The creator of The Wire weighs in on his star’s drug arrest

When I heard that Felicia “Snoop” Pearson, an actress from The Wire, had been arrested in a massive drug sting, I emailed David Simon, the creator of the TV series and the man who plucked her from obscurity, on the off chance he felt like commenting on the affair for today’s Indy.

He replied, half an hour later, saying that “if” he had “a public statement” then it would be released later, via a PR representative. In journalistic terms, this is usually the equivalent of telling a reporter to kindly go away, so I shrugged my shoulders and got on with my piece on Pearson’s arrest sad, and at times extraordinary life that lay behind it (read it here).

But in the event, Simon was as good as his word. A lengthy statement was released a few hours later, after today’s paper went to print. I repeat it in full, in the italics below. Because regardless of whether you’re a fan of The Wire, it deserves to be read.

First of all, Felicia’s entitled to the presumption of innocence. And I would note that a previous, but recent drug arrest that targeted her was later found to be unwarranted and the charges were dropped. Nonetheless, I’m certainly sad at the news today. This young lady has, from her earliest moments, had one of the hardest lives imaginable.  And whatever good fortune came from her role in The Wire seems, in retrospect, limited to that project. She worked hard as an actor and was entirely professional, but the entertainment industry as a whole does not offer a great many roles for those who can portray people from the other America. There are, in fact, relatively few stories told about the other America.

Beyond that, I am waiting to see whether the charges against Felicia relate to heroin or marijuana. Obviously, the former would be, to my mind, a far more serious matter. And further, I am waiting to see if the charges or statement of facts offered by the government reflect any involvement with acts of violence, which would of course be of much greater concern.

In an essay published two years ago in Time Magazine (here) the writers of The Wire made the argument that we believe the war on drugs has devolved into a war on the underclass, that in places like West and East Baltimore, where the drug economy is now the only factory still hiring and where the educational system is so crippled that the vast majority of children are trained only for the corners, a legal campaign to imprison our most vulnerable and damaged citizens is little more than amoral. And we said then that if asked to serve on any jury considering a non-violent drug offense, we would move to nullify that jury’s verdict and vote to acquit. Regardless of the defendant, I still believe such a course of action would be just in any case in which drug offenses—absent proof of violent acts—are alleged.

Both our Constitution and our common law guarantee that we will be judged by our peers.  But in truth, there are now two Americas, politically and economically distinct. I, for one, do not qualify as a peer to Felicia Pearson. The opportunities and experiences of her life do not correspond in any way with my own, and her America is different from my own. I am therefore ill-equipped to be her judge in this matter.

Recent Posts on Notebook

• Justice for sale but who pays for the cost?
• The Road to the Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc - Majorca 70.3 Ironman
• The Retail Ready People project means the future of the high street is in your hands
• Don't get mad about Amazon and make the right ethical choice
• Chagos: Conservationists are swimming in murky waters

• http://twitter.com/ReadWriteRtreat Frances Ham

  I admire David Simon’s integrity more and more. The Wire showed comfortable white middle class people a world we could never know first hand. Now he is standing by one of the citizens of that world and making so much sense.

• http://twitter.com/ReadWriteRtreat Frances Ham

  David Simon admits how little he can really understand about the America lived in and experienced by Felicia Pearson. He has, however, shown us that America through his work.

• VicTheBrit

  Well said! And I’m afraid the Afro-Caribbean community in the UK also gets tarred by the actions of a few. It’s a sad fact in the UK that if you’re black skinned you have a 3x greater chance of being targeted by bigoted police abusing the SUS law.

• http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=666270816 Benedict Edwards

  David Simon once again proves why he is such a badass. Fine work.

• YvesLaPointe

  Felicia Pearson’s opening scene in The Wire where she buys a giant stapling gun from a hardware shop is a classic of its kind and perfectly illustrates Simon’s point as she and the shop assistant seem at times to be speaking different languages. The key point about this story, as I have no idea what the Pearsons’ precise crime or evidence against her is, is that drugs in the USA is dealt with in supremely hypocritical terms -I wonder how many ‘hip’ white folks who snort a line of coke every weekend pause to wonder how many dead Mexicans lie behind it. There is a ’small war’ taking place South of the Border but as long as the white stuff gets through why should they care when they can bang up the underclass and congratulate themselves that their own ‘war on drugs’ is going ahead….

• MicheleDerry

  Well done, David Simon.

• latinwithsol

  As a an addict in recovery who now has 2 and a half years under his belt i cannot tell you how refreshing it is to hear such a beautiful statement. If you had seen me you would have written me off as a hopeless case, and you would have been right, given the evidence in front of you. How humble it is of this man to admit that as a human being he is unable to even comprehend fully this situation, let alone pass judgement on it.
  I am now a useful, hardworking member of society, back in the stream of life. Once again a father, son, brother, uncle, friend, boyfriend, citizen, professional. Love………yourself.
  What a show, what a man, what a human being.