ADVOCATE SPEAKS AT NAACP BANQUET

Drug policy reform advocate Deborah Peterson Small addressed the
controversial 1999 Tulia drug bust during the keynote speech at the Freedom
Fund Banquet on Saturday.

The Amarillo Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People sponsors the event at the Amarillo Civic Center.

Small, a Harvard Law School graduate, is the public policy and community
outreach director at The Lindesmith Center in New York.

"Anyone who cares about racial justice has to care about the injustices in
Tulia," Small said. "What's happening in Tulia is a microcosm of what can
happen nationally."

She contrasted laws regarding cigarette smoking to those on drug use,
saying it's not likely tobacco products will be banned even though people
are aware of the risks.

People are OK with that, she said, because of aggressive campaigns to
educate people about the dangers of smoking. There are definite harms to
drug use, but policies put in place to address those can cause harm, Small
said.

Small also addressed her experiences at the World Conference on Racism in
South Africa.

She said she was proud that the majority of leaders at the conference were
women, noting the history of women being at the forefront of the struggle
for racial equality.

Small discussed the issue of reparations, saying the issue was not simply
about money. Reparations are about access to resources and changing the
relationship between people of African descent and the rest of the world,
she said.

"For too many years people of color have approached their rights as
supplicants asking for something," she said.

Small, a New Yorker, also addressed the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and how
it has brought people closer together.

"I have had more conversations with strangers there in the past month and a
half than I have in my entire life there," Small said.

She said there is more common ground between people than they realize,
asking everyone to employ the lessons taught by Martin Luther King Jr. and
Nelson Mandela.

Calling on people to renew their commitment to be fighters for social
justice, she said people should love each other and be pro-active in
remedying injustice.

"We have to be willing to acknowledge where we've fallen short," she said.
"I believe if we do that we won't see the injustices we had here in Tulia."