Opponent says Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins wore blackface in 1983 college trespass

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DALLAS — When Clay Jenkins and two associates stormed the residence of feminine Baylor College classmates in 1983, they laughed it off as a prank. The ladies described it as a terrifying second, and Jenkins and his associates had been arrested and charged with felony trespass.

Within the years since, Jenkins has climbed to be some of the distinguished Democrats in Texas as Dallas County decide, and the story of the school “panty raid” has surfaced in a minimum of one prior printed report. However within the waning days of his 2022 reelection marketing campaign, a brand new element of the story has emerged: One of many ladies advised police that Jenkins and his associates “had on darkish oil sort or paint or darkish make-up on their faces to make them appear like Black individuals,” in response to a Waco police report.

That report was first printed by two right-wing media websites Tuesday evening, with each saying Jenkins had wearing blackface. One such website, The Blaze, hosted Jenkins’ GOP rival, Lauren Davis, for the dialogue after which blasted him for performing recklessly.

Jenkins denies the allegation of sporting blackface, saying he was merely camouflaging his face with paint. One other girl cited within the report makes no point out of blackface. The report stated she believed the boys “had been all wearing darkish coloured clothes like camouflage and had darkish coloured make-up on their faces.”

The 1983 incident was reported quickly after it occurred by the Baylor scholar paper, The Lariat, and once more in 2014 by D Journal, when Jenkins was looking for a second time period.

The report was supplied to The Texas Tribune by the marketing campaign for Davis, Jenkins’ Republican challenger. On Tuesday, in an interview with The Blaze, the interviewer requested Davis in regards to the episode and described Jenkins “dressing up in blackface, which we’re advised is probably the most egregious crime ever.” Davis didn’t use the time period, though her marketing campaign uploaded the section to its YouTube web page with the title: “Clay Jenkins Uncovered — Blackface Allegations.”

Within the interview, Davis stated: “It was something however [a prank], he may have been shot. He broke in and entered a house dressed not as himself, after which terrorized these ladies … He ransacked the residence, [the women] barricaded themselves behind a door.”

Makes an attempt to achieve the ladies named within the report had been unsuccessful. The husband of 1 girl, reached by telephone, stated she didn’t want to be interviewed.

On Wednesday, Jenkins’s marketing campaign supervisor, Sean Gregory, acknowledged the allegation however denied that the decide had ever worn blackface.

“Decide Jenkins apologized then, when he was 19, and continues to be sorry for the poor judgment he exhibited on the time,” Gregory stated. “He has by no means darkened his face in an try to look as a member of one other race.”

When he was requested by The Dallas Morning Information in a 2010 candidate questionnaire whether or not he had ever been charged with a criminal offense, Jenkins talked about the trespassing cost and a separate reckless driving cost.

“I spotted how shut I got here to throwing away my alternative to grow to be the primary in my household to graduate school by partaking in immature school pranks,” Jenkins stated then. “I didn’t wish to disappoint my mom and all of the individuals who sacrificed to offer me that chance by squandering it. I recommitted myself to my research, which culminated in my commencement from legislation college 5 years after highschool.”

When he first sought workplace in 2010, Jenkins drew the backing of distinguished Black Democrats in Dallas, together with U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, County Commissioner John Wiley Value and state Sen. Royce West. In 2020, Jenkins voted alongside a unanimous commissioners courtroom to declare racism a public well being disaster. Jenkins additionally voiced his assist for Black Lives Matter following the homicide of George Floyd by a white Minneapolis police officer.

Based on the police report, one of many ladies awoke within the early hours of Sept. 22, 1983, to see what “seemed to be three, presumably Black males, coming by way of the window.” She woke her roommate and dragged her into one other bed room, the place they hid as the boys ransacked their room.

Then one of many males known as out the lady’s title, she advised police, which is when she realized that she knew a minimum of two of the intruders, together with Jenkins. One other roommate chased the boys out of the residence by way of the entrance door as they laughed, the report says.

The ladies determined to press fees and the three males got here to Waco police headquarters to talk to an officer, the report says. Certainly one of them advised the officer that the incident was a “Baylor prank” and stated that they had entered the residence “making an attempt to scare the women and … all of them left laughing considering it was very humorous.”

Jenkins and the opposite two males had been charged with felony trespass of a habitation, the report says. Based on felony data, Jenkins was sentenced to 1 12 months of deferred adjudication, a kind of probation.

The sporting of blackface, which was a mainstay of minstrel exhibits and different demeaning depictions of African Individuals, particularly in the course of the Jim Crow period, has come up in a number of political races in recent times.

In 2019, Gov. Ralph Northam of Virginia, a Democrat, confronted a firestorm after a 1984 yearbook picture emerged of him and a good friend — one sporting blackface, the opposite in a Klan gown — whereas he was a scholar at medical college. Quite a few officers known as on Northam to resign, however he survived in workplace — largely due to assist from African American constituents — and vowed to make racial fairness a spotlight of his time period in workplace, which led to January 2022.

Disclosure: Baylor College has been a monetary supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan information group that’s funded partly by donations from members, foundations and company sponsors. Monetary supporters play no position within the Tribune’s journalism. Discover a full listing of them right here.