Dallas Commissioner John Wiley Price Loses His Cool

Filed under: News, Politics, Race and Civil Rights

Just to be clear about the racial tempest testing Texas, Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price was wrong, wrong, wrong to bring race into the discussion when speakers at a public meeting railed against him for removing a popular local official from office.

But as Chris Rock might say, though I disagree with his actions "I understand."

It was clear that Price was being worn down by the virtually all-white crowd gathered at the meeting. By the time the last speaker, Dallas lawyer Jeff Turner took to the podium and called Price, who is black, the county's "chief mullah" and used the word "tribal" to describe Price's actions, the commissioner blew his stack.

Turner knew full well that calling Price "chief mullah" has racial overtones as did using the word tribal. Price then went nuclear by asking aloud, "Why are all the speakers white?"

BOOM!!!!!!!

I guess you could argue that since Turner was the first to lob a racial reference into the mix, Price was justified to respond as he did. Maybe, but I see Price, an elected official, being held to a higher standard than any yahoo who approaches the microphone to make a public comment.

Price made the situation worse by saying, "All of you are white. Go to hell."

Price has already bungled his first chance at calming the waters. When asked about the outburst at the meeting, Price said he he would do the same thing again because Turner's use of the word mullah was "racist as hell."

Of course, Price is right. And I sympathize with him. Watching the video of him at the meeting brought me back to my worst days working at a public relations firm in Washington, D.C. where issues of race were ducked and where I was often made to feel I was speaking a different language by white managers.

None of this is meant to excuse Price. He needs to apologize for blowing his cool and put the mess behind him.

But as far as the outburst is concerned, I understand.

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