A sheriff in North Carolina has resigned from the state’s sheriffs’ association after he was caught on tape threatening to fire his Black officers.
Last week, NBC affiliate WECT released an audio recording of an alleged phone call between Columbus County, NC Sheriff Jody Greene and acting Sheriff Jason Soles.
On the call, Greene used racist language to talk about Black deputies who he believed are loyal to Columbus County first Black sheriff, Lewis Hatcher. Greene defeated Hatcher by just 34 votes in Columbus County in 2018.
According to WECT, the election was contested over claims that Greene did not live in Columbus County and that he was sworn in before the state certified the election results. While officials investigated the claims, Soles was appointed as interim sheriff.
Soles told WECT that he started to receive constant late-night phone calls from Greene after his appointment. During one of these calls in February 2019, Greene told Soles that their office had a snitch and pointed the finger at Black officers.
“I’m sick of it. I’m sick of these Black bastards,” Greene told Soles. “I’m going to clean house and be done with it. And we’ll start from there.”
“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 about 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.”
Since Greene took office the two Black members on his predecessor’s command staff were demoted. One had her pay cut by $10,000 before she was fired.
Soles told WECT he started recording his conversations with Greene after he said he hated Black Democrats.
“It broke my heart. Because that’s not what I believe in. It upset me to the fact that I did have to start recording his phone calls. And I’m not wanting to go around recording people’s conversations. But… this was not the leader that we needed leading the Columbus County Sheriff’s Office making these racial slurs,” Soles told the outlet.
Soles said he went to the County Commissioners to try to get them to intervene in the situation but only one followed up with him and he was not able to do much about the situation without the support of his fellow commissioners, who are supporters of Greene.
Soles is now running against Greene for his seat.
In a Facebook post Greene said that Soles’ actions were politically motivated and implied that the recording was edited or altered. Greene, however, did not deny making pejorative comments against his employees. The State Bureau of Investigation has launched an investigation into the recordings.
On Thursday, Greene resigned from the NC Sheriff’s Association. While Greene has resigned from his position in the Association, he is still the sheriff of Columbus County.
“I have not resigned as the Sheriff of Columbus County,” he wrote in a statement on the county sheriff Facebook page. “I will continue to serve no matter the allegations or rumors.”
The NAACP is calling for Greene’s full resignation.
