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Posted on 04/15/2026 1:44:54 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Dalton Republican state Rep. Kasey Carpenter is facing criticism after a photo of him dressed in blackface has been circulating on social media.
The grainy photo shows Carpenter posing alongside his wife at a party with his white skin painted brown.
Carpenter said the photo was taken at a Chattanooga bar about 12 years ago when he was in his 30s. He said it was a costume party where guests dressed like power couples, and they chose to dress like Kanye West and Kim Kardashian, who were married at the time.
In a phone call Monday, Carpenter called the getup a mistake and said he is not racist.
“I think most of my constituents know, both white and my minority constituents, know where my heart is and know that I’m a man of all people,” he said. “Clearly it was a mistake, but it was nothing done with bad intentions or some subversive messaging.”
“I guess an election year is a good time to drop a racially sensitive photo of somebody,” he added.
Carpenter is set to face Cleve Manis, who works in construction, in the GOP primary May 19. The winner will face Democrat Quentin Postell, a college student, in the November general election.
“Instead of focusing on what you’ve done to help minorities, they want to post a one-off shot of something from 12, 14 years ago that – we can argue whether or not it was blackface – I would argue I was Kanye West. It was a person, I wasn’t representing a race or some kind of historical insensitive subject.”
Carpenter has been a proponent of legislation to offer in-state tuition to Georgia college students who came to the U.S. as children illegally and are protected by the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program or DREAM Act. About 38% of Whitfield County residents are Hispanic.
For other examples of legislation he has sponsored that would help minorities, Carpenter listed the Safe at Home Act, a tenant protection bill that passed in 2024; a stalled homelessness prevention bill and a bill that would have prevented an artist’s song lyrics from being used in criminal trials.
House Speaker Jon Burns’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. House Minority Leader Carolyn Hugley, a Columbus Democrat, offered sharp criticism.
“Maya Angelou tells us, ‘when someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time,’ and this blackface photograph is just the latest example of how Kasey Carpenter’s own actions, and votes, make clear he does not represent all Georgians in the 4th District,” Hugley said.
The sensitivity surrounding blackface stems from Jim Crow-era minstrel shows used to mock, belittle and demean Black people and their struggles, and the practice is widely seen as offensive and racist.
Georgia NAACP President Gerald Griggs called on Carpenter to issue an unambiguous apology.
“We have never come to a place in society where skin color has not mattered,” he said. “One of the greatest Georgians said that he hoped we could get there, but considering the outright attack on diversity, equity and inclusion, the erasure of African American history, the attempts to roll back voting rights show that we are not there by a long shot. So my hope would be he would just make a very short statement. ‘I’m sorry for doing something that is racially insensitive,’ period, full stop.”
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Is he a rino? If so, I’d take the construction worker.
Never apologize. Never try to pass some made up purity test with these people as though they are the only judge of all things moral and just. Never, ever, give ground.
OH GOSH NO! I AM SO SORRY I DID SOMETHING FUNNY 15 YEARS AGO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Roman Scandals: Keep Young and Beautiful
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwvwtvBZm_M&list=RDWwvwtvBZm_M&start_radio=1
Just deny it like Dems do.
A link with the picture:
https://georgiarecorder.com/briefs/gop-lawmaker-says-it-was-a-mistake-to-dress-in-blackface-after-2010s-photo-surfaces/
R+15 district but under 2026 conditions it’s probably not even R+10 and may be closer to R+5.
Still, Carpenter should win in November (assuming he survives the GOP primary) even though his district contains the city of Dalton, which is majority-Mexican/Guatemalan/etc. these days, and Dalton comprises the majority of that little state House district.
Most of that portion of Dalton likely are not citizens, as if that is some kind of bar to voting.
It was okay in 2014. Probably obamski liked it.
What I was thinking.
You'd think our side would have figured this out by now.
But, no. Every time something like this happens, they drop to their knees begging forgiveness from people who would never in a million years give them their votes and would, if given the opportunity, murder them and their families (and I'm dead serious about this last part).
A Republican in blackface........yikes.
Who cares? Own it dude, own it. Never apologize.
An Ali Baba Mami Whami to all sayeth the Fresh Prince of Kanada.
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