Fairmont residents call for racist city council member to resign
By Uncle Hank
Content Warning: This article contains racist language. The Haint does not condone this language, however the author wishes to quote the Facebook post that is the source of the controversy.
A recall effort is underway in Fairmont after a city council member refused to step down over racist comments he posted on Facebook.
For folks who haven’t been in the loop, Karl David Kennedy, of the city’s 3rd District, has been in hot water for the bulk of January after referring to Middle Eastern people as “towel-heads” in a comment pertaining to the United States’ assassination of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani. When called out, Kennedy said during his time in Vietnam, the Marines used the term “gooks.”
His comments have since been deleted, however a good citizen memorialized them for all of eternity on their blog if you’d like to check it out and see for yourself.
At a Jan. 28 meeting, the city council asked Kennedy to step down from his position before censuring him in a 6–3 vote. A censure is a formal rebuke by a governing body. During a Jan.14 meeting, Kennedy was also accused of using gay slurs online — when he denied it, a city council member pulled out the receipts from that online hatred, according to the Times WV.
The Haint attempted to find those comments, but became too ill wading through the Fox News propaganda on Kennedy’s Facebook feed.
The city’s Human Rights Commission has also come out in support of Kennedy’s removal.
Kennedy has since continued to double and triple down on his comments, hurling accusations at his critics like this, quoted from a Jan. 14 meeting by the Times WV:
“Whether we like it or not, we are all engaged in this battle. Personal attacks have come to me. My words have been taken out of context, lied about and destroyed completely. In time, if you stay the course, those same attacks will come to you. There will be no place to hide. In January of 1966, I lifted my hand as a U.S. Marine and swore my sacred oath to Almighty God to uphold the Constitution of the United States and protect her from all enemies, both foreign and domestic. At one time, those enemies were outside our borders. Now, they are beside us and their aim is to destroy liberty and freedom wherever they find it. Resigning this council seat would be giving up that fight for truth, justice and the American way. We cannot do that. Thank you.”
Jarryd Powell, a candidate for the House of Delegates, kicked off the recall effort at the Jan. 28 meeting when he submitted an affidavit to get the process started. Reached by phone, Powell said the committee organized to lead the recall will be resubmitting the paperwork after it learned it could be tossed out due to wording issues.
Powell said no one expected this to happen.
“No one wants to undergo a recall, but since he doubled and tripled down on his remarks and accused everyone criticizing him of snuffing out liberty and attacking the constitution, this was our only recourse,” Powell said.
First, the committee will have to collect 2,461 signatures from voters city wide, as long as they voted in the last municipal election. Once the petition is submitted to the council, they will hold a confidence vote for Kennedy. After that, his recall would be placed on the November ballot. If the recall is successful, Powell said the city can either appoint a replacement or call a special election.
In Powell’s lifetime, he said he has never seen a recall in the City of Fairmont — and he was born and raised there. Up until this episode, he wasn’t even aware the city had a statute on how to handle such a thing, he said.
The push for the recall goes deeper than politics, according to Powell.
“This isn’t a policy disagreement on whether or not we should raise or lower taxes,” Powell said. “This is a question of what type of civilization do we want to live in? Do we want the type of society where we treat people differently based on whether or not they worship God differently, or the color of their skin?”
For readers in Fairmont who might know folks in the city, the next city council meeting will be Feb. 11 at 7:00 pm. at the Public Safety Building located at 500 Quincy Street in Fairmont.
