Image via WikipediaThe Baltimore Sun reports Felicia Pearson, the star who played narcotics dealer Snoop in the hit TV series The Wire, was detained by cops in Baltimore, Maryland on Thursday (10Mar11) along with 30 other suspects, as officers swooped on an alleged drug ring. Raids were carried out by the DEA, Baltimore police and other federal and state law enforcement. The Sun also reports that the arrests were part of a five month drug investigation.
I hope everyone remembers that she is innocent until proven guilty. David Simon, a former Baltimore Sun crime reporter who created The Wire, issued an impassioned statement on Pearson's behalf.
Simon gave his rationale on why Pearson would turn back to a life of crime. He wrote the following, “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.”
In his lengthy public statement, which was posted online by Slate.com, Simon argued that "the war on drugs has devolved into a war on the underclass." He called the drug economy in downtrodden places like East Baltimore, where the heroin ring allegedly operated, "the only factory still hiring."
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