|
Good afternoon --
I'm a reporter who covered the
police beat in Baltimore. Today, I make television shows. And last
Friday, my phone rang. Someone on the other end told me that the
President of the United States wants to have a conversation about
criminal justice policy in America.
In his effort to try to
reconsider some of the sentencing excesses and the levels of
incarceration that have become so problematic in America, the President
wanted to discuss these issues with me -- particularly because a lot of
them were rooted in a television show that we did several years ago
called "The Wire." In that show, we were trying to explore what the drug
war has become in America and what it was costing us as a society.
So I went to Washington earlier
this week and sat down with the President. We shared our experiences,
our perspectives on the drug war, and the changes we hope to see.
Secretly, in my heart of hearts,
I don’t want to be in the entertainment industry. Having been a
reporter, everything after that tends to feel less rooted to reality. So
the President’s call was not only astonishing, but seemed to be an
incredible opportunity.
It was a candid conversation. And ultimately, a hopeful one.
Because I can tell you that the President certainly does.
|
