Almost ten years have passed since Portsmouth City Council called for Mayor James W. Holley III to withdraw from office. Revelations by his administrative assistant, a city employee, that he required her to perform personal services (among them, calling stores to locate apparel items he wished to purchase, having a magazine subscription cancelled, and making hair and nail appointments for him) in addition to her official duties, brought abundant negative media attention to our city. In a rare act of unanimity, six council members, led by then Vice Mayor William E. Moody, Jr., drafted a statement asking Mayor Holley to step down. According to the Virginian-Pilot account, the statement read, in part, “‘We have much left to accomplish and we must have the focus, the consistency and stability with which to move forward as a unified community. Sadly, it is no longer possible under the mayor’s leadership for reasons which have become clear to the entire community.'” [Emphasis is ours.] (See the Virginian-Pilot, August 12, 2009.)

Mayor Holley did not accede to the retirement demand, thereby sparking a recall campaign which ultimately succeeded in removing him from office. Interestingly, Council Member Moody played a behind-the-scenes role in that effort, obtaining guidance in drafting the legal phrasing for the petitions and encouraging the citizens who did the initial legwork of gathering signatures. (When the grassroots effort stalled out a few months into the undertaking, some of the individuals, who would later create the People for Portsmouth Political Action Committee, raised money for professional help in completing the task.)

Ten years on, Council Member Moody has now attracted media attention detrimental to our moving “forward as a unified community” with his echoing of racist and bullying comments by a president whose sole purpose appears to be one of ruling through division. CM Moody, however, had to go even beyond 45’s demagoguery with his incredibly lame and obtuse complaint, “‘I am really tired of hearing the term people of color.'” (See the Virginian-Pilot, July 18, 2019.) For our part, we are really tired of politicians whose ill-considered or ill-intentioned remarks support the prejudices of people even less circumspect and more empathy-challenged than themselves.

This particular incident has a certain irony to it, as well. Earlier this year, CM Moody was the pitch person for turning off the council chamber cameras during the non-agenda speaker segment of regular meetings. He argued that what citizens have said and might say in that setting could undercut the happy talk “Portsmouth story” that council is trying to sell within in our region and beyond. What seems very likely is that the publicity around his recent inflammatory statements has undermined any progress on that front far more than any citizen or group thereof could have done in a series of five-minute speeches.

Let’s be clear: this is not a one off for CM Moody. In his twenty-one years (and counting) of tying up what could have been a productive seat on city council, he has continued in office by appealing to European American fears of losing power and privilege and forming strategic alliances. For example, his partnership with the late Council Member Charles Whitehurst obscured many people’s ability to see him for the sower of division that he was and is. Additionally, former Sheriff Watson helped prop him up during his reelection bids by deploying off-duty deputies as “volunteers” to hand out Moody’s literature on election days. In return CM Moody religiously advocated for the sheriff’s supplemental funding requests to council. His five completed terms in office have had more to do with political agility than quality of service to our citizenry.

We believe it is well past time for CM Moody to leave the political stage. He himself has created a golden opportunity to remedy the electoral malfunctions of the past two decades. On this occasion he has spectacularly demonstrated his unsuitability to represent a diverse, pluralistic society. We should call upon him, as he did to Mayor Holley, to step down. We should be vocal, numerous, and persistent in that call. Other elected officials, including his council colleagues, should demand the same. His current and past public pronouncements, including calling peaceful protestors “thugs”, seem to us no less grievous than blackface photographs in old yearbooks. Should he ignore the outcry, we should make preparations to recall him as soon as his charter-granted immunity expires at the end of 2019. Removing a president requires expenditure of potentially ten of millions of dollars and concerted action by tens of millions of our fellow citizens across this country; removing CM Moody, concerted action by several thousands of our neighbors and expenditure of, perhaps, several thousand dollars. Let’s make the required change in our hometown, then clean house farther afield.