Two weeks ago, Jody Greene resigned as sheriff of Columbus County, North Carolina, after it was revealed he made racist comments about Black employees in 2019. He said he resigned for his “love” for the county and asked for forgiveness as he went full speed ahead on his reelection campaign.
And on Tuesday, he won.
Unofficial election results for the North Carolina county show that Greene garnered more than 10,000 votes to be reelected as sheriff, compared to the fewer than 8,500 secured by his opponent, Jason Soles. His win comes amid significant controversy after the district attorney revealed in September that Greene had made “highly inappropriate and racially charged statements” about Black employees three years ago.
Court documents published by local NBC affiliate WECT reveal that District Attorney Jon David had obtained an audio recording from the State Bureau of Investigation of a phone call Greene was on. The court documents – a petition to remove Greene from office – say that Greene made the comments while he was suspended from office as the state Board of Elections investigated his residency status.
According to those documents, Greene was “convinced there was a leak in his office” that resulted in that investigation, and was heavily focused on Lewis Hatcher, North Carolina county’s first Black sheriff, and Melvin Campbell, a Black sergeant, as well as other Black employees whom he felt had undermined him.
“I’m sick of these Black bastards. I’m gonna clean house and be done with it,” a transcript of those recordings included in the documents reveal. “…They’re gone. I’m telling you. That’s as fair as I’m gonna be. … if they’re not with me, they’re against me. And they’re gone. … If I have to fire every mother f***er out there, guess what?”
“I’m still the motherf***ing sheriff, and I’ll go up and fire every goddamn [inaudible]. F*** them Black bastards,” he continued. “They think I’m scared? They’re stupid. I don’t know what else to do with 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. …hell is coming.”
The transcript shows Greene continued to say that Campbell and Hatcher would be fired, and that “they’re gonna be guilty by f***ing association.”
The call, according to Greene in a post on the sheriff’s office Facebook page in September, was recorded by his 2022 midterm opponent, Soles, who he said was a captain in Greene’s command staff at the time. Greene claims that Soles was “spreading rumors” to “further incite racial division…to pursue his personal agenda.” At the time of the post, Greene “adamantly” denied “any racial intent or actions on my part.”
