Racial Issues

In Fight Over Dallas' Racist Housing Policies, HUD Threw the Whistleblowers Under the Bus

If the editorial in The Dallas Morning News this morning has any credibility, and I am sure it does, HUD has agreed to throw the whistleblowers under the bus in the Lockey/MacKenzie racial segregation complaint against the city of Dallas. It's not a surprising outcome, because paying off the two d ... More >>

Which Is More Racist, Texas or New Hampshire?

A small dagger pierced my heart when my wife told me our 27-year-old son's reaction to the news story she had emailed him about the n-word-using police commissioner in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire. He emailed her back: "Wow. Way up there." I took that to mean that our fifth-generation native-Texan son ... More >>

Six Musicians You Didn't Know Might Be Bigots

Bob Dylan is being sued. For supposedly being racist. Could the harmonica enthusiast born Robert Allen Zimmerman -- the man whose ejaculate created national treasure Jakob Dylan of the Wallflowers -- truly be a bigot? Sure, he could be. Or maybe his comment likening Croatians to Nazis was misinterpr ... More >>

I Wasn't Invited to the Talk-About-Race Deal. Good. I Didn't Want to Be. So There!

Saturday at 10 a.m. at the City Performance Hall on Flora Street, Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings, City Council member Dwaine Caraway and Dallas County Commissioner Elba Garcia will host an event called "Conversations About Race," in which I was not invited to participate. Well how do you like that? I ... More >>

NAACP's Juanita Wallace Ready to Cancel DISD Superintendent Mike Miles' Black Card

Working on a big story about school reform these days. (Note to editor: definitely see completion this year, possibly early next. Best way you can help -- make sure I keep up my darned morale.) Speaking of morale, I wanted to go ahead and share a bit of the reporting with you in advance of the stor ... More >>

Ask a Mexican: Discrimination, Lard and Beans, Straight From the Heart of Texas

Two More Dallas County Maintenance Workers Say Their Boss is a Racist Asshole

David Womble, a Dallas County maintenance supervisor, leaves an impression on his employees. In June, three of them sued the county for discrimination after one, Dennis Jones, was fired for having previously disclosed felony convictions while his white colleagues were not. Womble, the suit claimed, ... More >>

Welcome Back, Jim Crow

New laws in dozens of states could take out Barack Obama this fall.

Marc Veasey Doesn't Like Domingo Garcia "Trumpeting" Black Paper's Endorsement

In case you haven't been paying attention, the race for the 33rd Congressional District is still a pissing match likely to end up in a runoff between between Domingo Garcia and Marc Veasey for the Democratic nomination. A quick recap: Garcia called big SUVs un-American, which led Veasey to proclai ... More >>

Domingo Garcia Calls Opponent "Errand Boy." Was That a Slur or Just Typical Garcia?

Domingo, Domingo, Domingo. You were named after the day of worship. Why do you always wind up using names against other people? Yesterday, state Representative Rafael Anchia jumped on Dallas congressional candidate Domingo Garcia for calling a black opponent an "errand boy." In a press release, A ... More >>

Sandra Crenshaw Wants You To Throw Out Your Wig And Mace The Living Shit Out Of Korean Storeowners

So, ex-Dallas City council member Sandra Crenshaw is throwing her wig in the trash on Sunday. She wants you there. Better yet, if you're a black woman with a Korean-made wig, she wants you to join her. (The video you see above is not about wigs, exactly. It's just something we had lying around in t ... More >>

Clay Jenkins Hits the Wall in the Appointment of New Black Panther Party Founder

It looks like Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins, long a puppet of Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price, finally has hit the Price wall. Jenkins has stopped action on the appointment of Price protégé Aaron McCarthy, aka Aaron Michaels, to the county's "homeland security advisory committee," w ... More >>

Post's Hunting-Camp Story Unfairly Loads Southern Baggage on Perry's Shoulders

​Well, pardon me for making myself important, but I feel like I do bring a certain perspective to the Rick Perry N-word story. For one thing, I just finished a long stretch of reporting on Perry. I have a story coming out his week in the newspaper that's pretty much a deconstruction of his "Te ... More >>

Cut Out the Middlemen

Tribal politics at the heart of Dallas' corruption problems.

Making racist remarks even though you've made a Mexican friend? Still wrong.

Black Students Are Leaving DISD And Heading For Suburban Schools. Is That Such A Bad Thing?

The Man Who Would Be King

Freddy Haynes seemed a shoo-in to lead the NAACP. Then Obama's ex-pastor came to town.

What's Up With All Those White People Asking Stupid Questions?

Dorit Rabinovitch Living in Detroit, and having black friends who cared enough to speak candidly to me, I learned a long time ago that all white people of a certain age are racist. That includes me. It includes Steve Blow. Growing up white in a racist society distorts your perception down to a neu ... More >>

City Hall's Same Sick Story

White guys bribing black guys at Dallas City Hall

Tongue Twisted

A Spanish-language requirement reopens old wounds at DISD

Spreading the Blame

Andrew Young, the former U.N. ambassador, said he doesn't really dig Jews, Koreans and Arabs who own stores in black neighborhoods. Then he apologized. Good luck with all that. Wilonsky's piece on South (not "Southern") Dallas in this week's paper version of Unfair Park is full of hope and commitmen ... More >>

Race, Race, Race

Man. Now everybody's calling everybody a racist.

Laff in the Dark

For Dallas, for the city council, for now, this was good

Color Code

Dallas Police Chief David Kunkle's honeymoon is about to end, if white, black and Latino officers have anything to say about it

Color Bind

Who says the mayor is a racist? You'll be surprised by the answer.

Segregation Forever

How Dallas got what it wanted

Slave Wages

The fight for slavery reparations takes on a local twist

Stoopid

Plus: On Top of the World, True Colors, Miller on a Mission

Ron Kirk's Crying Game

When he said it was time to end the blame game, he meant that he had won

One Moe

Even if Domingo Garcia can't win the mayor's race, he can slap the other two into shape

Absentee Minded

Hey, Mr. Zillionaire Developer, got a big public project you want to sell? Black Dallas has the votes you need--dirt cheap.

Mystery of St. Luke

Was an influential Dallas black church desecrated by racists?

We Shall Stay on Top

Black leadership goes in the tank on civil rights, fights for the police chief's job instead

The Race Race

In the battle for the District 6 council seat, the dark horse has a white face

The Color of Money

Does restaurant service differ because of race? Depends on whom you ask.

Single Barrel, Double Standard

When Lancaster's school superintendent ordered a lenient sentence for two white kids caught with shotguns, black parents said it was one more example of the suburb's bigotry

The Resurrection of Sandy Kress

Or, how a Democrat and reviled former DISD board president found a happy home pushing "educational acoountability" for the GOP

Brown-out

The problems at Silberstein Elementary--too few bilingual teachers, a PTA divided, tensions between black administrators and Hispanic parents--are a microcosm of the issues DISD faces districtwide

Black, white, and blue

Dallas' African-American cops say they are being unfairly disciplined by a racist department. The numbers suggest they're right.

The plantation burns

Al Lipscomb is on trial for bribery. The real charge is "traitor."

Black out

Lipscomb takes his story to Anglo Amarillo and hopes it plays better than prosecutors'

Dead air

KKDA-AM silences the radio voice of black Dallas, but was anyone listening anyway?

Black like him

Despite the Starr report's dirty details, Paula Jones' case against the nation's "first black president" hinges as much on race as on sex

Mr. Mellow

John Wiley Price, the man who once toted a bullhorn in protests outside Mayor Ron Kirk's home, learns that it helps to have friends in high places

Saint Al

Will he die in prison for the sins of the plantation?

Invisible Mansfield

When black and white histories collided in their small town, Phyllis Allen and fellow church members made sure Mansfield didn't white-wash the truth.

Prophets Without Honor

The self-proclaimed ministers of capitalism have gotten a cool reception to their gospel in Dallas. But Chevis King Jr. and Joe Howard won't give up till they've found a better way to spend black people's money.

Fantastic voyage

Spike Lee's Get on the Bus takes us to amazing places

Ready For Battle

DISD hired Clarence Glover to defuse a racial crisis. But is he tough enough for the job?

The Prophet

Amid controversy, Minister Farrakhan calls a million men to step into the Promised Land