Tulia: Race, Cocaine, and Corruption in a Small Texas Town
by PublicAffairs

	Tulia: Race, Cocaine, and Corruption in a Small Texas Town
	Customer Rating: Sales Rank: 61600 Available from Amazon
	$10.85

Book Description

<div>In the summer of 1999, in the tiny west Texas town of Tulia, thirty-nine people, almost all of them black, were arrested and charged with dealing powdered cocaine. The operation, a federally-funded investigation performed in cooperation with the local authorities, was based on the work of one notoriously unreliable undercover officer. At trial, the prosecution relied almost solely on the uncorroborated, and contradictory, testimony of that officer, Tom Coleman. Despite the flimsiness of the evidence against them, virtually all of the defendants were convicted and given sentences as high as ninety-nine years. Tom Coleman was named a Texas Lawman of the Year for his work.

<b>Tulia</b> is the story of this town, the bust, the trials, and the heroic legal battle that ultimately led to the reversal of the convictions in the summer of 2003. Laws have been changed in Texas as a result of the scandal, and the defendants have earned a measure of bittersweet redemption. But the story is much bigger than the tale of just one bust. As <b>Tulia</b> makes clear, these events are the latest chapter in a story with themes as old as the country itself. It is a gripping, marvelously well-told tale about injustice, race, poverty, hysteria, and desperation in rural America.

Reader Reviews

Nate Blakeslee's "Tulia" tells the story of dozens of people, mostly black, who were arrested in 1999 for selling cocaine in Tulia, Texas. There was insufficient evidence that the defendants were guilty, and the undercover narcotics investigator who brought the charges had a checkered background, but the defendants were wrongfully convicted and given sentences that were grossly draconian. Fortunately, a few years later, the convictions were overturned.

The book also discusses more than just the legal case--it takes an in-depth look at Tulia, presenting a brief history of the town, and showing how rural America has suffered economically in recent decades as jobs and opportunity have fled.