Interim City Manager Kim Tolbert’s social media history has again raised questions about her worldview, including her apparent sympathy for “racial justice” ideology.
Tolbert liked a tweet from former Secretary of State and presidential aspirant Hillary Clinton that read, “Juneteenth is more than a celebration of emancipation. It is a call to continued action for racial justice. We must answer it.”
The tweet linked to an article from The Atlantic that bemoaned the “white gaze” on Juneteenth celebrations and referred to “systemic racism” as a part of modern American life.
It is unclear when Tolbert liked Clinton’s tweet. However, the original post was made in the summer of 2020 when riots were sweeping the nation after the death of George Floyd. Other social media activity of Tolbert’s indicates she supported Black Lives Matter protesters’ threats of “no justice, no peace” at the time.
Tolbert frequently likes social media posts from left-wing officeholders, including socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and other politicians known for their racial activism like Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX), Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA), and two-time Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams.
Tolbert has a long history of personal and professional racial activism. She has posed for a picture with the brother of Floyd and celebrated his advocacy of racial justice. She has also called for the removal of historic statutes, including Dallas’ storied monument of Robert E. Lee, the famous American and Confederate general who opposed slavery but fought for the South because of his affection for his home state of Virginia, as previously reported by DX.
Professionally, Tolbert regularly attends racial justice activism events, as DX has reported, and is deeply enmeshed in Dallas’ DEI regime. Documents obtained in a prior DX investigation revealed Tolbert’s hand in implementing a racial equity program that informs decisions on City housing projects. The documents did not make it especially clear how the City defined racial equity despite the ideology being a guiding principle for its efforts to house vagrants.
DX obtained these files after a prolonged fight with the Dallas City Secretary’s office. This exchange raised questions about the degree to which the City was being forthcoming and caused DX to inquire whether documents had been destroyed after only three materialized despite Tolbert’s many years of work in City government. At one point during the back and forth, the City told Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office that the documents did not exist before they materialized without explanation.
These transparency issues are reflected across City institutions in Dallas. After The Dallas Express published a series highlighting Tolbert’s public activities, the then-deputy city manager blocked DX on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. Although DX had merely reported on her activity, the blocking seemed analogous to the situation in recent Supreme Court rulings that held it is unconstitutional for public officials to block social media commenters who are critical of their policies.
Tolbert served as a deputy for many years to outgoing Dallas City Manager T.C. Broadnax. Broadnax presided over what many have seen as persistent issues with City services, as previously reported by DX. Broadnax’s administration oversaw increases in taxation, government spending, and crime. Concerns have also been raised about the security of sensitive City data, including a leak of a former employee’s social security number and financial records uncovered by DX last week.
DX contacted Tolbert for comment but did not receive a response by publication.