Wendell Pierce

And I said, and what do you do in life?

Wait, where are you going?

She was like, I'm going to Brown University on full scholarship.

And I thought to myself, why are we not telling your story?

Why are we not telling your story?

And I thought about the criticism.

And I said, that woman was right.

And I said, I should leave the show because we're perpetuating a stereotype.

And then the episode came on for the fourth season.

And it was so impactful.

And we see exactly where we lose our kids.

And we see that inflection point where

We can save them and put them on the right track and where we can make them the young woman who goes to Brown on a full scholarship and where we lose them and send them into that pipeline into the penal system.

And then I said, okay, it's not arbitrary.

That's the role we're playing on the wire.

We are the cautionary tale.

We are, as Shakespeare said, holding a mirror up to nature and calling our dysfunction out in our society that creates the criminality, that doesn't celebrate the education of this young woman going to school and all.

So it wasn't arbitrary.

And then that's the only thing that made me come back.

This is open in your face.