I was already under the impression that HBO’s The Wire was the best and most honest television program in American history. But my mind was totally blown tonight when I realized that “Little” Melvin Williams was cast as the deacon on that program. I learned this from watching an hour-long program on Little Melvin that aired on the Biography Channel. I was already familiar with his history, which you can learn about here. He’s basically responsible for the destruction of the black community in Baltimore. You couldn’t create enough life sentences to equal out the damage he’s done. And he was cast as one of the good guys on the show. Amazing.
I don’t know whether to be offended or to applaud the genius of their casting. It appears that he’s still hustling. They said on the biography program that he has an IQ of 161. He’s also a good actor. But he indicts himself with his own words.
“You know why I became a drug dealer?” he asks. “Because that cop put 16 pills of heroin in my pocket [in 1967]. Like Rambo said, they drew first blood. And all I wanted to do after that is sell kilos and kilos, and I know a lot of people died from it, but if they didn’t want a drug dealer, then they shouldn’t have fucked with me.”
That doesn’t sound like a man who has taken responsibility for his actions. It’s a great injustice to see him walk around the ruined and formerly vibrant areas of black Baltimore reminiscing about the good old days. He destroyed it all by bringing heroin and then cocaine into the community. Maybe someone else would have done it if he hadn’t been there, but he’s still responsible.
I’d go with “applaud the genius of the casting.” Most of the other cast members have a similar history, Booman. I don’t think he brought in any professional actors for the show.
It’s part of what made the show so authentic. Still, that man has so much blood on his hands that it makes me sick to see him getting a pay check to portray his own carnage.
Since when is the entertainment industry all about morality? It’s a pig trough, imo.
agree, sickening, imo.
Did he strap people down and forcibly inject it in their veins?
No, of course not. He just ran the largest heroin-dealing empire in the city.
So he performed a service, like Al Capone. You can blame Capone for those who died from wood alcohol, but not for those who bought too much of his Canadian whiskey or beer.
I have some sympathy for the guy who claims that he was convicted while actually innocent, therefore he figured he might as well do it.
I wouldn’t blame him for destruction of the black community for selling drugs. That seems more like a case for suicide. If not, I would blame those who produced so much despair that people threw their lives away.
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"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."Maybe someone else would have done it if he hadn’t been there, but he’s still responsible.
Of course someone else would have. This is the nature of capitalism. He played the game right.
This is a business no less bloody or morally bankrupt than many others. So he gets a paycheck for acting & others get a paycheck from the feds. No one is forced to buy his product if they don’t want it, as opposed to the products of, say, the defense industry.
No one is forced to buy his product if they don’t want it.
That goes for the addicts also. The same choice always exists.
Addiction is a bit more complex than that, I’d say from experience.