However, while waiting on the others to finish eating, I started reading a book on Janet's shelf called "Tulia." This peaked my interest since Tulia, Texas is in our neck of the woods in the Panhandle. I got sucked into this book and could not put it down all week. It was all about a legal battle that took place back in the late 90's and early 2000's. One spring morning back in 1999, the Swisher County sheriff's office arrested 47 people for selling powder cocaine. Almost all of the arrested were black. The arrests were made on the testimony of an undercover narc. The whole thing was suspicious from the start for several reasons....first of all, the population of Tulia is less than 5,000 people and if 50 people were selling cocaine, who were they selling it to? Secondly, the fact that they did not find any drugs whatsoever in any of the defendent's homes when they were arrested sent up some flags. Thirdly, the fact that mostly African-Americans seemed to be targeted was another concern. Come to find out, the undercover cop had absolutely no evidence other than his word and he had completely fabricated many of his reports. However, the trials that followed were insane and many of those arrested were sentenced for huge amounts of time, even up to 361 years! The book was all about the legal struggle that followed to get these people appeals and a fair and just trial...and believe me, it was a struggle. It was a sobering look into our state's justice system and to many of the prejudices that are still all too real in many parts of our world.
Anyways, here are some pics of the game night, although I was on the couch reading this book and not participating in the fun!
If I remember right, once the case all came unraveled, the governor pardoned nearly all the defendents? Maybe the bood said. I was getting the Ama. Globe News when that was going on, and it was interesting. But I hate how the town (and indirectly the area) got branded as racist. I think the majority of the D.A.s and Officers were just doing their job, and it all hinged on that one guy (liar), that did end up going to jail I think.
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Yes, almost all of them were pardoned eventually. The crooked cop only ended up getting like 10 years probation or something...don't think he ever had to serve any actual time. As far as the area being portrayed as racist, I know it's not fair to assume everyone there felt that way, but I do believe after reading the book that some deeply-rooted prejudices did play a major role in how a lot of it all played out. I don't believe that if 47 white people had been arrested that it would have been so easy for everyone to believe the guy and I don't believe it would have been such a legal struggle to get them a fair trial.
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