Interracial New Jersey couple sues councilman for harassment | The Raw Story: A New Jersey couple is suing a local city council member and their home borough for allegedly harassing them since moving into their neighborhood eight years ago, The Cherry Hill Courier Post reports.
The suit, filed in federal court, accuses Lindenwold Councilman Joseph Strippoli, has been discriminating against the couple because they are interracial; Strippoli reportedly Deborah Patterson, who is white, “why she had to go and marry someone like her husband.” Patterson’s husband, Alfred, is black.
Strippoli, a former mayor of Lindenwold, also allegedly used his clout as a council member to send police to the Pattersons’ home 32 times for issues ranging from noise complaints to what the suit claims is selective enforcement of housing code violations, like having a basketball hoop on their curb.
