Even if you've known me for a very long time, you will know I don't ask for much. And when I do, it is likely to be for a good cause.

I am writing you now not just for a good cause, but for an urgent cause.

Early in my tenure as pastor of Bethany Baptist Church, I had the good fortune to become acquainted with a wonderful group of young men in their late teens and early twenties. They worked with us in an initiative called Uth Turn at the time, now called Full Circle, and they were all either recently released from jail, or they looked forward to being released in a very short time. Our role was to befriend them and to assist them in whatever way we could as they aimed to re-enter society and focus on building a positive future.

Needless to say, they faced many uphill challenges and still do. But what struck me as the most hurtful was how their past life had almost certainly shut the door on their future prospects.  I often wonder if most people have any idea how near impossible it is to get a legal job, adequate to cover basic expenses, after serving time. And when you consider that most of them went to prison for selling drugs, because they lacked access to jobs in the first place, you have a fully formed vicious cycle.  This applies not to one or two people but to thousands of them, and this is reality in post-industrial cities and towns all over the United States. No society can prosper healthily with a systemic problem like this. Something must be done to stop the criminalization of so many young people who are trapped in economic poverty.

That is why I was pleased that the Lecture Committee of Bethany Newark teamed up with the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) to sponsor a conference on March 19th, 2011 that you may have attended.  It was a precious opportunity for all of us to break the silence on the way drug offenses and offenders are handled. You can see we are getting no where. We are spending a lot of money on law enforcement and prisons, while the street violence and the destruction of families continue.  I know there is more we can do to break this cycle, but we must all share in finding a solution. People who work in this field every day know that what is now being done is inadequate and often plain wrong.

As a followup to that important day in 2011, Bethany is again working with DPA to host the screening of "The House I Live In", a highly acclaimed film on the way the War On Drugs is ravaging families and communities. I am asking you to set aside a few hours on Saturday morning, September 28th to join us, and to encourage others to do the same. A panel discussion will follow the screening, and we expect what we do that day will lead to definitive action in which we can all take part.

Please let me know if I can depend upon you for your presence and support.

For more information, see www.bethany-newark.org.