In this space two weeks ago, I mentioned that a white woman who embezzled more than $160,000 wasn't going to jail but a black woman convicted of bribing a state senator with $3,000 is going to jail. I wondered out loud about colorblind justice.

Well, let me tell you, a whole bunch of white people scolded me and lectured that our criminal justice system is the best and decisions are made on the merits and race plays no role.

American jurisprudence is pretty good, better than most, though the British and the Swiss, even the French probably think theirs are better.

Racism and bigotry remains America's persistent thorn in our side. It is embedded so deeply that many, mostly in the white majority, simply don't see it. They are in denial.

But if you are black or Latino, or Native American, well, you see things differently.

Now, I think the judge and jury and lawyers are confused over the $3,000 bribe by a black woman to a black state senator. It wasn't a bribe; it was extortion by the senator.

Everyone knows him — the infamous Ernie Newton, probably the second most famous public scandal personality in Connecticut, who is now spending five years in a federal prison. He pleaded guilty to accepting a $5,000 kickback — $5,000, five years in jail.

Then there's John Rowland, numero uno corrupt public figure, the white former governor who pleaded guilty to accepting kickbacks totaling some $107,000. Remember his sentence? One year and a day.

I'm

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hardly the first scribe to point out a discrepancy here.

Mr. Rowland has been out since last February and is now being offered a six-figure economic development job in his native Waterbury. In fact, he got out early for good behavior, serving a little more than 10 months.

Sen. Newton is still behind bars. He asked if he could get out early because his wife's multiple sclerosis is worsening. The trial judge was willing to reduce his term by six months on account of good behavior, but an appeals court ruled that the 5-year sentence is appropriate.

So as it stands now, the white former crooked governor with just one year is out early. The black former crooked senator with five years stays in five years.

In the General Assembly debate last week over punishing house burglars, Sen. Edwin Gomes, D-Bridgeport, an honest and honorable black man, reminded everyone of the disproportionate percentages of blacks and Latinos in American jails.

"In my community they say 'justice' means 'just us,' " the senator said.

Like I said, a lot of white people don't get it.

There are so many minorities in jail because sentencing for crack cocaine crimes is harsher than for powder cocaine. Powder is the drug of choice for white suburbanites. Crack plays in the 'hood.

And so we have far too many black and Latino children without their fathers or mothers because they were addicted to crack and thrown in jail.

I spoke about this once with Sen. John McKinney, R-Fairfield, an honest and honorable white man. He told me some people he loves have been arrested for drug use.

I asked if he thought they were criminals.

Yes, they are, he said.

That's the problem. What they are is sick, addicted — just like drunks are addicted to liquor but aren't criminals

Addicts don't need jail. It's probably the worst thing for them. They need medical treatment.

Sen. McKinney and I disagreed. And so our jails remain overstuffed with addicts, most of them minorities.

We need to open our minds. We aren't solving society's problems with stiff sentences in a racist sentencing system. We are making society's problems worse.

After years of controversy and bitterness, the U.S. Sentencing Commission last month voted unanimously to allow some 19,500 federal inmates — most of them black — to seek reductions in their crack sentences.

So there's hope for American justice.

James H. Smith is the editor of the Connecticut Post. You can reach him at 203-330-6325 or by e-mail at jsmith@ctpost.com.