CAN TULIA RECONCILE DIFFERENCES?

I read your recent Sunday feature about Tulia and Jasper, Texas. The people
in Jasper were serious about reconciliation. They were willing to face
facts and admit the truth.

People in Tulia are still saying defendants got off "on a technicality."
"Technicality" is an escape word people use when they don't want to face
facts and admit truth. The word allows a self-centered person to hold onto
his or her point of view, right or wrong. "Reconciliation" is a word that
holds great value to a person who believes in right and wrong. Are we going
to escape the truth by talking about technicalities, or are we going to
grow by getting serious about reconciliation?

I have heard a lot about Tulia receiving a black eye over the 1999 drug
sting and being labeled racist. To set the record straight, those who
believe they received a black eye over the sting should have and would have
attended the trials of the defendants to see for themselves if justice was
being served.

The Rev. Matt Viel made this statement on local television: "There's two
sides to every picture; you have a negative and positive side." This might
be true if you had attended the trials and had seen both sides of the
picture. Those who were speaking out were people who sat through many of
the trials. Because we spoke out, we were labeled as negative people.

Leaders in Tulia claim that they stand behind the sheriff while we are
bashing law enforcement. That statement is far from the truth. What we are
bashing is the miscarriage of justice. Then Tulia leaders began writing
letters to the editor that showed their bias against poor people of color.
Tulia's black eye is mild compared to what the 46 defendants had to go
through. They lost four years of their lives that cannot be replaced. They
also lost their dreams of prosperity and their dignity as citizens of
Tulia. What kind of price can you put on that?

Can Tulia heal itself and reconcile its differences? I'm not sure about
being reconciled. But Tulia will heal itself because the old order of
business will no longer rule in Tulia. We will no longer sit back and let
others run this town as they see fit. We will no longer accept anything
less than equality for all our citizens. To call one American an "outsider"
is a crime against all Americans. America is the home of the brave and the
land of the free, where we believe in justice for all and all are for justice.

Randy Credico says that Tulia is no more racist than any other place he has
been in, and that the people of Tulia are good people. There are good
people in Tulia, but good people do not sit back and let wrong overtake
right. Good people don't go along to get along. Years ago, the people of
Tulia would not have accepted this type of miscarriage of justice from
anyone. They may have thrown out a racial gesture here and there, but they
believed in justice.

Last year, I, along with Thelma Johnson and Alan Bean, had six meetings
with three Tulia citizens stretching over 24 hours. We wanted to see if we
could reconcile our differences about the 1999 drug sting.

As the meetings concluded, we were told that if we apologized to Tulia for
giving it a black eye, people would feel differently about us. I responded
by saying that I felt like Tulia owed me an apology for calling me an unfit
parent and for saying I did not raise my children right.

Maybe we can reconcile our differences, but it will take much time and much
talk.

Freddie Brookins Sr. is the father of Freddie Brookins Jr., who was
arrested in the 1999 Tulia drug sting and was among those recently released
from prison.