Prolific and polarizing: A look at the storied political career of Dallas County's longest-serving elected official, John Wiley Price
Election night 40 years ago changed history in Dallas County.
It was the night that Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price became the first, and to date only, Black member of the commissioner's court.
He may be the most recognizable face and name in Dallas' political landscape. Revered and reviled for years. Pushing, prodding, protesting and picketing.
"I've been here 40 years as a commissioner, 10 as assistant to a judge, and I've only missed 90 days of work," Price said.
Since his election on a November night in 1984, Price remains a lead captain in the campaign to ensure people of mostly southern Dallas District 3 benefited from the county's multi-billion dollar system of public health, public safety, service in courts and corrections and jobs.
Critics called him a racial rabble-rouser, using threats and intimidation under the cloak of civil activism.
"[For] too long, as Frederick Douglass said, have others spoken for us," said Price. "It's time for us to speak for ourselves."
No representation meant no relief from Price's passion-fueled protests on Dallas streets, his demand for Black representation in school district operations, his marches against Dallas media outlets or the lack of minority and women firms being awarded multi-million dollar construction and other service contracts for local public projects.
Today, change is evident. Minority judges leading criminal courtrooms, diversity for the county's health system and even jail detention jobs.
But Price wants more.
"The majority of my district judges are African American female," Price said. "But my thing is accountability, are you working? ... Parkland will tell you, I'm advocating for African American nurses. Doctors don't run hospitals. Nurses do."
For years, he has sat as the ranking member of Dallas County's elected body of representatives.
But Price has always held another title: the outsider, the leader known to many in Black Dallas as "our man downtown."
"What did it mean then, and what does it say now, when they say 'our man downtown?'" Price said. "It means now that I've validated myself. It's not a colloquialism or statement. A niche word, that means he represents us."
Price remains Dallas County's only elected Black member of the court. He's also the only one who faced criminal indictment on multiple bribery and tax fraud charges.
A jury found him not guilty or hung on all charges. A judge sentenced him to jail in 1991 for his actions during a protest and his supporters backed him with a protest at the jail.
As Dallas has grown, Price, who turns 75 this year, knows his seat at the decision-making table has been part of that growth with 40 years of that "our man downtown" attitude.
"I want them to be able to look and say 'He was on mission, built and made things better than when he found them,'" said Price.
