A Sociological Examination of Racial and Ethnic Conflict in Tulia, Texas
Coleman claimed he had made over 100 drug purchases, mostly cocaine in powder form, during the course of his investigation. Although some of those accused admitted to limited use and sale of crack cocaine, they universally denied involvement with the powder form of the drug and in most cases denied that the narcotics buys had taken place at the time and places Coleman stated. This was significant because of the tougher sentences imposed by federal law for trafficking within 1,000 feet of a school or park, where an unusual number of the alleged transactions took place. Coleman worked without a partner, and did not record any of his conversations during the undercover work. No drugs were found on the suspects or in their homes at the time they were arrested. A few plastic bags which had no finger prints on them-later tested and found to contain less than 12% cocaine-were the only physical evidence submitted at trial.
During the time the suspects were being tried, it came to light that Coleman himself had some legal troubles. He had abruptly left a previous law-enforcement job, leaving behind almost seven thousand dollars in debt and illegally using a county gas card on his way out. When these abuses came to light, Coleman was arrested for theft and misuse of an official position by the Tulia sheriff. Although this occurred while the trials were going on, Coleman’s arrest did not hinder the prosecution of the Tulia suspects. The almost all-white juries hearing the cases weren’t allowed to consider these doubt-inspiring incidents because the judge on the case ruled that the information was too prejudicial to be presented in court. Although a few of the cases fell apart-Billy Wafer, for example, was able to produce time cards that showed he was working at the time Coleman testified he was selling cocaine, and Coleman’s description of Yul Bryant was so grossly inaccurate that the case against him was dismissed-forty-one of the forty-six people charged served time on probation or in jail. Protests over the slim evidence and unlikely number of convictions in the Tulia drug bust eventually led to a Gubernatorial pardon of all those convicted, but not until 2003. Many had already spent between three and four years in jail.
It may be difficult, at first, to imagine how such overt miscarriages of justice can occur on such a large scale in modern times, but there are several social-psychological theories which can aid in understanding the root causes of this conflict.
For example, normative theory, which proposes that racism occurs because it is accepted and considered status-quo, makes a helpful standpoint for analysis. Tulia is a racially divided town. Most of the black population lives, literally, on the wrong side of the tracks. The area is routinely referred to by white citizens as “Niggertown”. Gary Gardner, a white resident of Tulia who worked to free those who were convicted, said in an interview with NPR, “It had become socially acceptable to label anyone in that segment of the community, of the lower-income, not such a good reputation-it was acceptable to refer to you as a drug dealer. The problem is that the term ‘drug dealer’ got to where it was just applied to everyone.” On the day after the arrest, The Tulia Sentinel, a town newspaper, ran a headline that read “Tulia’s Streets Cleared of Garbage” a scathing editorial that referred to the accused as “scumbags”. In this sort of environment, it was easy for the members of the juries to take the word of the white son of a Texas ranger in the drug buying cases because any black person was already profiled in their minds as dealer.
The sociological term ‘scapegoating’ refers to one segment of a population taking out its frustration on a disenfranchised group, rather than on the source itself. This concept may have been at play in the Tulia case. Although it is unlikely that Tulia was supporting over forty drug dealers, drug use does exist within the community. In reality, the source of a great deal of that drug use may have been a prominent white citizen by the name of Charles Sturgess, who committed suicide in 2001 after being caught on tape offering cocaine to a white teenager in exchange for sex. However, Tulia is located in the Bible Belt, and many of the white citizens had strong tendencies toward religious fundamentalism. This religious fervor created a great deal of resentment toward the black community, some of whose members were unwed mothers living on welfare and in subsidized housing. As parents became increasingly concerned about drug use in schools, their underlying distrust and fear made it easy to blame increasing drug use on the influence of blacks.
An interesting example of the sociological perspective of projection occurred when Tulia declared itself officially dry, while alcohol flowed in whites-only clubs. Town officials hypocritically denounced the use of alcohol, thereby causing blacks who engaged in drinking to be held legally accountable. What was acceptable for one group was not for the other.
Conflict-Exploitation theory, which takes the point-of-view that racism is the result of competition between racial groups for limited resources, is also useful in examining both the microcosm of the Tulia community and the macrocosm of National law enforcement. Tulia was once an almost entirely white community with an economy based in irrigation farming; most blacks moved there in the 1950’s to live and work on white-owned farms. Gradually, black families began moving off the farms and taking jobs at the Taylor-Evans seed company or Royal Park garment factory. In the mid-1970’s the water table began to drop and the economy took a turn for the worse. Farming jobs disappeared, and unemployment became common in the black community. Royal Park closed in 1979, and in 1985 Taylor Evans laid off a substantial number of its workers. In In 1995 Taylor-Evans closed its Tulia facility altogether. This created a lot of competition for the remaining jobs in a town where the per capita income is $11,000 and every penny counted. In addition, several of the homes in the black neighborhood were torn down in the early 1990’s to make room for an expansion of I-27 that never came to pass, the result of which was some poor blacks moving across the railroad tracks into traditionally white areas. With increased pressure for jobs and housing, a conflict-exploitation theorist might well agree with the citizens of the community who felt that the underlying motive in the investigation was to drive blacks out of town. This theory, however, should also be expanded to examine the Narcotics task force which put Coleman into place. These task forces are a primary tool of the “War on Drugs”, and are largely run with federal funds. The intended purpose of the task forces was to provide resources for small-towns to combat the perceived threat of an organized, high-volume drug trade, but since federal grants are dependent on high conviction rates, it is easier for the task forces to target impoverished minority communities.
On a smaller scale, individual dispositions also be considered. Adorno, a prominent social theorist, might diagnose Mr. Coleman with an authoritarian personality type. Coleman’s father was a Texas Ranger, an occupation which carries with it “semi-divine status”. Growing up with such a larger-than-life role model might have instilled submissiveness and an uncritical acceptance of authority in Coleman. Driven to please his superiors by producing large number of convictions, Coleman may have used the black community as an easy target at which to direct his feelings of frustration and inadequacy.
The Tulia case can also be examined from an even broader sociological approach. Both functionalists and conflict-theorists might see some positive aspects to the situation despite its negative impact on some individuals. A functionalist, for instance, might point out that although it might be distressing to consider the prevalence of racism in our justice system, that racism is actually helping to restore equilibrium to our society. He might argue that the legacy of Reagan-era drug policies is an extreme attitude toward the criminalization of drug use that disturbs our social stability. If this were allowed to continue, it might undermine consensus and cooperation. The scale of the Tulia convictions, which could only have occurred in a society with a high degree of prejudice, brought national attention to problems in the criminal justice system and led Texas to consider legislation requiring a higher standard of evidence in drug stings, thus resorting some balance to the American legal system. From the perspective of conflict theory, the racist actions of the Tulia police force prompted a necessary battle over the rights of black citizens. The protracted legal battles and protests which worked to free the citizens were a struggle which has resulted in a more healthy balance of power between races in the Tulia community. Surely the $5 million civil settlement won in March 2004 would be lauded as a beneficial solution which restores economic power to a portion of those who were most effected by racial prejudice in hiring tactics.
Even if you accept that racism can benefit society as a whole, the cost to individuals and their families is so high that some examination of techniques for preventing it is merited. There is evidence to support the contact hypotheseis-the idea that prejudice can be reduced by having racial groups interact with each other-in the Tulia case. Gary Gardner, a white farmer prominent in the community , had been exposed to the same social references as other whites in the community. However, his position running a farm brought him into increased contact with minorities in Tulia in an employer-employee relationship. Gardner became one of the first and most vocal people to protest the Tulia cases. Perhaps persuasive communication , too, would have met with success. Coleman was, after all, an outsider to the community. If the local paper had responded by supporting the Tulia citizens the course of the trials might have been altered.
