Don't know about you, but I hope that whatever Fulton County Superior Court Judge Marvin Arrington of Atlanta came down with recently is catching.

Sickened by the nonstop parade of black criminal defendants standing chained and bound before him, Arrington cleared his courtroom of white lawyers so he could have a fatherly talk with the black young men. Wanna bet that for some of them, it was the first "fatherly" talk of their lives?

Railing against "black thuggery" after TV cameras were allowed back into his courtroom, Arrington said: "We have insanity going on in the black community. ... If we don't say something, the infrastructure of this community is going to collapse. ... These young people are out of control."

Preach, brotha.

It was no doubt under duress that Arrington apologized for his intemperate dude-to-dude talk, but I don't think he came down hard enough on miscreants who seem intent upon undoing every hard-won gain we've made as a race.

Had I been the ornery Your Honor sitting up there in that black robe, I wouldn't have apologized, and I certainly wouldn't have kicked anybody out. I'd have sent deputies out to bring people in -- namely the defendants' parents so they, too, could get a taste of what I was fixing to put down.

The first thing I'd have asked was, "What the !@&$% is wrong with y'all?" Then, I'd give a brief history lesson -- about how blacks in America have survived the dehumanization of slavery, the KKK, George W. Bush and Bobcat Johnson's Black Entertainment Television network.

"You mean to tell me we've made it through all of those storms only to have the ship of racial progress run aground by black thugs like you in sagging pants and hoodies who have no sense of their history?" I'd ask.

Upon finishing my lecture, I'd open the doors to let the lawyers back in. I'd then call the painters in to repaint the walls my words had singed.

Arrington was a city councilman when I was a reporter for the Atlanta Constitution newspaper. (Hey, obituary writers have to report, too, don't they?) As he appears to be now, he was a straight shooter then, often clashing with then-Mayor Maynard Jackson.

Succumbing to pressure by the forces of political correctness, he has apologized for what he called his "Bill Cosby moment." It's cool, Marvin. We understand you had to apologize.

Wake County District Court Judge Craig Crooms said that Arrington's "intent was good" and that he, too, has felt compelled to chastise defendants. "I've done it with the lawyers" present, he said. Arrington, he said, went too far in booting the lawyers.

"One of the biggest issues that'll get a judge in trouble is talking to a defendant without a lawyer present," he said.

Even, apparently, when you're talking to them as a father figure, not a judge.

Whatever problems one has with Arrington's disregard for the legal niceties, his frustration and display of concern are admirable. As a former thug who has stood feigning contrition in front of a judge or two myself, I'm guessing that a lot of those jumpsuited, shackled defendants in front of Arrington were shocked -- and, deep down, pleased -- that someone had that level of concern.

Now, we need to let these knuckleheads know someone cares before they're facing 10 to 20.