User:Bluerasberry/Wes Bellamy
{{notability|Biographies|date=January 2018}}
Wes Bellamy | |
|---|---|
| City Council Member Charlottesville | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | United States |
| Political party | Democratic |
Wes Bellamy is the former vice mayor of the city of Charlottesville, Virginia and member of the Democratic Party.[1]
Bellamy was elected to the Charlottesville City Council on November 3, 2015, where he received the most amount of votes of the three other supervisors.[2]
Biography
[edit]Bellamy moved to the Charlottesville area in 2009 to work for the National Ground Intelligence Center. He left that position shortly afterwards and began teaching in Albemarle schools. He established the Helping Young People Evolve in 2011 and soon afterwards entered city politics.
Bellamy was honored by the Daily Progress in 2013 as part of their Distinguished Dozen series.[3]
Ballamy received his doctoral degree from Virginia State University on August 11, 2017.[1]
Robert E. Lee statue and tweets about race
[edit]In March 2016, Bellamy called a press conference to call for the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee from Emancipation Park. This drew the criticism of activist Jason Kessler.[citation needed]
In November of that year, Kessler revealed a series of lewd and offensive tweets made by Bellamy in the past. In the tweets Bellamy stated that he hates black people who "act white" and "talk white" and considers white women to be the "devil." In another tweet he said hates seeing "White people in Orangeburg."[4] Other tweets included the homophobic slur "faggot" and sexist remarks such as “I’m all for equal opportunity..but a Female Principal with a school full of female teachers is fkn a sure fire way to fk our lil boys up smh,” [5]
Bellamy apologized for the tweets and resigned from both the Virginia Board of Education and his teaching position.[6] However, he did not step down from his position as vice-mayor. In December, Kessler who labeled Bellamy as "anti-white" began circulating a petition demanding that Bellamy resign or be removed from office.[7] The petition ultimately failed and Kessler went on to organize the Unite the Right rally.[citation needed]
Committee assignments
[edit]After being elected, Bellamy was assigned to the following committees:[8]
- Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority
- Citizen's Advisory Panel (CAP)
- Cville Development Corp.
- Darden Towe Park Board
- Retirement Commission
Soon after election, Governor Terry McAuliffe appointed him to the State Board of Election.
References
[edit]- ^ a b "Charlottesville Vice Mayor Wes Bellamy Reacts To White Nationalist Rally". NPR. August 13, 2017.
- ^ "2015 November General - Unofficial Results". Virginia State Board of Elections. November 3, 2015. Retrieved November 3, 2015.
- ^ Aaron Richardson (December 27, 2013), Dozen: Bellamy helping city's poorest children reach potential, retrieved January 7, 2016
{{citation}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|pageno=(help) - ^ Chris Saurez (November 27, 2016). "'Inappropriate' tweets from Bellamy cause some to call for his removal". The Daily Progress. Retrieved August 21, 2017.
- ^ Moomaw, Graham (November 29, 2016). "GOP lawmaker calls on McAuliffe to remove education appointee over racist, sexist Twitter history". Richmond Times-Dispatch. Retrieved August 21, 2017.
- ^ Mike Connors (December 27, 2016). "Virginia Board of Education member who resigned over racist, sexist tweets leaves teaching job". The Virginian-Pilot. Retrieved August 21, 2017.
- ^ "Group Files Petition to Have Charlottesville Vice Mayor Bellamy Recalled". WVIR News. February 16, 2017. Retrieved August 21, 2017.
- ^ Rice, Paige (January 7, 2016), RE: list of appointments
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External links
[edit]{{DEFAULTSORT:Bellamy, Wesley}} [[Category:Virginia State University alumni]] [[Category:Politicians from Charlottesville, Virginia]] [[Category:African-American people in Virginia politics]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Virginia Democrats]]