“Tulia: Race, Cocaine, and Corruption in a Small Texas Town” by Nate Blakeslee is a story of how thirty-nine people from Tulia, tiny Texas town, were taken under arrest being prosecuted for trafficking powdered cocaine. The events took place in the summer of 1999. Most of the arrested were black. The federally-funded investigation was based on cooperation with local authorities. The operation was performed by undercover officer Tom Coleman. Consequently all the defendants were found guilty and sentenced to ninety-nine-year imprisonment. Author goes through the whole of the events, including the story of the town, description of trials and the legal battle that has eventually resulted into the reversal of the convictions in the year of 2003.
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The author raises the subject that is topical for years now. The drug war, provoking numerous arrests based on fabricated evidences and fake judgments, is depicted here with an amazing brightness. The defendants, their families and their attorneys appear to be three main characters, involving readers into the heart of the appellate process. The reader turns out to be in the very thick of things, dealing with disgracefully unreliable narcotics officer involved in secret illegal activities and having his racial animosity demonstrated openly, with sheriff, district attorneys and local trial judge brilliant in their indifference and incompetence, performing their “task” without taking dubious evidences and lack of proofs into consideration.
The story is indeed gripping and absorbing, moving quickly from one character to another and then to the description of striking courtroom scenes and clarification of the arcane language of the law. One of the characters Blakeslee refers to is Gary Gardner, focusing mostly on his previous experience in dealing with Tulia local powers, in particular his suing the local school over its drug testing policy. In the present case Gardner plays an important role when supplies documentation that is consequently found helpful by Texas journalists, attorneys and civil rights activists, and that has been previously provided by his great interest in mass busts.
While reading we also meet the part of society having strong belief into social fairness, denying the possibility of the travesty of justice. There are several individuals like Alan Bean and Charles Kiker who find courage to risk becoming outsiders, calling for justice for those who were considered to be fairly convicted of dealing with drugs by the most of town white population. We also face those who are presented as story heroes, Jeff Blackburn and Legal Defense Fund lawyer Vanita Gupta in particular, who performed a strong deference for victims of injustice. Tulia drug bust victims are as well described in a vivid lifelike way.
Blakeslee’s narrative is extremely captivating in the way he describes the trial resulting into Good’s victory. Eventually the reputations of Tom Coleman, Sheriff Larry White and District Attorney Terry McEachern who have hidden the fact of knowing about Coleman’s misdeeds and violations of law enforcement statutes, are completely destroyed.
Being a talented journalist, Blakeslee produced not only a masterpiece of true crime writing, but also a skillful depiction of the town and its people, focusing on legal system and justice it is considered to perform. There is one chapter in the book, which is some kind of interruption or break, in which he looks at an issue from a more general perspective, projecting the problem on the numerous small American towns. He claims that Tulia case is not alone, and that task presently performed by Coleman, is performed elsewhere by other employees of law enforcement anti-drug task force. He explains how the federal program works, turning drug war into an absurd and well-financed fight against small towns’ populations. Tulia’s happy ending is an exceptional case, becoming possible because of a strong support provided by journalists, Blakeslee in particular, and attorneys having great interest in the legislative process’ success. Yet the drug war is not something a sort of a small affair, it’s something much more wide-spread, and according to the author, it ‘contaminates’ small and large cities all over US.
Tulia case has illustrated and let the world see the dirty tricks, dishonesty and miscarriage of justice in the very thick of things of drug war. What was once considered to be a right and necessary activity turned out to be just as much corrupted as any other political activities involving big money. Every single detail in “Tulia” is true, each character is real. Blakeslee makes an intriguing criminal story out of what was considered to be some law enforcement employees’ dirty affairs. Yet he makes it in such a way, that significant issues do not stop being lifelike and realistic. Quite the contrary, he emphasizes their closeness to life, making his writings both gripping and socially topical.
Blakeslee’s book is a story of justice’s triumph, of a fight for fairness conducted by people devoted to their principles. I believe it should be read by everyone related to the functioning of law enforcement establishments, as well as by every single citizen who wants to know what laws are reining in the federal forces programs aimed at performing their controversial tasks, drug task force in particular. Moreover, this book is an extremely great reading, full of realistic details, people characters’ analysis and emotionally strong moments. And it’s definitely worth reading.
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