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The white manager of a Chicago CVS and a leader of the LGBT conservative group there called 911 on a woman of color for using a coupon he didn't recognize.Â
There has been a string of alarming incidents lately of white people calling the police on people of color for varied non-offenses. One recent such event occurred when a CVS manager, who happens to be the chapter president of the Log Cabin Republicans of Illinois, reported a woman to the authorities for using a coupon at his store that he'd never seen before, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
"So, THIS just happened: I had the police called on me for attempting to use a coupon @ the CVS Pharmacy located at 6150 N. Broadway in Chicago!" the woman, Camilla Hudson wrote in a Facebook post that went viral.
Hudson also shot a video of manager Morry Matson's call to 911 in which he is visibly shaking and Hudson can be heard offering her name and calmly explaining to the CVS manager to tell the authorities she'll be there waiting when they arrive.
When asked about Hudson's race over the phone, Matson replied "African American," causing Hudson to correct him.
"Black. No, I'm not African-American, I'm black. Black isn't a bad word."
A local leader of the conservative LGBT group the Log Cabin Republicans and a state delegate for Donald Trump in the 2016 election, Matson is currently running for the 48th Ward Alderman on a platform that includes "Restoring Law and Order," according to his campaign site.
"Welcome to Chicago where 'No Lives Matter.' Living here is like living in a real-life ultra-violent video game. City Hall Democrats say the cops get the blame," his website reads. "Parents should be able to send their children off to school without fear of them getting caught between gangland crossfire along the way."
"Matson believes in law and order and will see to it that Chicago's Finest are treated like the heroes that they are," the site continues.
But Matson, who called the police on a woman for what he said he believed was a fraudulent coupon, has a spotty history.
While leading a campaign to build a bike path near his home, Matson was caught forging signatures for the ballot measure. The Chicago Board of Election Commissioners found that Matson had forged several pages of signatures and threw out the measure, according to The Raw Story.
In a Facebook post, Hudson wrote that CVS's regional director Joe Haas repeatedly apologized to her for the incident in which three officers arrived and she left after speaking with them.
CVS has also released a statement:
"We sincerely apologize to Ms. Hudson for her experience in one of our stores. Our Region Director in Chicago contacted Ms. Hudson as soon as we were made aware of this incident. CVS has begun an investigation and we will take any corrective action that is warranted to prevent it from happening again," CVS spokesperson Mike DeAngelis said in a statement. "CVS Pharmacy does not tolerate any practices that discriminate against any customer and we are committed to maintaining a welcoming and diverse environment in our stores. We have firm non-discrimination policies in place to help ensure that all customers are treated with respect and dignity. Profiling or any other type of discriminatory behavior is strictly prohibited."
