Eric Holder, the head of the U.S. Department of Justice and the single most powerful law enforcement official in the country, is campaigning for the creators of the crime-driven, gritty, cable drama, “The Wire,” to bring the show back.
There are other areas that require the attorney general’s redress that are more dire. Besides, I’m not so sure how the residents of Baltimore, where the show was based for five years and provided a powerful portal for which actor Idris Elba sprung to Hollywood stardom, feel about that.
The attorney general doesn’t just miss “The Wire,” which went off the air in 2008. He actually gushed about the show as he stood alongside several cast members Tuesday at the Robert F. Kennedy building in Washington.
“I want to speak directly to Mr. Burns and Mr. Simon: Do another season of ‘The Wire.’ … I want another season or a movie,” he said, adding, “I have a lot of power.”
Well, Mr. Holder, you weren’t alone in your love for the show. But, then again, “Oz” also was extremely popular, but I’m not necessarily sure of its redeemable properties or cultural value.
Instead, we suggest that you appropriate some of that “power” toward releasing the hundreds, if not thousands, of wrongly imprisoned African Americans, such as Pastor Enslow Ross of Macon, Ga., whom Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network and other entities are working to set free. Ross is coming up for perhaps his final hearing this month for the dismissal of a flimsy conviction that has him languishing in an Alabama federal prison. He would appreciate the application of your “power” on his behalf.
Another area where your “power” definitely can have impact is with the still ridiculous and draconian laws that have black men herded and stacked into prisons like cattle. You could push harder for the abolishment of mandatory minimums and three strikes and against the unjustifiable disparity that still exists between crack and powder cocaine.
I know that the cocaine disparity has been reduced from 100:1 to 18:1. But, excuse me, that is still ridiculous and unacceptable. That’s like removing most of the cancer cells and leaving the rest in the body. It is still killing our community.
Last, it seems that as the heat index rises in Chicago and other major cities, so does the black male body count. The families trapped within these concrete jungles desparately desire your “power” being thrown around a little bit over on their sides of town. You visited Chicago last year at the behest of President Obama to spill empty rhetoric onto the streets, but these scared parents and frightened youth need your “power,” not just your powerful political jargon. They cannot shield themselves from hollow points with consonants and vowels.
–terry shropshire
