's it for the Journal.

For more about THE WIRE and David Simon, and for information on the state of America's inner cities as well as a tough look at what's happening to the newspaper business, log onto the Moyers website at PBS.org.

I'm Bill Moyers and I'll see you next week.

See more stories tagged with: drugs, journalism, crime, police, war on drugs, bill moyers, reporting, the wire, baltimore, arrests, david simon, dope

Bill Moyers is president of the Schumann Center for Media and Democracy.

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