Snoop gets Busted

Unless you have been living under a rock for the last decade you have at least heard of the television series "The Wire".  A few years ago I kept repeatedly hearing of this series as one of the best shows in the history of television but of course it was on HBO which is not television, it's HBO.  We started renting the discs on Netflix and after the first episode we were hooked, completing the whole 5 season series within the next couple of months.  The Wire is incredibly provocative and written so well that there are levels of plots and story lines going on all at once.  Being a huge Sopranos fan which looked at psychology and the Americanized Italian Mafia, The Wire is great as it looks at many aspects of city life in the modern age, drugs, crime, law, institutions, schools, ports, media, government, and the black communities that have been worn down by the war on drugs.  Growing up running into the weedspots on Hamilton Hill and Arbor Hill I related to some of the neighborhood crime aspects but never to the drastic extent of a southern city like Baltimore I related alot to the shows depiction of drugs and addiction and given my current field of work in the Criminal Justice System this show was the realest look at what truly goes on in these poor run down communities where it truly is as Notorious BIG said "the streets are a short stop, either you are slinging crack rock or you gotta wicked jump shot" and for many people, in AMERICA, this is the truth.  If you haven't seen this show I would suggest you check it out, everyone that I have turned on to it has been just as obsessed with it as we were when we first saw it.  Also there are many references to it among film writers, critics, and sociologists across the country.  Some of the most prestigious Universities in the country offer classes that examine The Wire, Universities such as Duke, UC Berkley, Harvard, and John Hopkins.  Barack Obama has even said that it is by far his favorite TV series. 
As my sister lives in Baltimore and we have spent some time there in the past few years, it is evident to see how America has let some of its most prestigious cities fall to dust and let some parts resemble third world countries due to the war on drugs--this doesn't make world news, but it should.  In November we drove through miles of deserted boarded up houses with Mercedes benz's parked in front-what is your chance of survival if you are born into a community like that?? Most of the people I know, wouldn't last a day.  Unfortunately these issues like crack cocaine, are viewed mostly as Black American problems and who cares right? Some states now are trying to make welfare and food stamps illegal unless you can pass a drug test first, what about the kids in those situations? States cutting money for DSS, mental health, planned parent hood and education for inner city kids is some of the stupidest ways of thinking I have ever heard but that is another story.
If you want to see what it is really like for most Americans-watch The Wire.  We are all effected by institutions in some way or another, government, law, workplace, law enforcement, prison, rehabilitation, media, education, commerce, and the economy.  Each season takes a different look at different aspects of Baltimore's inner workings and as the show is written by a former police officer and beat writer for the cities newspaper they writing goes more in depth than anything television has ever done.  Season one examines the illegal drug trade, season two the port systems, season three city governments, season four the school system, and season five the ultimate..print media.  It is unreal to see how these all tie together and how it effects what we all do on a daily basis.  There are many workings and obstacles to overcome that make the process much more in depth than say CSI or Law in Order where they figure it out in an hour.  Most criminal cases get dismissed, it is a real pain and process to actually get a conviction.  So realistic is this show that they use real Baltimore crime figures in the filming process and none was more chilling and haunting than Snoop.
Omar was bad ass and sadistic, Chris was cold blooded, Barksdale and Marlow were on some other shit but Snoop was grimy.  Stephen King called Snoop the most chilling character that he had ever seen or read about and it is true.  Which is why if you are squeemish, don't watch, my mother has nightmares from this show.  When you see Snoop on the screen it is disturbing and what makes it that way is that she really did some of these things that were in the show.  She killed somebody when she was 14 and witnessed another murder and plead the fifth and did her time, there are not criminals of this level out there anymore and as my sister sent me the link this morning (http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-ci-drug-raids-20110310,0,5092225.story ) Snoop was arrested in a city wide take down of 60 members of a high powered, top level drug ring in Baltimore.  When reading the story it is something completely out of The Wire.  Squads of 8-10 DEA, FBI, ATF, and city PO-lice assembling at the Ravens stadium (right next to my sister) before heading out to arrest about 60 people.  What is tragic about this is that this is a person who had a way out.  She was on TV shows and is in an upcoming movie with one of my favorite actors Gary Oldman, but that wasn't enough.  Ultimately drug money is unlike any other money in the amounts that you can make-high risk-high reward (like Wall Street).  Instead of doing something like ending this war on drugs which obviously 30 years in, has done nothing but killed people, filled ER's, filled prisons, and allowed cheaper, purer drugs on to the streets of America and the taxpayer pays for all of that.  Locking people up, then releasing them back into the same environment does nothing but continue the cycle that starts so poorly in our education systems.  Those criminal means of survival inside those four walls become how you deal with the world when you are released which then trains generations of people to associate with the world in a criminalistic mindset from early on which can cripple communities. I could rant on this forever as I see it and live with it on a daily basis but what I don't hear are people who are coming up with solutions to these problems.  Until you know what it is like to walk in another persons shoes then don't ever make judgements like these rich, white, politicians that make decisions in this country for no one but the rich white people that they serve.  Every religion and high being belief I have ever come across talks about how you treat the people who have the least around you, the poor, and most of what I read is that no one gives a shit.  The gangs of America start when kids are too young to make an informed decision, most of them 11 or 12 years old and that's the future, so America stop being ignorant and fix this shit, spend money on preventative measures instead of wasting it when it is too late.  Education should be the top priority, maybe if it is was Snoop wouldn't be going to do some hard time now and hundreds of thousands of other young black men and women could have a chance of doing something with their lives instead of knowing who the top dealer in the neighborhood is more than who the President of the United States is.  Something has to change.  When there is nothing to do, no programs, and nothing to compete with the drug money what do you expect these kids to do??? I expect them to do exactly what Snoop did because if you lived in those neighborhoods you would do it too, not cause you are evil or wrong but because you have to find a way to live, so before you judge try to understand and try to be someone that changes the world and doesnt make it worse with your ignorance.  The Wire--check it out.