Can Dallas County turn messages from protests into lasting change in battle against racism?

Against a backdrop of unending national protests and in front of an audience of skeptical activists, Dallas County commissioners are taking their first steps toward ending systemic racism.

County commissioners on Tuesday are expected to vote on two resolutions: one proclaiming racism a public health emergency and another that would encourage law enforcement agencies to write tickets rather than arrest people for low-level offenses.

Coupled with earlier steps taken by County Judge Clay Jenkins, the declarations are meant to chart a new path for the state’s second-largest county, which has long grappled with racism and criminal justice reform.

So far, most of the protests in Dallas sparked by the death of George Floyd — the black Minneapolis man who died after a white police officer knelt on his neck — have focused on reforming the police department, which falls outside the purview of the commissioners. However, county leaders acknowledged in interviews there are policy areas they must rethink and other spots where they wield influence across multiple jurisdictions.

The commissioners join a growing number of local and state governments, and businesses, that are rethinking their approach to public safety and racial equity. In Pennsylvania’s Lancaster County, commissioners are debating whether to require body cameras for all county employees who carry firearms. Colorado and New York legislatures passed sweeping police reform bills. And NASCAR banned the Confederate flag from its events.

These first steps by commissioners here are meant to lay the groundwork for a fresh look at how the county — which runs the county jail and has varying degrees of oversight of Parkland Health & Hospital System and a long list of other public health agencies — operates, commissioners said.

“What does justice look like? It looks like public policy,” said John Wiley Price, a Democrat who represents southern Dallas County. His resolution that defines racism as a public health emergency calls on the county to reimagine its budget and to lay out policy goals that can measurably improve the lives of black Dallas citizens.

Activists are eager to see the reforms they have pushed for years get fresh attention, but they are equally wary of hollow resolutions that have been adopted before with little to show. And, they said, they’ll be watching as the county and other local governments begin their budget process this summer to see if change really does take hold.

10 new directions

As downtown Dallas filled with protesters in late May, Jenkins hosted a digital town hall with community leaders and law enforcement officials to discuss reforms.

After the call, the group of community leaders outlined in a memo 10 changes the city and county could adopt to improve the lives of black people here.

The memo, which Jenkins published on social media, recommends the creation of a city-county task force to identify alternative ways to respond to safety needs, reallocate money for mental health services, create a fund to clean up neighborhoods, and end an agreement with the federal government to detain immigrants.

The plan was not written in the heat of the moral crisis, said Brittany White, a national strategist for Faith in Action, a nonprofit that advocates for criminal justice reform such as ending mass incarcerations.

The policy proposals outlined grew out of a movement started last year to reimagine how the city of Dallas spends its tax dollars.

“Nobody did any wizardry and came up with it overnight,” White said. “This is the genius and the sweat of women, people of color and coalitions putting beefs aside to come together to push for this movement to do something good for our county."

Jenkins, who has pledged to work with Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson to establish the task force, said it is important for policymakers to act with haste while the public is ripe for change and to follow the direction of those on the movement’s front lines.

“We have to move quickly to cement this willingness for change,” he said. “If it’s a top-down solution without community buy-in, it will be doomed to failure. We need to listen to people who basically think we suck.”

Resolutions are first steps

Commissioners Price and J.J. Koch, a Republican who represents most of northern Dallas County, said their resolutions Tuesday are first steps meant to put the county’s partners and other local governments “on notice.”

If adopted as presented, Price’s resolution would, among other things, require the county to “promote equity through all policies approved by the commissioners court,” and “institute racial equity training with the goal of reaching all commissioners court agency leadership and staff.”

Price said the county’s billion-dollar budget needs a fresh look. Echoing the call of activists, Price suggested the county may need more money devoted to mental health programs. Dallas County’s most recent budget allocated $179 million for the Sheriff’s Department and just $20 million for its health department.

The county and other local governments typically write their budgets during the summer and approve them in the fall.

Koch’s resolution encourages police officers to make use of a 2007 state law that allows them discretion over who to arrest for misdemeanors such as possession of marijuana, petty theft and graffiti.

“This is not earth-shattering or any new piece of policy that has been in the toolkit for all of our local entities,” he said. “We’ve neglected this, and it’s high time we use it in order to help our police forces do the right thing."

Koch said that if approved, the resolution will leverage future policy conversations, including the county’s jail contract with Dallas police.

“This is not merely wasting breath, especially with the city of Dallas,” Koch said. “This is putting everyone on notice that we’re not interested in (jailing people) for cite-and-release offenses."

Sara Mokuria, a co-founder of Mothers Against Police Brutality and co-author of the aforementioned memo, said the commissioners will be measured by their actions, not their resolutions.

“For those who hold leadership positions, this is an opportunity to get it right or be on the wrong side of history,” she said. “The question is, will they live up to the moment or betray it? I think the community, the protesters in the street, the clergy from across the spectrum, across the community, have been resoundingly clear about expectations.”