Racial History In Tarrant County
The county jail records reveal that Tarrant County Jim Crow was a function of custom and thoroughly institutionalized as a matter of public policy by 1890, before the Texas state legislature required separate railroad coaches for blacks and whites in 1891. This demonstrates that whites used the county court system to incarcerate black citizens because of their race and for their labor, justifying an inference of discrimination using twenty first century federal civil rights legal principles. Tarrant County jail records between 1906 and 1908, which reveals that disproportionate incarceration of African Americans continued into the early twentieth century.
African Americans in post-Civil War Tarrant County were abused, oppressed, marginalized, and murdered because of their race. The existence of such mistreatment is not a surprise, but identifying the contours of that mistreatment requires a closer look at the founding of Tarrant County, its experience during and after the Civil War, and its march toward becoming an industrial urban center. This study explores the timing, methods, and intensity of discrimination against African Americans in Tarrant County with an eye toward placing Tarrant County on the historiographic continuum in the evolution of Jim Crow.
The specific focus of this study is a late nineteenth century Tarrant County criminal law enforcement system dominated by white Democrats, ex Confederates, and ex-slaveholders. Tarrant County whites used the criminal law enforcement system to incarcerate African American citizens because of their race and for their labor. This process was thoroughly institutionalized by 1890, before the 1891 statute that required separate coaches for blacks on Texas railroads. The fervor of white efforts to reestablish post-Civil War racial hegemony in this way can be measured using the tools of twenty first century federal anti-discrimination law.
This investigation into late nineteenth-century Tarrant County reveals that white supremacy was supported by the government’s authority, as law enforcement, prosecutors, and judges acted under the guise of the law to suppress the African American community. The historical dialogue about the development of Jim Crow took a different direction in 1955 with C. Vann Woodward’s The Strange Career of Jim Crow. Following the United States Supreme Court’s rejection of the separate-but-equal doctrine in Brown v. Board of Education, Woodward posits that southern race relations after Redemption constituted an “unstable interlude” between the pre-Civil War slave codes and the Jim Crow statutes of the early twentieth century.
Fast Forward To Today
In Tarrant County, it seems like locking kids up is becoming the go-to solution. Despite a sharp decrease in juvenile arrests, children facing accusations are now being held for longer periods in the increasingly overcrowded detention center. And here’s the kicker: more than half of the kids detained last year were Black, even though they make up less than one-fifth of the county’s population! It’s outrageous and absolutely unacceptable.
I’m absolutely furious about this! In 2019 and 2021, the county sentenced more black children to the state youth prison system than any other. The state’s youth prison director said that counties should only send kids to the crumbling prison system after they have “exhausted all available resources for intervention and are left with no option.” In Tarrant County, at least a quarter of kids were sent to prison for nonviolent crimes, like unauthorized use of a vehicle or theft. This is outrageous, either when they are first found guilty or after violating probation conditions, county data shows.
The shift toward increased incarceration has in large part been pinned on the juvenile courts, led since 2019 by a longtime conservative politician turned scandal-plagued judge Republican State District Judge Alex Kim.
Detention should be an absolute last resort for young individuals facing non-violent criminal accusations. You’d think that over the past 15 years, the state would have made a real effort to keep the number of incarcerated youths to a minimum by focusing on drug treatment, mental health counseling, and other services to prevent them from getting into trouble in the first place.
When The Racism Hits Home
I’ve tried to keep this matter private long enough but it’s time to speak up! I would like to raise awareness about the injustices occurring in Tarrant County, Texas. We reside in Georgia, and in May 2019, my son Zechariah Rucker was pulled over for window tint violations. During the traffic stop, the officer conducted a national background check and discovered an outstanding warrant in Fort Worth related to an incident that occurred while my son was briefly staying there to train for basketball with his personal trainer.
During his stay in Fort Worth, an incident occurred where Zack’s trainer’s son physically harmed his younger brother. The child admitted to Zack and his uncle that he had hit his sibling, and when the uncle told his nephew that he was in trouble the child then changed his story and lied saying Zack did it. Subsequently, when the children returned to their mother’s home, she reported the incident to the police, falsely implicating Zack.
We believed the matter was resolved once Zack returned to Atlanta, but he was arrested when the authorities issued a warrant for him. The father and the family of the children involved informed us that they had not been contacted or questioned about the incident since that night. Although Zack maintained contact with the family, the authorities did not reach out to inquire about his whereabouts. Instead, they issued a fugitive warrant for a 19-year-old with no prior legal troubles, unaware that he was wanted.
Zack spent over 30 days in jail in Georgia because Tarrant County failed to act when informed by Paulding County about his incarceration in Georgia. He endured two weeks of being transported between jails, as if he were a hardened criminal. I personally contacted the Tarrant County District Attorney, explaining the situation and the uncle’s account of events. However, the DA seemed uninterested in the truth and insisted on Zack’s guilt without conducting a thorough investigation.
Zack was arrested again in Fort Worth due to being placed on bond probation, which requires him to take monthly drug tests and pay $75 a month despite not being convicted. He resides in Atlanta and bond probation was just a trap. I personally contacted the Tarrant County District Attorney and explained the situation to him, but he seemed uninterested in the facts and insisted that Zechariah was guilty and he was only interested in Zack pleading guilty. He did not bother to speak with the uncle or the family of the children involved. During a court hearing, the judge was baffled by the decision to place him on bond probation being that he lives out of state and ordered both parties to settle the case swiftly. This case is an alarming example of how Black and Brown individuals without the financial means to secure proper representation can face injustice within the legal system. They are attempting to unjustly prosecute my son, a promising young man who plays basketball, but is unable to pursue higher education or his dreams of playing professionally until this matter is resolved.
I strongly believe this case exemplifies the systemic injustices faced by Black and Brown individuals in the legal system. It is now 2024, and my son is still burdened by this pending case, and his life has been put on hold; he cannot return to college, get a job, or pursue his dream of playing professional basketball due to this pending case on his record. He is continually treated as a criminal despite not having been charged. This ordeal has taken a toll on his mental health, and the recurring arrests for inability to pay probation fees only perpetuate the cycle that keeps Black and brown individuals down. Something must change, and I believe it is essential to shed light on this issue.
We are caught in a cycle that disproportionately impacts marginalized communities, and meaningful change is imperative.
Zack has spent a lot of money on plane tickets, traveling back and forth from Atlanta to Fort Worth for court hearings trying to persuade him to plead guilty and be placed on probation for another five years of his life. He’s continually told the court that he will not plead guilty to something he didn’t do! Zack has been treated the same as a criminal that has already been found guilty because since 2019 his record shows he has a criminal charge pending. He finally has a trial date of January 29, 2024 and we haven’t spoken to the public defender about the case not even once!
I was advised by the court-appointed attorney not to contact the news, as it might negatively affect Zack. However, I find this guidance questionable and potentially threatening. There is a pressing need for reform in Tarrant County. My son’s mental well-being and future hang in the balance, and he deserves justice and an opportunity to rebuild his life.
If you are if you know anyone who has experienced racism in Tarrant County please email me info@head2toemag.com
https://www.tarrantcountytx.gov/en/criminal-district-attorney.html
http://res.dallasnews.com/graphics/2015_05/texas-racial-divide/