FIGHTING FOR DO RAGS IS FINE -- BUT WHERE IS THE OUTCRY OVER DRUGS?

About a year or so ago, I wrote a column about Dusty the dog.

You remember Dusty. He's the dog who was beaten to death last year by a man
with a sledgehammer and baseball bat.

The incident resulted in several days of loud protests from animal rights
activists, who delivered a petition to the court, seeking the maximum
punishment.

I remarked that I was sorry that the death of a dog drew so many protesters
while the deaths of children rarely, if ever, drew any.

My column drew tons of angry letters from dog lovers. While I retain my
wonderment that children's deaths don't seem to draw the same outrage as
that of animals, some writers made good points. They said that people
choose different causes for different reasons.

Fair enough, I say. People certainly have the right to choose which cause
interests them most.

That said, I turn my attentions to the recent brouhaha over "do rags" at
Union Station.

If you haven't been around lately, here's the skinny: Not terribly long
ago, hip-hop star and St. Louis native Nelly paid a visit to St. Louis
Union Station. He was told that he would have to remove his do rag -- a
type of headscarf -- if he was to enter. Seems the station has some rules
to keep gangs out of the place.

Rather than remove his do rag, Nelly left.

That would have been the end of it, except that some others -- who weren't
with Nelly at the time -- decided that the policy was discriminatory
against African-Americans and protested at the station. When Nelly said he
wanted nothing to do with the protests and didn't want any protests to be
held because of him, the protesters called for boycotting his records.

So now, a band of folks is regularly picketing Union Station because Nelly
wasn't allowed to enter with a do rag, despite the wishes of Nelly. Mind
you, the policy at Union Station has been in effect for at least a couple
of years.

Frankly, I think the policy is a bit outdated. There are plenty of young
black men these days who wear do rags to be fashionable, who are no more
likely to be in a gang than I am.

It still makes me wonder, however, why something like this is garnering
such attention when there are so many problems -- more serious than do rags
- -- that are plaguing so many black neighborhoods in St. Louis. I'd be
willing to bet that if I went to any black neighborhood in the St. Louis
area and asked people what they felt the most pressing problem was, few if
any would say do rags.

No, I think many more would say it is the scourge of drugs in so many
communities, drugs that are tearing families apart. How many black folks
out there are hurting because of drugs? How many people have found personal
items stolen by their loved ones, who sold them to buy crack cocaine? How
many have lost their lives going after drugs or money to buy drugs? The
pain that drugs have caused in so many black communities is intense. Why
aren't we seeing more protests -- and other actions -- to deal with this
pain caused by drugs?

Crime is another problem that's hurting some black neighborhoods. When
older adults are afraid to walk out of their doors, when people feel a need
to bar every window in their house, sometimes even the second-floor
windows, there's a problem that needs to be addressed.

Crime has torn some neighborhoods apart and caused wholesale abandonment of
others. Why aren't we seeing more protests -- and other actions -- to deal
with the pain caused by crime?

Do rag protests are sexier, I guess -- maybe they garner more media
attention. The cameras are probably more likely to come running to a do rag
protest at Union Station than a protest against crime or drugs.

But that doesn't make the other problems any less daunting.

Still, as the animal protesters made clear to me, people have the right to
choose whatever cause they feel is most important to them.

I just wish more people felt that drugs and crime in black neighborhoods
was as important as do rags.