Tulia Frees Twelve Prisoners
Feature Story by Civilrights.org staff - 6/19/2003
A court victory June 16 freed twelve residents of Tulia, Texas, after nearly four years of imprisonment based on unsupported allegations of one man.Tulia, a town of 5,000 meshed in between Amarillo and Buddock, has been in racial turmoil ever since police officers imprisoned 46 residents. Of these 46 residents, only 6 were white and Hispanic, while the other 40 were black. The forty blacks who were arrested, represent 10% of Tulia's black community; in addition, the white and Hispanic arrestees all had been in relationships with black Tulia residents. With the help of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund and ACLU, 12 of the 46 prisoners were released.
Freddie Brooks, Sr. asserted that this was not a case about drugs, but one about 'ethnic cleansing'. His son, Freddie Brooks, Jr. had been one of the 12 released - 4 years earlier, the high school athlete had been looking forward to attending college. Freddie, Jr. who had no history of criminal activity, and the other prisoners' had their futures clouded with dismay when the mostly white and Hispanic juries handed down sentences ranging from 20 to 90 years (there was only 1 black juror out of 96 throughout the entire case).
According to an October 2000 complaint filed by ACLU of Texas and the Texas branches of NAACP against Panhandle Regional Narcotics Task Force, the "Tulia school board voted in a policy of mandatory drug testing on the testimony of one board member that he had seen his child talking to black children after school. Not a single student tested positive. However, in the midst of the hysteria, the police compiled a list of 60 'known drug dealers' in Tulia." The complaint goes on to say that Sheriff Larry Stewart launched a war on drugs using funds from the Panhandle Regional Narcotics Task Force and gave undercover police officer Tom Coleman this list of drug dealers. The complaint also says that, "Coleman probably took the list of 'known drug dealers' and some baggies of cocaine and simply invented most of the transactions."
During Coleman's 18-month investigation, he did not document any of his alleged 100+ drug transactions. Coleman did not videotape any of the drug deals he claims to have happened, nor did he wear a wire or have another officer present. Hence, most of the evidence of this case was based on the word of Coleman. Furthermore, most of the people Coleman fingered were later charged and convicted.
The 12 residents have signed an agreement with Swisher County, which paid $250,000 for them not to sue county officials. Their lawyers also urged them to leave Tulia - many white residents are bitter about their court victory and believe they still deserve to be in jail.
