Pubdate: Sat, 28 Sep 2002
Source: Amarillo Globe-News (TX)
Copyright: 2002 Amarillo Globe-News
Contact:  http://amarillonet.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/13
Author: Billy Wayne Dick
Note: Billy Wayne Dick is a resident of Santa Clara, Calif.

DRUGS, NOT RACE, THE PROBLEM IN TULIA

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - I read your Aug. 29 story about Swisher County 
Sheriff Larry Stewart with great interest. I met Larry in 1958, when I was 
a sophomore and he was a freshman in high school. I played football and was 
probably recognized by Larry because football players in Texas are highly 
visible students.

I was the third black student to enter Tulia High School. The first two 
students enrolled in 1956 and only stayed in school a few weeks. In 1960, I 
was the first black student to graduate from Tulia High. I suspect I may be 
the first black student in Texas to graduate from an integrated school 
system, having spent all four years in the same school. My three sisters 
followed me in graduating from Tulia High.

I was voted the most popular male student of 1960. I also was voted to the 
All Southwest High School Football Team of 1960, and I am positive that all 
of the voters knew I was black.

Larry and I became acquainted during football practice when one of the 
captains asked me to "put a lick on him" (hit him as hard as I could) to 
find out what he was made of. I came at Larry during a running play with 
the intention of "knocking him out." As I came flying through the air (I 
was so little, he didn't see me), he raised his knee to run forward and hit 
me flush in the top of the helmet. I woke up a few minutes later, wondering 
what happened.

Growing up in Tulia in the 1950s was no different than my kids growing up 
in San Jose, Calif., in the 1970s.

Larry and the people of Tulia are not racists; they are Christians and 
humanitarians. They are true patriots who were willing to obey the School 
Desegregation Law of 1955. They are true Texans who want to protect their 
families and community from the lost souls who have turned to illegal drugs 
for profit.

Illegal drug use reminds me of an incurable cancer - once you get it, death 
is inevitable. Tulia is simply trying to rid itself of a cancer, and the 
only way to do it is the legal way.

Drug dealers are industrious people.

They will start with a person who does not want to work for a living and 
offer him the world to simply sell drugs for them. The dealer may even give 
him free drugs to start with. Eventually the subject starts seeing more 
money than he could ever imagine and becomes a recruiter for the dealer. 
 From there it spreads, sometimes to whole families.

If the media really are interested in knowing what kind of community Tulia 
is, they should start by interviewing the real citizens of Tulia, like the 
Stewarts, Roberts, Swinburns, Rogers, Fergusons, Childresses, Ruckers, 
Rectors, Hulseys, Dalluges, Houses, Huttos, Barbras, Snodgrasses, 
Vandergriffs, Poages, and many more.

I will stand in any court and defend Larry, and any of his friends, 
relatives and classmates, against the charge of racism.

I am very proud to be from Tulia and very proud to know Sheriff Larry 
Stewart and Justice of the Peace Marie Rucker.

I have experienced racism in many places in my 61 years - Tulia is not a 
racist community.

I also have found that people who charge others with racism usually have an 
inferiority complex and can only compensate for it by lashing out at others.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom