Black politician reported to police for 'drug dealing'. She was campaigning

A black politician was approached by the police while she was campaigning in the state of Wisconsin.

Dane County supervisor Shelia Stubbs was knocking on doors on 7 August in the state capital Madison when a resident reported her to the police after claiming to see what he thought was a suspected drug deal.

Stubbs has been a county supervisor for the past 12 years in what she has described as a "predominantly white community".

According to a CNNreport, Stubbs was wearing her name tag, was holding campaign literature and was knocking on doors from a list of potential supporters. Her mother and eight-year-old daughter were said to be following behind her in a car.

She told CNN:

I had knocked at approximately six doors and some of the future constituents were home, and those that were home, I talked to for about ten minutes... because they were excited that I stopped by.

She had been on the street for around 20 minutes when she noticed that a police officer had pulled up next to her car. Stubbs was talking to a resident at the time and had to excuse herself to see what was going on.

When she approached the officer to ask what was going on, she was informed that someone had contacted them who suspected her of being a drug dealer.

Despite Stubbs having official documents and identification with her, the officer wasn't satisfied until Stubbs showed her the addresses of houses that she had already visited.

She added:

And I'm like, 'A drug dealer! Are you serious, they think I'm a drug dealer? No!'

When I showed it to her [the list]. She was like, 'Oh my gosh, I'm really sorry. I'm really sorry this happened to you.'

She later told CBS Newsthat she felt "humiliated, outraged, angry and embarrassed".

A police report indicates that Stubbs shared her phone number with the officer and offered to help the department improve race relations in local communities.

Stubbs would go on to win her Democratic primary eight days later in the State Assembly in Wisconsin 77 District and will now face a GOP candidate in November, meaning she will be the first African-American to represent Madison in the assembly.

However, despite this, she hopes that the incident with the police officer can serve as a lesson for Madison, which is considered a progressive constituency but can still do more to address racism.

This is just one in a series of recent incidents in the US where black people have been reported to the police for seemingly going about their day.

Stubbs said that she told her daughter that she is running for public office because of this continuing trend.

I'm going to make it better for you, so you don't go through what momma goes through -- it has to get better for you.

She held me and she gave me a good hug, I gave her a good hug, and she said, 'I love you mommy' and 'Thank you so much mommy.'

HT New York Post

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