A&M-Texarkana PLACE Lecture to Focus on ‘Tulia: Race and Cocaine’

Dr. Walter Casey, associate professor of political science at Texas A&M University-Texarkana, will present a SuperLecture on “Tulia: Race and Cocaine” on Thursday, March 23, at 11 a.m. in University Center 217 on the A&M-Texarkana campus at 7101 University Ave., Texarkana, Texas.

The presentation will focus on the 1999 drug sting in the small Texas Panhandle town of Tulia that resulted in the arrests of 46 people, 39 of them black, and 38 convictions for various drug charges with sentences of up to 90 years in prison.

In 2003, after evidence of fraud by an undercover agent was brought to light by journalists and volunteer lawyers, Texas Gov. Rick Perry pardoned 35 of the defendants. Two of the remaining defendants were ineligible for pardons because they had received deferred adjudication after pleading guilty. The 38th defendant was a juvenile whose conviction would not remain on his record.

The lecture, which is part of the 2016-17 Program for Learning and Community Engagement lecture series, is free and open to the public.

PLACE is a faculty-led program designed to create a community of learners comprising A&M-Texarkana students, faculty, staff, and the community at large. PLACE chooses an annual theme around which to organize a lecture series and other activities that provide focal points for learning and discussion. This year’s theme is “Race and Ethnicity.”

For more information, contact Dr. Michael Perri at Michael.Perri@tamut.edu or Dr. Craig Nakashian at Craig.Nakashian@tamut.edu.