Every month at Busboys and Poets, a progressive boosktore/cafe near U St. in Washington, DC, an open discussion called ACTOR (A Continuing Talk On Race) is held, with varying (though never overwhelming) levels of attendance. Last Sunday's meeting was filled to capacity, though, as it was combined with a popular film series. We gathered to watch a preview of Tulia, Texas, a documentary which tells the powerful story of a small town in the Texas panhandle, and what happens as the drug war unfolds in their community.

The film takes you through the incredible, yet outrageously common, story of the drug war as it plays out in Tulia. A few years ago, more than half the Black population of this rural small town was arrested at once, and charged with distributing just enough powder cocaine (a substance more prevalent in the town's white community) to ensure long sentences.

The racist statements made by jurors and police in Tulia are sometimes shocking. But what's worse is that this is not an idiosyncratic case of evil, racist people (although they may be that) -- it's an evil, racist, oppressive criminal justice and economic system that is implemented by those in power (namely, in Tulia anyway, white folks). Many of the defendants took plea bargains once they saw their peers receiving 60- and 90-year sentences. Thirteen remained locked up for four years in Tulia, before being ultimately released when the undercover cop (upon whose uncorroborated word all of the cases were based) was found to be a complete whack-job: wanted in other states for theft, writing notes about drug buys on his leg, reporting some deals when he and/or the accused could not possibly have been where he says they were, according to timesheets, and in one case, a bank transaction in another state. He would later be charged for perjury, but seeing as how he's white and all, the jury found it much easier to identify with him than with the Black folks tried earlier: the undercover cop was sentenced to probation.

The drug war has created a thousand Tulias, and worse, in every state, and it's time to stop it. After the film, Bill White, one of the co-counsel defense attorneys from DC, joined DPA's DC Metropolitan Area Director Naomi Long, along with Sanho Tree of the Drug Policy Project at IPS and the Sentencing Project's Kara Gotsch for a panel discussion on the drug war. Someone put it thusly: "Ultimately, we're not going to get a policy change without a public outcry."

Indeed. Well, we live in hope. Spread the word about this remarkable, thought-provoking film coming to PBS on February 10, and see if you can have your own continuing talk on race along with it. One of the questions for our group discussion afterward dealt with the prospects for Tulia. "Will the residents of different races ever be able to trust one another?" Well really, will people of different racial identities anywhere ever be able to trust one another? I don't know. I hope so. I think white folks have a lot of work to do in terms of getting in the way of racist violence (direct and structural) and a lot of reparations to make. Maybe if we can continue to talk (and listen actively!) with one another we can get somewhere.