A former police captain who was fired from the Greensboro Police Department last year after assisting other officers in filing grievances alleging discrimination and retaliation and making his own complaints is considering a run for mayor.
Charles Cherry told a group assembled for a Black History Service of Justice program tonight at an east Greensboro church that he is considering running for mayor and will make a decision in the next couple weeks.
“If I am blessed enough to be elected, I promise you accountability,” he said.
Cherry would be the fourth candidate for mayor in an already crowded field. Mayor Bill Knight has announced plans to run for reelection. At-large Councilman Robbie Perkins and former Councilman Tom Phillips have also indicated plans to seek the seat.
Cherry took sitting council members Mary Rakestraw and Zack Matheny to task for making disparaging remarks about James Hinson, an officer who was recently promoted to captain, in the Rhinoceros Times, asserting that the statements were slanderous and increase the city’s liability in a number of discrimination claims that are working their way through the courts.
He also condemned racial profiling incidents reported by citizens, including an anecdote provided by Councilwoman Dianne Bellamy-Small about a man who reported being repeatedly asked to show ID in downtown Greensboro as a part of youth curfew enforcement that went into effect at the beginning of this year.
Cherry said council should “look at every other alternative” for disposing of its solid waste short of reopening the White Street Landfill. He criticized the council for raising objections last year to acceptance of a $5 million energy-efficiency stimulus grant and then approving it only on condition that it be used throughout the city instead of in targeted, low-income areas in east Greensboro.
“When we got that $5 million, it was for a specific purpose: It was for the less fortunate individuals in this community to give to upgrade their homes – the poor people,” Cherry said. “The first thing the city council wanted to do was send the money back. Why would you want to send $5 million in stimulus money back? Those are questions that we need to ask. And we need to ask them publicly. Finally, they decided to keep the money, and they didn’t utilize it the way the grant asked for. So people who really didn’t need the money were able to have the money, so the poor and working people weren’t the ones who got the money – or all the money.”
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