Two Black Morehouse students campaigning in Gwinnett County, Ga., for David Kim for Congress in full campaign attire with flyers were surrounded by three police cars. One of the men, Eli Sabur, recorded the incident and posted it on social media. Activist Shaun King shared the video on Twitter and it has gone viral.
Watch it here:
And…it happened again.
Two young brothers were out campaigning & canvassing for @DavidKim2018 in Georgia when suddenly…3 police cars show up and surround them.
They were in full campaign attire, flyers in hand. pic.twitter.com/NrXCXaRDMu
Shaun King (@ShaunKing) July 13, 2018
Some on Twitter encouraged the men to contact the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) for help. Others expressed similar instances while volunteering for other campaigns.
Sabur, who has been canvassing for years, told the local CBS affiliate, WGCL-TV Atlanta, that this happens at least three times a month.
Kim, an Asian American CEO of an education tutoring company and Harvard graduate, is running in the 7th district against white incumbent Rob Woodall, which is 54 percent minority and includes portions of the northeast Atlanta metro area. Woodall has said he relied on the conservative counties farther away from Atlanta in previous elections.
Kim expressed relief that the officers were friendly and that the situation didn’t escalate. He said in his issued statement: “When I repeatedly hear of incidents like this, it deeply saddens me that this has become a running commentary of my campaign. I understand why every parent of a child of color must have ‘the talk’ and worry about all our team members out in the field.”
There were no reports of police misconduct or arrests, just an anonymous 911 dialer.
Recently State Rep. Janelle Bynum of Oregon, a Black candidate, had the police called on her while she was campaigning door to door.
“It boils down to people not knowing their neighbors and people having a sense of fear in their neighborhoods, which is kind of my job to help eradicate,” Bynum said.
Sabur agrees. But he’s not letting other people’s fear stop him from helping the Kim campaign. “People are scared of the things they don’t understand,” he told CBS. “It comes from a place of not understanding, and I won’t say hatred, but fear, in my opinion.”
