We've read many stories about police corruption and the way the drug war has ravaged American cities. Our latest article is a stunning piece of writing about what that looks like from the inside. It's by D. Watkins, who grew up in East Baltimore and became a crack dealer in the early 2000s. Over the years, he had numerous run-ins with a notorious police officer named Daniel Hersl, who grew up just a mile away. As D puts it:
Nearly two decades later, you wouldn’t be crazy to assume he’d gone on to become a police chief or captain, with a beautiful career and a cushy retirement, while I ended up dead on the street or cutting and stabbing my way through a life sentence in some federal prison for racketeering and narcotic possession with the intent to distribute. That’s how these stories normally work out, right? Well, our story is the complete opposite: It is 2020; I am a respected author and university professor, while Hersl is a convicted felon, federal inmate 62926-037 doing hard time in MCFP Springfield, Missouri.
D. sets out to understand how the trajectories of their lives intersected and took such unexpected turns. Along the way you get an up-close view of the racial politics of the drug war that's unlike anything you've ever read before. The original photography—also stunning—is by Baltimore native Devin Allen, who captured some of the most iconic images of the Freddie Gray protests.
Thanks for reading and take care,
Rachel | 
