A movie about Kemba Smith (a woman wrongly convicted of drug crimes) has begun. We get wind of this biopic from our friends at cinematical:
Smith’s story is pretty shocking and should make for an interesting film. Born in Richmond, Virginia, she was raised by middle-class parents and led a life free from troubles with the law until she made her way to Hampton University. There, she “met a man who ended up being the leader of a $4 million crack cocaine ring and one of the FBI’s 15 most wanted.” For the love of this man, she dropped out of school and went on the run with him.
Although the government acknowledged that Smith never sold or took drugs, “she was charged with conspiracy to distribute crack and was sentenced to 24 years in prison.” In 1999 she was featured in Glamour Magazine, which described how she came to be charged for her boyfriend’s crimes. In 2000, after 6 years in prison, President Clinton pardoned Smith on his way out of office. Since then, she has since created the Kemba Smith Foundation, and works to gain rights for ex-felons — namely, the right to vote, serve jury duty, and run for public office.
What’s a girl gotta do to get a pardon from Clinton. Hey-O!
This is an unfortunate tale of a girl being damned by love. I don’t think she should have been charged with crimes she didn’t commit; but crack cocaine seldom creates good news. If you surround yourself with crack, bad things usually happen. I think this is a universal law, like gravity. Stay away from the crack kids – that is the moral of the day.
This film is still in need of a writer to adapt the tale for the silver screen. This is a tragic tale about the shared consequences that only love can forge. The heart may bring you to a bad place in order to get what it needs; it throws logic to the wind and hungers for what it desires like a zombie for brains.
