Sheriff’s deputy reassigned after dressing as Frederica Wilson in blackface: report
A Virginia sheriff’s deputy was reportedly reassigned to a new position after she went to a party in blackface as Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.).
Deputy Jean Browning, who works in the York-Poquoson Sheriff’s Office in southeast Virginia, went to a Halloween party as Wilson in blackface, according to The Washington Post.
Her boyfriend dressed as President Trump, the newspaper reported.
{mosads}The local branch of the NAACP said it is “inappropriate and disheartening when anyone mocks someone’s race.”
“It is inexcusable when someone connected with our law enforcement finds it acceptable to paint their face to impersonate African-Americans,” the branch said in a statement, according to the Post.
Sheriff J.D. Diggs said in a statement that Browning intended to show “how funny it would be for two political figures that were at odds with each other to go to a party together.”
Diggs added that Browning is being reassigned from her job as an anti-drug officer in the local school system.
“Based on all of the circumstances,” Diggs said, “and the need for the community to realize that the Sheriff’s Office takes race relations seriously, I have decided that it would be in the best interest for all concerned to reassign this deputy to another position within the Sheriff’s Office.”
Trump publicly feuded with Wilson earlier this year after the Florida Democrat said Trump told the widow of a fallen soldier on a phone call that her husband knew what he signed up for.
Trump repeatedly denied the characterization of the conversation and defended his behavior when speaking with the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson.
The feud escalated when Trump’s chief of staff, John Kelly, staged a news conference defending the president and blasting Wilson.
Wilson returned to Washington late last month after receiving threats following her public feud with the president.
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