Pubdate: Mon, 09 Jul 2007
Source: Courier-Post (Cherry Hill, NJ)
Copyright: 2007 Courier-Post
Contact:  http://www.courierpostonline.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/826
Author: DeWayne Wickham

LONGSHOT CANDIDATE HITS MARK ON DRUG ENFORCEMENT

Of the eight Democrats vying for their party's  presidential
nomination, I think it's fair to say  former Alaskan U.S. Sen. Mike
Gravel is the longest of  the long shots.

In presidential preference polls, support for him  hovers around 1
percent. When it comes to fundraising,  his campaign coffers are
nearly bare. So it's not  surprising journalists tend to treat Gravel
as a  gadfly.

And that's what I thought of him late last month when I  sat across
from the Democratic presidential candidates  on the stage of Howard
University's Crampton  Auditorium. I was one of the three journalists
who got  to question the full field of Democratic contenders  during a
Public Broadcast Service presidential forum  hosted by Tavis Smiley.

The 90-minute, nationally televised program was billed  as a chance
for the candidates to "address issues of  concern to black America."
And a Who's Who of black  America showed up to hear what they had to
say.

Actors Harry Belafonte and Ruby Dee were there. So were  novelist
Terry McMillan and poet Sonya Sanchez.  Political activist Al Sharpton
and intellectual Cornell  West showed up. So did several members of
the  Congressional Black Caucus.

When the eight Democrats came on stage, they were  introduced by
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, the  only sitting black governor and
only the second black  governor ever.

Virtually everyone was there to see and hear the  front-runners for
the Democratic nomination -- U.S.  Sens. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and
Barack Obama, D-Ill.  In both their polling numbers and money raised,
they  are light years ahead of Gravel.

But when the forum ended, it was what Gravel said that  I found most
intriguing.

When journalist Michel Martin of National Public Radio  asked the
candidates what they would do about the  "scourge" of HIV/AIDS
infection among black teenagers,  Gravel's answer, though not on
point, hit an important  mark.

Unjust war

"The scourge of our present society, particularly in  the
African-American community, is the war on drugs,"  Gravel said in
response to a question about the high  rate of HIV/AIDS infections
among black teenagers.

Then he said this about the other Democrats on the  stage: "If they
really want to do something about the  inner cities, if they really
want to do something about  what's happening to the health of the
African-American  community, it's time to end this war. There's no
reason  to continue it in the slightest. All it does is create
criminals out of people who are not criminals."

His words drew applause from the mostly black audience,  but not even
a nod of agreement from the other  Democrats on stage with him.

Maybe it's the certainty of his "also-ran" status that  emboldened
Gravel to call for an end to the drug war.  Maybe he just wanted to
make a splash among the sea of  reporters that turned out to cover
this gathering.  Maybe what is said was really heartfelt. I don't know.

What I do know is that America's drug war has taken a  heavy toll in
black communities across this country.

Disproportionately, blacks are arrested and imprisoned  for nonviolent
drug crimes. In 2005, blacks -- who are  12 percent of the nation's
population -- made up 34  percent of the people arrested for drug
abuse  violations, according to the FBI's 2005 Crime in the  United
States report.

While physicians understand that drug abuse is a  medical problem, far
too many black drug users end up  with criminal records that reduce
their chances of  finding a job and escaping the gravitational pull of
  the drug culture.

That's not the fate that befalls people like Lindsay  Lohan and
Britney Spears, who go in and out of drug  treatment centers without
fear of being jailed for  using illegal substances.

A law enforcement sting caught former Washington, D.C.  Mayor Marion
Barry, who is black, using crack cocaine,  and he was sent to prison.
But many high-profile white  drug abusers are allowed to go to the
Betty Ford Clinic  to kick their habit instead of being sent to jail.

Gravel appears to understand the unfairness of this  nation's drug
war. And in calling for its end, he shows  more courage than the
Democratic Party's other  presidential wannabes.
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MAP posted-by: Derek