Rep. Berg says that confrontation with canvasser was ‘racially motivated’

Democratic State Rep. April Berg says she has no doubt a confrontation between a white man and one of her black campaign workers was racially motivated.

KIRO Newsradio’s Hanna Scott reported it happened Saturday as the Black campaign worker was trying to canvass in a Mill Creek neighborhood.

“Get out of my [expletive] neighborhood,” the harasser said.

That’s what 21-year-old Julian Jackson – Berg’s campaign field director – ran into shortly after getting out of his car to knock on doors in the neighborhood when a man on a bike approached him and demanded he leave. Jackson recorded much of the exchange on his cell phone, and explained to the man that he was doing his job.

My field director was followed and harassed while knocking on doors for me this weekend. This is so much worse than some racist symbols on my signs. I’d hate to think of what could’ve happened had this escalated. #canvassingwhileblack pic.twitter.com/gXlCOz06IS

— Rep April Berg (@RepBerg) July 11, 2022

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In their exchange, Jackson can be heard trying to explain to the man his job does not require a “canvassing permit” in order to knock on doors in the neighborhood.

“This happened about a mile from my home. As a young Black man, my field director Julian is at risk while doing outreach because there are people who want to control the info their neighbors receive, who’ve decided that people like Julian ‘don’t belong’ in their neighborhoods,” Berg wrote on her Twitter.

The altercation lasted approximately five minutes and, in the end, Jackson opted to leave the neighborhood at Berg’s direction. He told the Everett Herald he also believes the incident was racially motivated.

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