After Jeff reached out, I asked myself, "Do I have anything to say about that episode? So I sat down, began writing, and it turned out the answer was, "Yes." I plan to publish the results of this recollection in a standalone zine called "Tulia+25," in a few weeks. I wanted to give Grits readers an opportunity to preorder this limited-run zine, which you can do here.
I have no plans right now for a followup, so if you're interested, buy a zine! (Even better, buy a bunch: They make great stocking stuffers for all the justice advocates on your list.)
The Tulia busts and the political campaign in response both predated this blog, which launched in 2004. When they happened, I was publishing what amounted to a proto-blog (sans comments) on a website I hand-coded in html called the "Texas Police Reform Center," launched in 1997 as the "Austin Police Department Hall of Shame."
Even so, long-time readers may recall that Grits was part of a 7-year political campaign organized in response to the Tulia drug busts that resulted in passage of several major pieces of legislation and, eventually, the abolition of all 51 of Texas' drug task forces, which collectively employed more than 700 undercover narcotics officers.
Arguably, it was the most successful "defund the police" campaign in American history, though that term hadn't been coined at the time. And the coup de grace was performed by a GOP governor with bipartisan support.
Nate Blakeslee wrote the definitive book documenting the legal cases. Rev. Alan Bean wrote a book telling the stories of the affected families. This zine fills in never-told history about how this all-too-common story of Drug-War overreach led to a radically uncommon outcome: Abolition of the state's drug-task force system and the rise of the state's 21st century criminal-justice reform movement. Order your copy today.
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