COCAINE FUROR BARES A DOUBLE STANDARD

The possibility that a presidential candidate used cocaine when in his or
her "youth" should not automatically eliminate him or her, or disqualify him
or her from seeking the highest political office in the nation -- that is,
assuming there is no conviction of such a criminal offense. That's why I do
not care whether George W. Bush, currently the leading Republican candidate
for president, used cocaine when he was in his 20s.

But let's say a high-ranking official, born white and into white privilege,
is indeed forgiven for past drug abuse. Let's say he gets far, very far,
even to the White House.

That, I'd say, would raise some truly profound questions.

What about those born nonwhite, born into poverty, who have been
incarcerated for using drugs or have committed crimes to satisfy their drug
addiction? If such offenses can be forgiven the great, who is there to
forgive the small?

According to Justice Department statistics, the United States has 1.8
million people in its jails and prisons, second only to Russia, a country we
may pass, in that regard, early next century if trends continue.

African-Americans make up 13 percent of this country's population -- and
nearly half its prison population. They use 14 percent of the illegal drugs
sold in the nation, while whites use 74 percent.

So why the disparity behind bars? Because in practice, the "war on drugs"
has been a war on poor, African-American and Hispanic males. Witness the
time-honored practice of racial profiling; witness the targeting of
inner-city poor neighborhoods by police. If police used the same tactics in
upper-class suburban neighborhoods, it would not be tolerated.

But the more devastating public policy has been the knee-jerk passage of
Draconian laws such as mandatory minimum sentences. For the use of crack
cocaine, the preference of African-American abusers, laws have been passed
to give harsher sentences than for those who use pure cocaine, the drug of
choice for many white, rich abuser.

The affect of those policies over the past 10 years? Prison overcrowding.
Disruption of already unstable communities and families.

Gov. Bush's Texas is second only to California in the number of people in
prison and second to Louisiana in the rate of incarceration. Texas alone,
based on 1998 statistics, had 144,410 people in state prison. There are more
than 500,000 Texans in prison, jail or on probation and parole in the state.

The evidence suggests that the increased incarceration rates have not
reduced crime but have instead created more crime and more fatherless
children in poor urban nonwhite communities.

It is clear that Gov. Bush doesn't want to talk about his past problems but
is willing to lock everybody else up for theirs. The drug question is
relevant in Texas, as it is in any other state. Sixty percent of those in
state prisons are there because of drug abuse. Fifty percent are there for
nonviolent crimes.

Two thirds of people jailed need drug treatment, but, according to Justice
statistics, only about 13 percent were in treatment of any kind based on
1996 statistics.

Many prisons, like those in Texas, are so overcrowded that either they do
not have space for treatment programs or prison-building has been so
expensive that little is left for drug treatment or vocational training.

The men come out and, because of their lack of education or treatment are
trapped into a cycle that affects their families and children.

In many of the poor communities in Philadelphia, the word incarceration is
understood by even the youngest children, including kindergartners. Someone
in their family likely has been "incarcerated."

In many communities, there is little distance between prison culture and
street culture. The social alienation of returning inmates resonates within
those communities. Unlike privileged offenders, the once-incarcerated may
never be able to make up for their youthful indiscretions. There is no one
to forgive them.

Until we take a new look at our public policy on mandatory sentencing and
spend some of that prison-building money on drug treatment, education -- and
better training of teachers -- then it is fair to question and criticize the
George Bushes of our society.

To forgive without asking the questions, to stay silent on needed changes in
our current public policy on crime, is not only hypocritical but also
confirms that we have a double standard of justice.