Black History

Westley (“Wess”) Watende Omari Moore: Maryland’s First

Wess Moore (born 1978) has taken his own place in the history of American politics. He is Maryland’s first Black governor in its 246-year history and the third Black person elected governor of a U.S. state since Reconstruction.

Published

1 year ago

March 24, 2023

Oakland Post

Wes Moore Govenor

“It’s humbling because this is the state of Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass and Thurgood Marshall,” Moore, a Takoma Park, Maryland native, told USA Today. “It shows that progress requires work, but it is possible as long as we’re willing to grow together.”

Moore described Election night in 2022 as “a celebration,” although he was “soaking in the moment,” thinking of his maternal grandmother, Winell Thomas, who died five days before the election.

Thomas helped raise Moore after his father, a broadcast journalist bearing the same name, died. About his grandmother’s faith in his future, Moore said: “If you had asked her when I was young if there was a chance this could have happened, she would have said yes.”

But earlier on, Moore would have disagreed. After his father’s death, Moore’s family relocated to the Bronx to live with his grandparents. Life without his father was difficult; he felt as if he didn’t fit anywhere.

Thomas enrolled Moore in an elite prep school at age 6. But coming home to the Bronx after being with wealthy classmates made him feel out of place. He’d become angry. Later, about age 11, he became truant and was placed in a squad car and arrested for tagging walls with graffiti. Moore told the MinnPost that his mother, Joy Moore, then “begged her parents to take out a loan against their house so she could send [me] to a military boarding school.”

By age 13, Moore was enrolled in Valley Forge Military Academy and College. The experience pushed him to put his life back on track. He worked as an intern for then-Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke and later graduated from Johns Hopkins University. Moore earned a Rhodes Scholarship, which led him to earn his master’s in international relations from Wolfson College at Oxford.

In 2005, Moore deployed to Afghanistan as a captain with the 82nd Airborne Division, tasked to lead soldiers in combat. On returning, he served as a White House Fellow.

“My mother and grandmother believed in me and sacrificed for me,” Moore told USA Today about the encouragement he received from family. “That election moment was a testament to that sacrifice.”

There’s an imposter syndrome with children of color, Moore says, where “you’re waiting for someone to tap you on the shoulder and say, ‘Hey, how’d you get in here?’”

Moore wants every child of color to know that “they are never in a room because of someone’s benevolence, kindness or social experiment. They’re in that room because they belong there.”

An intimate narrative about finding meaning in a volatile age, Wess Moore’s “The Work: Searching for a Life that Matters” will inspire readers to see how we can each find our own path to purpose and help create a better world.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Up Next

Oakland Post: Week of March 22 – 28, 2023

Don't Miss

Conversation with DC Council Chair Phil Mendelson

Oakland Post

Click to comment

Activism

S.F. Black Leaders Rally to Protest, Discuss ‘Epidemic’ of Racial Slurs Against Black Students in SF Public School System

Parents at the meeting spoke of their children as no longer feeling safe in school because of bullying and discrimination. Parents also said that reported incidents such as racial slurs and intimidation are not dealt with to their satisfaction and feel ignored.

Published

6 days ago

May 4, 2024

Oakland Post

Rev. Amos C. Brown, president of the San Francisco NAACP and pastor of Third Baptist Church. Photo courtesy Third Baptist Church.

By Carla Thomas

San Francisco’s Third Baptist Church hosted a rally and meeting Sunday to discuss hatred toward African American students of the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD).

Rev. Amos C. Brown, president of the San Francisco NAACP and pastor of Third Baptist Church, along with leadership from local civil rights groups, the city’s faith-based community and Black community leadership convened at the church.

“There has been an epidemic of racial slurs and mistreatment of Black children in our public schools in the city,” said Brown. “This will not be tolerated.”

According to civil rights advocate Mattie Scott, students from elementary to high school have reported an extraordinary amount of racial slurs directed at them.

“There is a surge of overt racism in the schools, and our children should not be subjected to this,” said Scott. “Students are in school to learn, develop, and grow, not be hated on,” said Scott. “The parents of the children feel they have not received the support necessary to protect their children.”

Attendees were briefed last Friday in a meeting with SFUSD Superintendent Dr. Matt Wayne.

SFUSD states that their policies protect children and they are not at liberty to publicly discuss the issues to protect the children’s privacy.

Some parents said they have removed their students from school while other parents and community leaders called on the removal of the SFUSD superintendent, the firing of certain school principals and the need for more supportive school board members.

Community advocates discussed boycotting the schools and creating Freedom Schools led by Black leaders and educators, reassuring parents that their child’s wellbeing and education are the highest priority and youth are not to be disrupted by racism or policies that don’t support them.

Virginia Marshall, chair of the San Francisco NAACP’s education committee, offered encouragement to the parents and students in attendance while also announcing an upcoming May 14 school board meeting to demand accountability over their mistreatment.

“I’m urging anyone that cares about our students to pack the May 14 school board meeting,” said Marshall.

This resource was supported in whole or in part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library via California Black Media as part of the Stop the Hate Program. The program is supported by partnership with California Department of Social Services and the California Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander American Affairs as part of the Stop the Hate program. To report a hate incident or hate crime and get support, go to CA vs Hate.