Notes from MAP: A high quality photo of the protest is at:
http://home.flash.net/~rmz/Images/Aust000929-5.jpg
Bookmarks: MAP's link to Texas articles is: http://www.mapinc.org/states/tx
For Journey for Justice Protest news items: http://www.mapinc.org/journey.htm

ACLU FILES LAWSUIT IN TULIA DRUG CASES

AUSTIN - Tynisha Winkfield plans to move her family out of Tulia by year's end.

The 22-year-old mother said Friday that she thinks the town is no place for
her or her family. Cradling her daughter, 8-week-old Dora, Winkfield said
while standing on the front steps of the Capitol that a 1999 drug bust -
which has imprisoned 16 percent of Tulia's black population - was unfair.

The cases of Tulia blacks are at the heart of a civil rights lawsuit filed
Friday in Amarillo by the Texas affiliate of the American Civil Liberties
Union.

The lawsuit alleges that undercover agent Tom Coleman, Swisher County
Sheriff Larry Stewart and District Attorney Terry McEachern conspired to
violate the civil rights of local blacks.

Winkfield was in Austin with a delegation of Tulia residents angered by the
highly criticized bust in which 40 blacks were arrested. The group joined a
"Journey for Justice" rally coordinated by the Houston-based Drug Policy
Forum of Texas, a group that wants drugs legalized and regulated.

Several of Winkfield's family members were among those she said were
wrongfully charged with drug crimes.

Born and raised in the tiny West Texas town of 5,000 people, Winkfield's
family has called Tulia home since her grandmother was 16 years old.

"This is the only place I've known. Everything is there," she said. "We
have to leave our home because one person said that we, my family, broke
the law."

Winkfield was referring to Coleman, the lone officer who conducted the
18-month drug operation. The worth of Coleman's word was in dispute during
the trial of a 24-year-old Tulia man who ultimately received a 60-year
prison term. Although described by some as an excellent lawman, others
challenged his character.

Coleman couldn't be reached for comment Friday.

Amarillo attorney Jeff Blackburn filed the lawsuit on behalf of his client,
Yul Bryant, a man who Blackburn said protested his innocence for seven
months before the charge was dropped and he finally was released from jail.

Blackburn has been a civil rights attorney in the Panhandle and West Texas
for about 15 years, but the Tulia case still shocks him, he said.

"This case has got to be one of the most outrageous cases I have ever
seen," Blackburn said. "What happened in Tulia is a real abomination and a
real injustice that has done incredible damage to a lot of human beings.
They deserve a real day in court."

The lawsuit asks for $1 million in actual damages and $1 million in
punitive damages from each of the three being sued.

This is probably the first case of many, Blackburn said.

Alphonso Vaughn, president of the Amarillo branch of the National
Associated for the Advancement of Colored People, said his chapter has been
looking into the situation but is not ready to announce whether it will be
involved in legal action against Swisher County officials.

"We've been doing our own investigation," Vaughn said.

About 20 of the Tulians present were children described as orphans of the
"War on Drugs' POWs" by several rally-goers.

Each wore a black T-shirt printed with a Friends of Justice motto, "Do
Justice, Love Mercy, Walk Away."

LaWanda Smith, one of the 40 blacks arrested, is taking care of seven
children whose parents were incarcerated as a result of the operation.
Smith pleaded to possession of powder cocaine and was given three years'
deferred adjudication. She contends she is innocent and took a plea
agreement only because she wouldn't have had any chance at trial.

Plus, she said, she is able to take care of the children of others she
believes were victims of racial profiling.

Smith, 25, is a cashier at a small clothing store in Tulia. Feeding and
clothing the children will be a difficult task, but, "I just take one day
at a time," she said.

The often-criticized case has stirred national attention. Members of the
William Moses Kunstler Fund for Racial Justice in New York attended the
recent trial the 24-year-old black man sentenced in Tulia to 60 years in
prison. They were also at the Texas Capital on Friday, having underwritten
the Austin trip for Tulia residents.

Retired Tulia Baptist minister the Rev. Charles Kiker said, "The 'War on
Drugs' is a war on people, and especially on black people."

Calling the drug bust a method of "ethnic cleansing," Kiker said the sting
created "23 POWs and 35 POW orphans."

McEachern said in a Friday telephone interview that the conspiracy
allegation in the ACLU's suit is impossible. He didn't know Coleman until
the case was over.

"It's hard to conspire if you don't know who the person is," he said.

As for the lawsuit's allegation that race motivated the sting, "That's
wrong," McEachern said.

"There wasn't any list or target. We prosecute everybody that delivers
cocaine," he said.

Plus, McEachern said, a grand jury handed down indictments against those
accused, which triggered the arrests.

"If the grand jury returns an indictment, that is sufficient there is
probable cause. Period. And that is determined outside of my presence," he
said. "I'm not even present when the grand jury votes."

The Swisher County sheriff said Friday afternoon that he hadn't yet seen
the lawsuit.

However, he said, "The investigation was conducted fairly, and no, there
was no racial overtone - plain and simple."