Republican elected official Dan Foreman, a member of the Idaho Senate, shocked by asking a Democratic candidate of Native American origin to “go back where she came from” during a debate.
An insult as racist as it is ridiculous. In the state of Idaho, in the north of the United States, a Republican elected official asked a Democratic opponent to “go back where she came from”, even though the young woman comes from a local Native American tribe.
The facts took place Monday, September 30 during a bipartisan forum in Kendrick, north Idaho, attended by Democrats and Republicans. Trish Carter-Goodheart, a Democratic candidate for the state House of Representatives of Native American descent, spoke after a question about fighting discrimination.
Debates on racism
“Racism and discrimination are real problems in Idaho, as anyone familiar with our state’s history knows. I have highlighted the weakness of our hate crime laws and mentioned the presence of Aryan Nations (a neo-Nazi group, Editor’s note) in northern Idaho as undeniable proof of this reality”, says the candidate in a press release relayed by the local press.
“That’s when Senator (Dan) Foreman (Republican, Editor’s note) lost all control. He said to me: ‘I’m sick of this liberal bullshit! Why don’t you go back to where you came from? come,’” she reports. Several elected Democrats and Republicans present in the room confirmed the incident to American media.
Faced with this racist insult, Trish Carter-Goodheart indicates that she was supported by elected officials from all sides, including the Republican representative of Idaho Lori McCann. “You supported me when needed, and I appreciate your strength and solidarity,” she wrote in her press release.
Trish Carter-Goodheart is originally from the Nez Perce Native American tribe, a people present in several states in the American northwest. The northern limit of its reserve is less than 16 kilometers from Kendrick where the forum was held, notes the AP news agency. The tribe has lived there for hundreds of years, long before the arrival of European settlers and the birth of the United States.
On his Facebook page, Dan Foreman defended himself from any racist statements, accusing Democrats of having launched personal attacks against him and of “proclaiming that Idaho was a racist state”.
