About an hour into the event, someone asked a question about a state bill addressing discrimination. The candidates were each given two minutes to answer, and when it was Carter-Goodheart’s turn, she pushed back on earlier comments that suggested discrimination is not a major issue in Idaho.

She said state hate crime laws are weak, and noted that the neo-nazi group Aryan Nations made northern Idaho its home base for many years. She also talked about being the only candidate there who was a person of color.

“I pointed out that just because someone hasn’t personally experienced discrimination doesn’t mean it’s not happening,” she said. “I was making my statement, and then he shot up out of his seat and said, ‘I’m so sick of your liberal (expletive). Why don’t you go back to where you came from?’”

The Nez Perce Tribe has lived on the Columbia River Plateau in the Pacific Northwest for more than 11,500 years, including the area where Kendrick is located. The northern edge of its reservation, while only a small fraction of the tribe’s historical territory, is less than 10 miles (16 kilometers) from the Veterans of Foreign Wars hall where the forum was held.

“It was like slow motion,” Carter-Goodheart said. “I just remember thinking, ‘Go back to where you came from’? That’s within miles of where this forum is taking place. We have literal plots of land that are being leased out to family farms nearby.”

In his Facebook post, Foreman called the incident a “quintessential display of race-baiting” and said the Democratic attendees made personal attacks and “proclaimed Idaho to be a racist state.”

“Well, here is a news flash for the lefties out there. There is no systemic racism in America or Idaho,” Foreman said. “Idaho is a great state — the best in the Union!”

He then added an attack on supporters of abortion rights, saying: “And furthermore, it is immoral and against the law of God to kill unborn babies in the womb. You do not have any right to murder the unborn. There is no such thing as your self-proclaimed ‘Women’s Reproductive Rights.’ There is no such body of rights in the state or federal constitutions. And we don’t do designer rights in Idaho.”