DALLAS - The firing of Dallas' first black police chief ended a brief peace in this racially volatile city that followed a decade of strife.
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Within days of Terrell Bolton's dismissal, protesters briefly shut down a city council meeting and marched to City Hall, demanding the recall of the white mayor and Hispanic city manager for what one rally organizer called a "public lynching."
"We were going forward and then this thing hits us like a blow in the face," said Glenn Linden, a Southern Methodist University history professor who has written about desegregation in Dallas.
It was the kind of animosity that crippled city government throughout much of the 1990s, when blacks picketed against allegations of white favoritism in the police department and, along with Hispanics, demanded fair representation on the city council. In 1996, Black Panthers shut down a school board meeting and scuffled with police.
Tension eased in recent years after the city elected its first black mayor and groups vowed to work together.
But Bolton's Aug. 26 dismissal exposed a nerve.
The chief was fired by City Manager Ted Benavides, who cited poor performance. Dallas recorded the highest per capita crime rate in the country during Bolton's four-year tenure, and a fake drug scandal in 2001 put dozens of innocent immigrants in jail.
Bolton was vocal about the firing, sobbing at one news conference and telling his church's congregation the ordeal made him reflect on his childhood in rural Mississippi where "racism dripped like honey from a tree."
He has said his evaluations included none of the criticisms blamed for his ouster; his lawyer believes the firing is illegal and has requested arbitration.
Black civic leaders and preachers said Benavides and Mayor Laura Miller disrespected the black community by firing Bolton without giving him a chance to resign or take a different post. "This is a slap in the face like it's never been slapped before," said Councilman James Fantroy.
Much of the criticism is directed at Miller, a newspaper reporter-turned-mayor whose journalism work included scathing criticisms of black politicians.
Bolton believes Miller orchestrated his dismissal, and some of his supporters say the mayor pressured Benavides to fire the chief to divide the minority communities.
"I believe that this mayor is responsible for the height of tensions, that she has devilishly pitted blacks against Hispanics," said the Rev. Stephen Nash, president of Dallas' Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance.
Miller says she had nothing to do with the firing, though she supports it, and says Bolton's use of race is nothing more than strategy.
"Clearly, it is to the former chief's advantage to have things continue to churn in the city and that's always been a pretty fail-safe way to get that to happen," she said.
Blacks also criticized Benavides, the city's first Hispanic city manager. Tension between blacks and Hispanics escalated when black protesters held signs calling Benavides a "wetback" at a rally and a city council meeting.
Hispanic leaders held a news conference denouncing the use of "hate speech," and demanded an apology from black elected officials. A group of blacks who attended the conference apologized, though they claimed no responsibility for the sign.
Benavides did not respond to requests for an interview.
Dallas is 37 percent Hispanic, 25 percent black, 33 percent white non-Hispanic, and 3 percent Asian, according to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau (news - web sites) estimates.
Though Dallas never experienced race riots of the 1960s like other large cities, tensions have surrounded the desegregation of city schools — a process that didn't end until this year — and the division of city council seats.
"We didn't have a civil rights movement in this city. We didn't learn the lessons," Linden said. "I think in some ways you can say it's a city still in formation, but how long can you be in formation?"
