Black New Hampshire candidate settled lawsuit over racism at state agency -- was told 'we’re not used to black people having power'

Eddie Edwards is running to be New Hampshire’s first African-American member of Congress and recently revealed that he experienced years of microaggressions since working in the political sector.

In an interview, this week he recalled a high ranking official telling him, “We’re not used to black people having power.”

The years of racial abuse led Edwards submitting a formal complaint with the New Hampshire Commission on Human Rights in 2009 against the liquor commission where he worked. Associate Attorney General Anne Edwards said the complaint was based on the racism Edwards experienced while at the liquor commission.

Four years later the complaint was settled in 2013 with a $160,000 payout and a letter of reference.

His opponent, State Sen. Andy Sanborn, tried to use the complaint against him. Sanborn said: Edwards “was forced to resign from the state of New Hampshire and told he could never come back to employment in the state. That raises some very serious questions.”

Edwards called Sanborn claims "untrue and distortions."

Edwards worked as the investigator for the enforcement division at the liquor commission. He said his pay was reduced while working there. “People were manipulating the pay scale,” he said. “I brought this up to people in government.”

He was also asked to show favoritism to certain people. “You know who to enforce the law against, and you know who not to enforce the law against,” he was told.

After refusing he said people started calling him names. “This came from people in high, high levels of state government, throughout state government.” He said, “This was not one or two people. This was a systematic thing.”

Edwards said he has since moved on. “I’ve found the vast majority of the people of New Hampshire really don’t care about your race,” he said. “I’m not somebody who’s sensitive about my race. I’m not somebody who, if you look at me cross-eyed, I think you’re a racist."