BLACK AND WHITE EQUAL GRAY AREA

How many black people do we have to put in jail before we get white people
to stop using drugs?

Though many have expressed shock at the drug bust that sent one-third of
Tulia's adult black males to prison in one day, the "one day" is all that
sets Tulia apart.

The resulting portion of blacks with a felony conviction is about the same
as the rest of the United States.

Also, like people elsewhere, nobody in Tulia seems to care that there must
be many white drug users and dealers still at large among their children.

Studies by both government and private groups indicate drugs are used by
about the same percentage of people, regardless of race or income. Tulia is
about 5 percent black.

If the town is 50 percent white, that means there are about 400 white male
Tulians who somehow avoided the same multi-decade sentences.

If it is just to orphan 37 black children to rid a community of drug
abusers, should we not demand equal justice and orphan 370 white children
in the same cause?

Drug use requires a more thoughtful response than the current "Wham, Bam,
Slam!" approach. Substance abuse afflicts all ethnic and economic groups
equally.

This suggests a medical rather than a criminal problem.

I recommend a thoughtful reading of Matthew 25:31-46.

On Judgment Day, will the King say, "I was hungry and naked and sick, and
you sent men with guns to injure me"?

BOB RAMSEY

Irving