Derek Partee was allegedly threatened and harassed by two white men and a white woman at a North Carolina polling station on Wednesday, according to BuzzFeed News. Partee, a Black Republican activist, was at the polling site working on behalf of state Senator Jeff Tarte's reelection campaign.
“They said something about being a Republican, and I said, 'I’m a Republican.' ‘We don’t give a f**k what you are, n*****r. You want some of this? You want some of this?’” Partee said the men told him. “It was just because I was a Black male."
The 66-year-old wrote on Facebook that the harassers, “called me a N****r, Black piece of s**t and he exposed his weapon.”
After Partee called 911, all three harassers quickly drove away.
One of the white men, Jason Donald Wayne, was arrested and charged with going armed to the terror of people, communicating threats, disorderly conduct and ethnic intimidation, NBC News reports. The 28-year-old was taken into custody and placed in Mecklenburg County Jail.
Arrest [Jason Donald Wayne] made after black campaign worker allegedly harassed, threatened at early-voting location https://t.co/H5y8rdShsl
— majii (@miglsi) October 26, 2018
While confronting Partee, Wayne wore a T-shirt featuring the logo of Marvel anti-hero the Punisher on it. The character is often associated with the alt-right community, police and the military. Partee managed to snap a picture of Wayne openly displaying his firearm, which helped police identify him. Law enforcement officials said the other two people who approached Partee were identified but were not arrested because “they did not violate any laws."
“This wasn’t about party. This was about being Black,” said Partee, who is a President Trump supporter. “It does give me pause for thought. But I’ve been a Republican my entire life. This will not shake my support for the Republican Party.”
“We live in a brazen and bizarre time,” said Senator Tarte in a statement. “No one of any political party should ever have to be subjected to these types of intimidation and threats at a polling place.” The North Carolina Republican Party has also denounced the harassers' actions.
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