The Wire's Bunny Colvin helps explain how we got here: "This drug thing, this ain't police work"

[fishwax]

This drug thing, this ain't police work. No, it ain't. I mean, I can send any fool with a badge and a gun up on them corners and jack a crew and grab vials. But policing? I mean, you call something a war and pretty soon everybody gonna be running around acting like warriors. They gonna be running around on a damn crusade, storming corners, slapping on cuffs, racking up body counts. And when you at war, you need a fucking enemy. And pretty soon, damn near everybody on every corner is your fucking enemy. And soon the neighborhood that you're supposed to be policing, that's just occupied territory.

Bunny Colvin's speech--one of the best moments in the five great seasons of The Wire--has been running through my head the last couple of days, watching things flare up in Ferguson. There has been much discussion of the militarization of the police and what brought it about, and certainly the war on drugs (a war which has always been waged disproportionately against communities of color) is a major factor.

The clip

[Live and Learn]

1. Hear, Hear! nt

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. Stick that on Twitter or Facebook......n/t.

[BrotherIvan]

3. One of the great shows

The war on drugs is another toxic legacy for which we can thank St. Ronnie.

[flamingdem]

4. Indeed and

The Wire was genius.