FREE screening of Tulia, Texas

A community event, Tuesday, March 24, 7-9 p.m....

Houston PBS Community Cinema is hosting a FREE screening of the film, Tulia, Texas, at Rice University. KUHT-TV describes the film as follows:

On July 23, 1999, undercover narcotics officer Thomas Coleman executed one of the biggest drug stings in Texas history. By the end of the blazing summer day, Coleman and his drug task force had rounded up and arrested dozens of residents of the small farming town of Tulia. Thirty-nine of the 46 people accused of selling drugs to Coleman were African American. It was a bold move by the man later named Texas Lawman of the Year, but it was exactly what many of Tulia's white citizens had hoped for when Coleman came to town. In the years to follow, troubling evidence about the undercover investigation and the narcotics officer's past began to surface. The documentary weaves together the stories of the last remaining defendants in jail, the families and lawyers fighting for their freedom, and the sheriff, undercover agent and townspeople who stand against them. Tulia, Texas is the story of a small town's search for justice and the price Americans pay for the war on drugs.

For more information, visit Houston PBS Community Cinema online.