TULIA DRUG STING STINGS MANY

A friend from Dallas recently asked me about the young black men who
weren't picked up in the 1999 Tulia drug sting. A little library research,
supplemented by the memories of patient black friends, produced a list of
every black male who reached graduation age during the 1980s and '90s.

Of those who still were living in Tulia in 1999, 61 percent were indicted
on the basis of undercover agent Tom Coleman's testimony. For black men
young enough to graduate in the '90s, the news got worse: 76 percent had
been arrested for trafficking in powdered cocaine.

Forty percent of those not indicted in the Coleman sting have since been
prosecuted by local authorities and 20 percent are currently in prison.

Mercifully, only 32 percent of Tulia's young black women were arrested in
the sting. The remaining 68 percent inherited the job of taking care of the
50 orphans created by the drug sweep.

When I contemplate the rage and bitterness festering in the tender hearts
of 50 drug-sting orphans, I shudder. When another generation of kids begins
to act out, what will we do? Send in another Tom Coleman? There must be a
better way.

Alan Bean Director Friends of Justice Tulia