Actor Michael K. Williams Screens “Raised in the System” Documentary in Mount Vernon
MOUNT VERNON — Actor Michael K. Williams joined Mayor Richard Thomas today to discuss criminal justice reform and the documentary series “Raised in the System,” featured on the VICE news series on HBO.
Mayor Thomas invited Williams to the city as part of the mayor’s Healthy Homes Initiative’s criminal justice reform component. Before the screening, Mayor Thomas said that he is ensuring that Mount Vernon’s young people get exposed to more information and education so that they can persevere through any challenge.
“When I saw this documentary play about a month ago, it was the middle of the night. I got on my knees and prayed that I….get this man to Mount Vernon to share this experience, to share this story with you,” Mayor Thomas told the largely youthful audience. “This is faith in action.”
In the documentary, the Emmy-nominated Williams serves as a correspondent and he embarks on a personal journey to expose the root of the American mass incarceration crisis: the juvenile justice system.
Williams told the assembled youth that his education on the criminal justice system began after a meeting with former President Barack Obama.
“I’m not here as an entertainer. I’m just here as a black man from Brooklyn,” Williams said. “ I care about you all. You all are our future.”
Williams told the youth that although he has never served time in jail or prison, he has been visiting people in jail since he was a teenager. Those visits led to conversations with the producers of “Raised in the System.”
“I took my stories, my friends’, my family’s, I took them to my producers,” Williams said. “How come people in my community that look me, how come we keep making the same bad choices?”
When the producers told him it was the school to prison pipeline, Williams took action.
“So I went on a journey, and this is it. I learned some things and I want you all to be inspired,” Williams said. “I want you all to open your minds and open your hearts, and most importantly, open your mouths.”
According to the American Civil Liberties Union, the United States only represents 5 percent of the global population, yet it has 25 percent of the world’s prison population. Since 1970, the U.S. incarcerated population has increased by 700 percent to about 2.3 million people in prison and jail, an increase that outpaces the nation’s population growth and crime.
Williams is best known for his work on The Wire, which ran for five seasons on HBO. The wit and humor that Williams brought to Omar, the whistling, profanity-averse, drug dealer-robbing stickup man, earned him high praise and made Omar one of television’s most memorable characters.
Williams’ other celebrated performances include his role as Albert “Chalky” White on the HBO series “Boardwalk Empire” and his role as Jack Gee, husband of Bessie Smith, in the HBO biopic “Bessie.”
The event also included the unveiling of a painting, “Black Out, Past to Future,” by Nichelle Murray. The six-by-eight-foot artwork depicts the experience of enslaved Africans brought to the colonial United States and the experiences of their descendants to the present.
The painting will be sold and proceeds from the sale will benefit the African diaspora and Mount Vernon programs.
Photos and video of the Williams are available on request.
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