A RACE TO JUDGMENT

It's interesting that Redford Givens of San Francisco has the wisdom to
judge Tulia (Sept. 15 letter, "Race to racism").

We, too, were surprised at the 60-year sentence handed down by the judge in
the Kareem Abdul Jabbar White case. Mr. White turned down 12 years'
probation and leniency on the remaining charges. Wouldn't his judgment lead
us to understand why he was so easily caught?

Doesn't Mr. Givens think the people of Tulia aren't aware of the high cost
of a prison sentence? Those who are "selling a few grams of drugs" are the
ones leading hundreds down the road they travel. Mr. Givens' estimate of
$1.5 million is conservative. The costs include not only those accrued by
the prison system but costs for hospitals, funerals, medicine, etc.,
incurred by broken families who have lost all they have trying to get their
children off drugs. Those "few grams of drugs" sentenced those families for
a lifetime, not just 60 years.

All charges were dropped against narcotics agent Tom Coleman. I can only
assume that Mr. Givens is not willing to do the same. When drug dealers were
like a swarm of bees on Mr. Coleman, who was attempting to save lives from
something nearly as horrible as hell, he didn't choose the color - the color
chose him.

"Racism is alive and well in Tulia." On that point, I agree, because to me,
"racism" means caring for the races. They are given the same educational
privileges and participate in all school and community activities. They
attend the church of their choice, work beside us, and shop and eat with us.
We are friends. We hug their necks, attend their funerals and pray with
them. And do you know what? They do the same for us.

In Tulia, we are proud of our "racism."