DAVID SIMON ART K. WILLIAMS LICENSE

When one of his previous sources of supply - not a dealer, but a co-user - was discovered to have some proximity to our film sets, Michael insisted that the matter was to be addressed by changes in his own behavior rather than anything punitive to anyone else. At the same time, in all of his address of these struggles, Michael always declared that he was responsible for himself, that the decision whether to use or to cease using would always be his own. He spoke of it to me bluntly at points and he never discounted the threat. 'Mike was always aware that addiction and the impulse toward addiction would remain a constant in his life,' Simon wrote to Manhattan Federal Court Judge Ronnie Abrams. Zeman, hip to the many ways in which Simon articulated the problems with the drug war over his career, reached out to him, to write a letter on Macci behalf. The court's probation office recommended the sentence of 10 years for Macci, who has been detained since the time of his arrest. Fifty years later, drugs are deadlier and more abundant than ever Simon has been tweeting, writing, screaming and making art about this throughout the duration of his career. We need to remove the drugs and the need to use and sell them, not the people who do.

Lock up Macci for 10 years or even 10 days and there will be another person in line, ready and eager to sell the same drugs. So of course, Simon would not advocate for Macci to serve 10 years in prison, because he knows that sentence would not begin to solve any real problems. While people continued to die in and around the McCulloughs orbit, the system offers the same ineffective remedies: impossible routes towards treatment, more cops to lock up more people, more jail and never, ever stopping narcotics from entering the community or fighting for better employment opportunities. In their neighborhood, the drug trade is an essential part of the community's ecosystem, and not enough policy makers ask why. Simon also did this with his book and the television show both titled 'The Corner,' where we meet the McCulloughs of west Baltimore, a family who lived directly in the center of the drug trade.

DAVID SIMON ART K. WILLIAMS LICENSE

Our job as writers in that room, was not just telling the story of the corrupt Gun Trace Task Force officers, but also the story of failed policy, showing how the drug war, and the city's hunger for arrest stats gave them the license to rob, steal, abuse citizens and sell more drugs. Simon even gave me my first television job, as a writer on 'We Own This City,' a show that fits perfectly into his body of work that constantly exposes the many problems created by the so-called drug war. 'The court's probation office have recommended a sentence of 10 years for Macci, who has been detained since the time of his arrest.'ĭavid Simon has been my mentor for years, a person I lean on for advice, and complain to or with about policing as well as the publishing industry.

That brother was an advocate for people, truly understood struggle, and even had a documentary about prison reform, HBO's 'Raised in the System.' I would never try to speak for Williams, but deep down in my soul I feel that he would not have thought that prison was the answer for Macci. I met the guy a few times before I started my career as a writer, established a deeper relationship with him after interviewing him for Salon, and was even set to be a character in a documentary he was working on about poor housing and lead paint poisoning. He has even been spotted taking a stroll through different housing projects. It wasn't strange to see him in Cherry Hill, Down Da Hill, up the village or sitting outside of a Mount Vernon café with a cup of tea. He would be in the trenches as well as the ritzy spots. Williams, who starred as legendary stickup artist Omar who only targeted dealers, was one of the few actors from 'The Wire' that truly combed the streets of Baltimore like a local. Williams brought Omar and Leonard to life: 'We're all just one big mess underneath'

David simon art k. williams