North Carolina Republican Mayoral Candidate Describes Herself as 'Smart, White, Traditional' 

“The Charlotte mayoral contest will…not be decided based on the skin color of the candidates,” the party said in a statement. “Any suggestion that a candidate is more or less qualified for political office based on their skin color alone, is offensive to North Carolina Republicans and we condemn it,” the chairman of the party added.

While Barnette’s Facebook description is loathsome, it is clearly indicative of her political ideologies. The Washington Post reports that during the August mayoral debate, Barnette criticized protests over the shooting death of Keith Lamont Scott, the disabled black man who was killed by police in 2016. Barnette described the protests as “expressive of Democratic behavior.” “As mayor, what I would like to discourage is assembly,” Barnette said. “Protests are confrontational, they’re chaotic, they scare people. I believe there’s a better way to express yourselves.”

Barnette also shared her thoughts about keeping poor people out of Charlotte, the rights of transgender people, as well as policing. I’m not going to transcribe them here because, despite Barnette’s claims, neither she nor her ideas are particularly smart. Her thoughts typify a familiar thread of racism and discrimination that has unspooled itself all the way to the White House. Her Facebook status, with its emphasis on race and intelligence, is just a crass confirmation of what her policies already said.

Barnette has since deleted the post.