|
Follow
That
Story:
Justice
Department
to
Investigate
Tulia,
Civil
Rights
Complaint
Filed
11/3/00
DRCNet reported on the Tulia
travesty on October 2nd. That story is online at http://www.drcnet.org/wol/154.html#tulia.
After receiving official
complaints filed by the Amarillo NAACP, the Justice Department has opened
a criminal investigation into whether Swisher County authorities violated
the civil rights of African-Americans in a drug bust that rounded up 40
black people in the small, predominantly white Texas Panhandle farming
town last year.
Justice Department spokeswoman
Kara Peterman confirmed that the department's civil rights division has
opened a criminal investigation of the case.
Federal law prohibits police
officers from depriving citizens of their constitutional rights.
"It would be easy to look
at what happened in Swisher County and throw up one's hands and believe
there is no justice," attorney Jeff Blackburn told the Amarillo Globe-News.
Blackburn helped draw up
the complaint.
"I think this is a good way
to show there still is justice in this country."
That remains to be seen.
In the meantime, Blackburn
is working with the William Moses Kunstler Fund for Racial Justice in organizing
a fundraising appeal for Tulia victims and their families. Persons
who wish to help out may send their donations to: The Tulia 46 Fund,
c/o Blackburn Law Firm, 718 16th Ave., Amarillo, TX 79102.
Visit the Kunstler Fund's
web site at http://www.kunstler.org
for pictures of the Journey for Justice's visit to Tulia.
-- END --
|
Issue #158, 11/3/00
Initiative Endorsements: YES on 3, 5, 8, 9, 20, 36, B, G | Drug Policy in the 2000 Elections: The Dog That Didn't Bark and Races of Note | Reformers' Dilemma: Frick, Frack, or a Prophet from the Wilderness? | Cannabis, Free Speech Issues Converge in Florida, Massachusetts | Follow That Story: Justice Department to Investigate Tulia, Civil Rights Complaint Filed | Hawaii Inches Forward on Medical Marijuana, Rejects DEA Eradication Funds | Municipal Drug Testing On the Way Out in Washington State | Maryland/DC Reports Illustrate Failure and Harm of Drug Prohibition | The Reformer's Calendar | Editorial: Different Ideals, Same Conclusions
|
This issue -- main page
This issue -- single-file printer version
Drug War Chronicle -- main page
Chronicle archives
|
PERMISSION to reprint or
redistribute any or all of the contents of Drug War Chronicle (formerly The Week Online with DRCNet is hereby
granted. We ask that any use of these materials include proper credit and,
where appropriate, a link to one or more of our web sites. If your
publication customarily pays for publication, DRCNet requests checks
payable to the organization. If your publication does not pay for
materials, you are free to use the materials gratis. In all cases, we
request notification for our records, including physical copies where
material has appeared in print. Contact: StoptheDrugWar.org: the Drug Reform Coordination Network,
P.O. Box 18402, Washington, DC 20036, (202) 293-8340 (voice), (202)
293-8344 (fax), e-mail [email protected]. Thank
you.
Articles of a purely
educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of the DRCNet
Foundation, unless otherwise noted.
|
