Thread by @TexasTribune

1/ As longtime campaign worker Arash Farasat wedged his candidate’s card into a door frame, a white woman across the street began shouting at him to “get away.”

Before he could explain what he was doing, her husband came outside with a firearm.
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2/ Farasat said that wasn’t the first time he’s faced a firearm after years of campaigning for Texas candidates. He’s had the police called on him several times in the past year while working to get out the vote. #tx2020
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3/ “I’m a peaceful guy, and it doesn’t feel good to have people be afraid of me,” he said.

“And I wonder, maybe if I was white, they wouldn’t be.”
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4/ Farasat’s experience isn’t singular. Several canvassers of color told The Texas Tribune they’ve feared for their lives on more than one occasion.
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5/ One white staffer said she knew of people in management positions in campaigns who refused to hire black workers to canvass certain neighborhoods because they “knew they were going to get the police called on them.”
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6/ The risk of harassment increases when campaign workers of color canvass in predominantly white neighborhoods — a situation that is likely to happen more often as Texas flirts with swing state status in 2020. #tx2020
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7/ Despite the perils, Farasat said he already knows that he’ll canvass for candidates again next year.

“We do this because it’s important to us, and we wouldn’t do it if there weren’t situations like this to motivate us.” #tx2020
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8/8 Read the full story: bit.ly/2J78qlK