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Racist NC Sheriff is now under investigation after tape-recording

by Ezekiel J. Walker Updated
Racist NC Sheriff is now under investigation after tape-recording
Photo courtesy of Columbus County Sheriff's Office
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The Black Wall Street Times

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On Wednesday, WECT reported that North Carolina’s Columbus County Sheriff Jody Greene is under investigation after a subordinate recorded his racist rant against multiple Black officials in a series of phone calls.

The whistle-blower, Columbus County Captain Jason Soles, reportedly got tired of hearing his racist tirades and began recording their conversations shortly thereafter.

“On one end of the phone was Columbus County Sheriff Jody Greene. On the other was then-Captain Jason Soles, who had just been tapped to lead the Sheriff’s Office while elections officials investigated a complaint questioning whether Greene was eligible to serve as sheriff,” the report stated. “Greene wanted to know who in the department had communicated with Lewis Hatcher, the former sheriff whom Greene had narrowly defeated in the election, and Melvin Campbell, a recently-fired sergeant, both of whom are African-American. In Greene’s words, they had a ‘snitch’ in the office, leaking information to his political opponent who had sued to be reinstated until the election protests were resolved.”

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What did he say?

“Tomorrow’s gonna be a new f**king day. I’m still the motherf**king sheriff, and I’ll go up and fire every godd**n [inaudible]. F**k them black bastards. They think I’m scared? They’re stupid,” Greene said. “I don’t know what else to do it. So it’s just time to clean them out. There’s a snitch in there somewhere tellin’ what we are doing. And I’m not gonna have it. I’m not going to have it.”

“We’ll cut the snake’s head f**king off. Period. And Melvin Campbell is as big a snake as Lewis Hatcher ever dared to be. Every black that I know, you need to fire him to start with, he’s a snake,” Greene says before ending the phone call.

Though much more was said, Soles told WECT that he was shocked by the sheriff’s comments and started recording his calls at that point.

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According to WBTV, the call between Greene and Soles took place about two months into what was a tumultuous start to Greene’s career as sheriff. Greene beat Hatcher in the 2018 election by just 34 votes, at a time when election fraud in this rural part of North Carolina was making national headlines. The results were protested, in part over concerns Greene did not actually live in Columbus County as required by state law. He’d also been improperly sworn in before the state certified the election results.

More than “one bad apple”

WBTV also reports that Soles’ “promotion” to acting sheriff was the result of a court-mediated agreement between Greene and Hatcher, while elections officials worked to determine who was the rightful sheriff. Greene wanted his chief deputy, Aaron Herring, to serve as interim sheriff.

However, Herring was not an acceptable alternative to Hatcher and his supporters, in part because of a 2015 arrest, in which Herring was charged with punching a handcuffed black man in the face while serving as a Whiteville Police officer. He was later found not guilty, but that did little to quell concerns among the local Black community.

The County knowingly turned a blind eye to racist Sheriff

After attempting to work with County Commissioners, who largely supported Greene, Sole’s previous attempts to out the racist sheriff went largely ignored. County Commissioner Buddy Byrd was the only one who would even listen to Soles. Byrd recalls, “Everybody had deaf ears,” he said of the reaction of other commissioners when he told them about the racist recording of the sheriff, per WBTV.

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Soon after being made aware the recordings were made public, Greene posted a statement on the Columbus County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page, saying his office serves citizens of all races, and although he admits to using offensive language, he denies saying anything with racial or malintent. Greene said he would cooperate fully with the SBI investigation.

The Black Wall Street Times contacted the Columbus County Sheriff’s Office for comment, however, our communication was not returned by the time of this article’s publication.

Hailing from Charlotte North Carolina, born litterateur Ezekiel J. Walker earned a B.A. in Psychology at Winston Salem State University. Walker later published his first creative nonfiction book and has...

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  2. Pingback: Racist NC Sheriff Suspended For Recordings Of Black Employees

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