MEDIA BRAND TULIA UNFAIRLY AS RACIST, BIGOTED

TULIA - I have become increasingly concerned over the recent bad publicity
about Tulia in the local and national press and would like to pose some
questions and offer suggestions that might put the controversy in
perspective.

Articles in several national and local newspapers have branded Tulia as a
bigoted, racist community that was responsible for the conviction and
sentencing on drug charges of a sizable portion of the small Tulia black
community.

These allegations came to the attention of the national press and the
American Civil Liberties Union largely because of the opinions expressed by
a small group of individuals in Tulia.

I feel strongly that these individuals, though sincerely concerned about
racial discrimination and miscarriage of justice, have come to incorrect
conclusions and are guilty of simplistic reasoning.

These individuals have leveled very serious charges against the Tulia
community. They make it seem that Tulia is an island of racism in an ocean
of complete tolerance, and this is certainly not true. Gradations of racism
are found all over America, including Texas, New York and California, the
places of origin of some of the most vitriolic articles condemning Tulia.

That is not to say that some Tulia people are not prejudiced to some degree.
There are shades of racial intolerance here, the same as in Amarillo, where
I was born and raised, with more prejudice present in the older people, very
little in the young and shades of prejudice in those in the intervening
ages.

I firmly believe that shades of racism alone could not and would not
motivate Tulia citizens to convict this group of young men, most of whom are
black, and those who suggest this are, in my opinion, intellectually
challenged and seeking a simple solution to a complex problem.

Those who have indicted our community say the defendants were convicted and
received harsh sentences merely because they were black, ignoring the fact
that several confessed to their crime and the longest sentence was given to
a white man. They also ignore the physical evidence in the case and the fact
that the identity of these drug dealers was well known to many Tulia
students.

For obvious reasons, those who bought the drugs kept quiet. Those who
refused to buy drugs were reluctant to implicate the dealers because they,
the students, felt threatened by them.

Other aspects of this case trouble me. A $2 million lawsuit has been filed
against each county official involved in the case. I feel relatively certain
that those who filed the lawsuits know that Swisher County has malpractice
insurance that covers the people being sued.

Were the suits filed in an attempt to right a social injustice, or were
these spurious claims made by a plaintiff going for the "deep pockets"? To
put it bluntly, was this a noble cause or a fund-raising event?

I feel qualified to make this assessment of the current controversy for two
reasons.

First, I am not a native of Tulia and have a more unbiased perspective than
many who have lived here all their lives.

Second, I have been involved in preserving the health-care delivery system
in Tulia and know that this is a community deeply concerned about all its
citizens, regardless of race.

Finally, if the allegations by the ACLU and others were true, I never would
have remained in this town for 15 years, or planned to live here
indefinitely.