In November of 1981, Wes Moore Sr.
and I were reporters for a Washington, D.C.
radio station. We were sent to Richmond to
cover the election of Virginia’s next
governor. As we we drove south down I-95 we
talked about the election but we also talked
about our families. Wes had three children,
two girls and a boy, Wes Jr.
Chuck Robb won Virginia’s
governor’s race that night. Last night Wes
Moore’s son, Wes Jr., was elected governor
of Maryland, the first Black person to
govern the Free State, as it calls itself.
He beat a certified MAGA nutbag by a big
margin. It’s hard to express how moving that
was for me and everyone who knew Wes Sr. He
died not long after our trip to Richmond,
leaving his widow Joy to raise their
children by herself. She did an outstanding
job.
Joy is the
daughter of a Harlem preacher and lives by
the standards she grew up with: Toe the
line, no slacking, earn your way in the
world. When Wes Jr. acted out as a
teenager, she shipped him off to military
school. He earned a ROTC scholarship to
Johns Hopkins. He was a Rhodes scholar. He
served as a company commander in the 82nd
Airborne Division in Afghanistan and is a
distinguished combat veteran. He came
home, earned a fortune on Wall Street and
then headed a major non-profit. He wrote a
best selling book, The
Other Wes Moore,
another Maryland kid with the same name
but whose life went the other way, to a
long prison sentence.
It’s hard to overstate how
outstanding he is or, for that matter, how
outstanding his entire family is. His
personal history, the values he grew up
with, his magnetism, his intelligence are
now in service to the people of Maryland.
Fairness, equity, justice.
If you are looking for a bright
spot in today’s toxic political environment
look to Wes Moore. He is a rising star in
the Democratic party and if he one day makes
it to the White House you can say you read
it here first. We would all be better for
it.